#588 – World Series Final Table – What to Look Forward To

It’s 9:40 AM PST as I write this, though I imagine it will take a little while before this gets written and posted. I am sitting in the first row of the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio in Las Vegas. We are supposedly a half hour from cards-in-the-air for the Final Table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. I’ll be here all day (and all night if required) as well as tomorrow night when the last two play heads-up for the World Championship.

I already have plenty to tell you and you’re going to get some special coverage if you follow my Blog through the Final Table.

First, it’s fair to ask what I’m doing here and why my coverage of the final table will actually be “special”. And that’s a fair question. This is going to be broadcast for two hours almost live on ESPN on Tuesday night. The press area is packed to the gills with media. I’m not going to see hole cards or probably talk to any of the players, except possibly by accident during breaks or at mass “bust out” interviews.

Second, I haven’t exactly shown a lot of enthusiasm lately for “final table coverage.” I watched just one final table of the 2008 World Series, and that was because two of my friends were playing it, and I left while one of them was still in … with the chip lead. When I see the first hand of this final table, it will be the first hand I’ve watched of the Main Event since my A-5 was beaten by William Burdick’s J-T to knock me out of the tournament on Day 2-A.

My job is simple. I’m going to try to give you things you won’t get on ESPN, in other coverage, or in the excellent hand-by-hand coverage on sites like Pokernews.com (which I’ll probably be reading through the days to help me figure out what’s going on).

Even though I’m about 100 feet from the stage and can’t actually even see the table itself, I think I can do this. Several reasons: (a) I know how limiting even great TV coverage and great hand-by-hand coverage can be. There are a lot of facinating things going on that won’t take place involving the cards and the tabletop and/or won’t be part of the 2-hour broadcast. (b) I’ve been doing this for four years now, and I’m 3-for-3 in finding and telling great stories. (c) I have a great mental archive of the history of the Main Event and will try to give you anecdotes and perspective. (d) I know people. I don’t want to flaunt my connections but I’ll try to get perspectives from some people you’d like to hear from but might now otherwise. (Or I could be talking out of my ass and just giving you the same stuff everybody else is giving you.)

Give me a chance to prove myself. I’ll try to give you some examples from Jump Street.

Second, some eyes-and-ears background. The final table is being played in the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio. This is different from the Amazon Room or, for that matter, anyplace from which I’ve watched a poker event. The stage area – minus the trap doors, broken bottles, wood chippers, and other items from Penn & Teller’s show – is where the final table is physically located. There is a railing around the elevated area going down to the floor of the orchestra pit, so I can’t actually SEE the final table. The floor seating from the Theatre has been removed and the front portion is the “No Limit Lounge.” I’m assuming that’s for VIPS, sponsors, and assorted Fat Cats, though, being below the level of the final table and the rail, you can’t actually see anything there. But, I imagine, you can get all the Milwaukee’s Best Light beer you want. (And how much, pray tell, is that?)

Toward the back of the floor seating are two rows of nightclub-couch-booth-type seating. That’s where 38 members of the media, including me, are sitting. It’s very comfortable and there are several monitors, but if they put this on a hotel channel, I could see the same thing from my room.

Behind me are two tiers of seating for the audience, and above that is a sky-box style press box. It’s probably the best perspective for actually seeing everything going on, but I was told this was where the cool kids are sitting so I’ll smugly stay put, even if it appears that was a bald lie.

It looks like every seat is filled. I know there was a very long line to get in and everyone I’ve spoken to who is playing the final table has a big crowd in support. And they are making some noise. Dennis Phillips has the most chips and pretty clearly the biggest crowd. They are wearing St. Louis Cardinals hats and many are wearing white shirts covered with logos from sponsors as varied as Pokerstars and a law firm.

The seriousness of his crowd seems to have galvanized supprters of the other eight players. There are periodic group chants for different players, each seemingly louder than the last.

First thing I’m noticing: I lot more good-looking women than I’ve seen congregating at other Main Event final tables. Harrah’s has a bunch of showgirls in uniform for ceremonial purposes. Most tele-media outlets have a cutie in front of the camera. Milwaukee’s Best has an army of women, it seems, poured into tiny outfits. (That’s only partly a good thing. One of them left a trail of perfume so dense the reporter next to me had to walk away for relief.

It’s 10:25 AM. Jerry Yang just said a few words, though we haven’t done the player intros yet, so we’re running late. Jerry Yang was gracious as usual but there was something, as always, a little out of phase about him. He mentioned, tongue in cheek, that he has had the longest reign as world champion.

Nope. Johnny Moss, Stu Unger, and Johnny Chan, both by winning back-to-back championships, have been world champion for longer. And Greg Raymer, winning the 2004 Championship on the old “spring” World Series schedule and giving it up to Joe Hachem in Summer 2005, had a reign of about the same length.

They are starting the introductions as I finish this blog. Whenever Dennis Phillips shows up on a video monitor, there is THUNDEROUS applause and cheering. His rooting section may be larger than those of the rest of the players combined.

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