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#197 – WSOP #46 – Afternoon in the Land of Hope and Glory
Today is the first day of the Main Event. I don’t play until 1-D [more on that in the next entry] and there’s a problem with that which I had not anticipated: if there’s tournament going on, I want to be dealt some cards. So I’m wandering.
The Gambling Expo is underway and I decide to check it out on the way to the Amazon Room. “Decide” may not be the right word. They have cordoned off the hallways so that you are forced to pass through the Expo on the way to the Amazon Room.
I notice Copag, the playing-card manufacturer, has a booth. I recorded in my notes several possible slogans for the company that had the job of providing playing cards to the WSOP in 2006 but not in 2007:
“At least we didn’t come up with a ridiculous new design in our year”
“The thinnest cards on the market”
“Maybe it’s just not our century”
“We’re like Dracula. You can’t kill us”
“Sorry”
“COPAG – Cards of Paper and Gasoline”
Attendance at the Expo seems so sparse as to be haunted. Some of the exhibitors haven’t even shown up and kicking out the online sites has brought in an abundance of gentleman’s clubs in the vacuum. The only action to speak of is when a pro makes an appearance at a booth. Antonio Esfandiari has a long line waiting for his autograph at the Robert Williamson III Designs booth. (I later read that Antonio didn’t realize he was supposed to play today and was blinded off for several hours.)
Williamson himself, ironically, has a large following at another booth, Club UBT.
At about 1:30 PM, I go to the Media Center, figuring I’ll write this entry – and a couple overdue ones – in that environment.
What was I smoking when I hatched that plan?
Every space has been taken, and for quite some time. Justifiably, there is no room for some prima donna with ideas of showing up 90 minutes after the show has started.
On my way out, I see Nolan Dalla’s master list of Day 1-A seating. There 6 Smiths and 7 Trans in the 1-A field.
Finally inside the tournament room at 1:40 PM, I notice they are playing 10-handed. I thought the fourth day was added so players could be seated at 9-handed tables. But I didn’t see that in any official announcement, so I must be wrong.
Ray Romano was introduced at Table 23 and there were a few boos.
“Who’s booing?” he asked.
Brad Garrett, at nearby Table 8, stands up and says, “Sorry.”
“I hope this isn’t on camera,” Ray concludes, “beacause my wife thinks I’m camping.”
Some dude is getting a massage at Table 12. Getting a massage 105 minutes into an 11-day tournament? I don’t like that guy’s chances of making it over the long haul.
The saddest two words in poker: “Seat open.”
I see Richard Brodie at Table 33 and, excellent writer that he his, he provides his own narration: “A battle royale appears to be developing between Richard ‘Quiet Lion’ Brodie and Shane ‘Shaniac’ Shrager, as the other eight players scramble to stay out of the way.”
(Brodie later sends me the following text message: “Busted Shaniac 36,000″. To which I replied: “Battle royale becomes coup d’ etat. Touche.” And that’s the most you’ll get out of me in a language other than English.)
I trudge out to the Goldilocks Pavilion to see what’s happening out there. They have mega-satellites going on, accompanied by very little air conditioning. (Or lots of air conditioning that isn’t doing very much good.)
On my forced march back through the Expo, it still seems abandoned except for the Gamblers Book Shop booth, which is doing brisk business, and any booth with a name pro. There are lines waiting to get Greg Raymer’s autograph at Pro Player (an energy drink) and Aussie Millions, where you can have your picture taken with Joe Hachem.
