What hasn’t Phil Gordon accomplished over the course of his happy life? He’s hosted his own television show. He’s written several bestselling books. He’s traveled the world. He’s won a ton of money playing poker. There is only one glaring empty line on this long list. Phil Gordon has never won a gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

Oh, he’s come close. He’s cashed 14 times and made five final tables. But you can tell when talking to Gordon that that’s not good enough. The fact that his best friend, Rafe Furst, won a bracelet last year in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event has only added to the pressure Gordon is surely putting on himself. After his wife Barb entered the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event, I overheard someone joking about the possibility that Gordon’s best buddy and wife would win a bracelet before he does. Ouch.

Having watched Gordon’s play over the years, I am of the opinion that it’s only a matter of time before he ends this dubious streak. When it comes to playing no-limit Texas hold’em, there are very few players on the world who are better than he is and about five million who are worse. While observing his play at the start of today’s $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, I was struck by a thought—this is Phil’s time.

He was in rhythm early on. On one hand he limped from early position with A-Q and got raised all in by a player in middle position. When the action got back around to Gordon, he didn’t hesitate to make the call. His read was dead-on; his opponent could only show A-J and would end up busting on the hand. “I wouldn’t have called with A-10,” Gordon said as he was stacking his chips.

A round later he raised from under the gun and got called by the small blind. The flop came 9d4s7h. Gordon bet and got called. The turn was the 7c. The small blind checked, Gordon bet, and the small blind raised. Gordon called. The 5h on the river was a blank. Gordon bet and his opponent called, paying off Gordon’s aces.

He could seem to do no wrong until the last hand before the break. He opened with a larger than usual raise and was called by an older gentleman. Gordon had 7s6s and the turn gave him a straight flush draw. Gordon raised his opponent all in, but the man had flopped a set of fives and wasn’t going anywhere. Gordon didn’t improve his hand, and the loss put a slight dent in his chip stack. The break couldn’t have come at a better time as it allowed him to shake off the loss and regroup.

I’ll be following his progress most of the day….