Break the Routine
Thursday, June 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I’ve established a nice routine during the first two weeks of the World Series of Poker. After making myself presentable to the world and packing up my gear, I usually get to the Rio around 11:30 or so, well before the Amazon Room doors open to the players. I get set up, check out the scene, make sure there’s no breaking news on the Twitter. Once the hordes invade and take their seats I break out the camera and go hunting for players to shoot. Then back to my seat to write up a little post to share with the world.
Today I’ve broken with precedent. First of all, I went to bed around 4am last night (a little party, a few cocktails, no one got hurt) and I remained blissfully asleep until 10:30. I raced about and got myself to the Rio just after the $1,500 No-Limit event’s noontime start. Loaded up the camera and went for my usual walk…and abandoned it after about five minutes. There are nearly 2,500 players in the field today, spread out all over the Rio, an endless sea of faces. And as I walked around I saw that quite of few of those faces weren’t too happy, because they’d just been knocked out. That happens, sometimes, you get coolered or take a bad beat and your tournament’s over. But in these big-field tournaments, it happens a lot. Non-stop, in fact. On Day 1 of the $1,000 Stimulus No-Limit event players headed for the rail like lemmings racing for a cliff–more than five players per minute were eliminated that day. That’s a player’s bracelet dreams ending every twelve seconds. For ten hours. Over, and over, and over.
Today the carnage will be on a similar scale, and I’ve decided to stay on the sidelines for a bit and let things settle before I wade into the morass. As I made my initial pass I saw one knocked-out player who looked like he’d actually been K.O.’d. I didn’t get a look at the entire board but it looked like he’d had a pair of Queens and his opponent had flopped top set. The money went in, and then the money all went to his opponent. He stood and looked around the room for a few seconds before walking away and trying to find a gap in the rail so he could leave. And there I was with my camera, trying to look sympathetic as he staggered by like a zombie with eyes that were open but not seeing anything.
That’s the melancholy side of the World Series, but that’s life in the big city. Everyone takes their shot, but not everyone walks away happy. In the end, every player but one walks away, and one is left standing. Somewhere out in the field today is the next World Series of Poker bracelet winner. The fact that it could be any one of a thousand heretofore anonymous players is what keeps them coming back.
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Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, world series of poker, WSOP
