If the 2006 World Series of Poker was like Woodstock, the 2007 Series threatens to be Altamont. Harrah’s barely had control of last year’s Series; add in lame-duck management and the company not just biting the hand that feeds (online poker) but vomiting on it as well. Throw in thirty to forty thousand desperate gamblers, most of whom are fighting to become or escape stereotypes or archtypes; pros; celebrities; good dealers and floor personnel; incompetent dealers and floor personnel; bureaucrats; promoters; doomsdayers; naysayers; and gawkers. All this adds up to an ugly panorama, and one I don’t dare miss.

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The Thirty-Eighth World Series of Poker starts in just 121 hours. Because I have so much to do between now and the beginning of the Series – and, of course, so much to do during the Series – this isn’t the calm before the storm so much as The Calm Before the Storm Before the REAL Storm. But I want to use this relatively quiet time to tell you what’s coming over the next few days, and then during the next seven weeks.

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As you know, I was in New York to celebrate with Tony Holden the publication of his new book, BIGGER DEAL. If you don’t know anything about poker, BIGGER is the sequel to BIG DEAL, the 1991 classic in which Tony spent a year (between Johnny Chan’s second championship and Phil Hellmuth’s) as a professional poker player.

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I found myself at the front door, tagging along with Tony Holden and Steve Martin, trying not to do anything or say anything stupid. This was also my first opportunity to speak to our hostess, Tina Brown.

The first paragraph of a lengthy Tina Brown entry on Wikipedia:

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During the last FTOPS Main Event, I had Clonie Gowen at my house, taking sex surveys from PSYCHOLOGY TODAY between hands. I’m all alone in my house for this one, so there won’t be any excitement this time, huh?

Howard Lederer gave me a call.

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I just busted out in 210th place, about 90 short of the money. There might have been one mistake in there, but it was just a marginal one. Otherwise, it was mostly opponents who wanted to get their chips in with the worst of it or, at best, a coin flip. Pretty much like I said in the previous entry.

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We’re at the third break, three hours and fifteen minutes in. The chip leader, Bejaysus, has 68,000 chips. I’m 12th with 42,000. There are 277 left, with an average of nearly 20,000. It’s going to take a little more than double that to have average chips when we get into the money. So if I stay where I am, I’ll make the money with about average chips.

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We’re at the second break in FTOPS #9, the NLHE rebuy event. Despite the presence of few Full Tilt pros in the one, one name is red is making his presence known on the first page of the leaderboard. Yep, me.

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The host of today’s FTOPS #9, $100 + $9 NLHE with rebuys, is Alan Boston. I don’t know Boston well but he is one of the most storied characters in gambling. Here are the bits and pieces, in no particular order:

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In the time it took me to bust from six tournaments, Imper1um managed to win one, the 8th event of this running of the FTOPS, $200 + $16 PLHE. I’ve tangled with Imper1um many times and, obviously, he is a tough customer. He plays all the big Full Tilt tourneys, and in this he is not alone.

But he now has a singular achievement at allows at least one persuasive answer to the question, Who is the best player on Full Tilt?

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