Memories of Things That Just Happened

Sunday, November 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

On the one hand I think that that the four-month hiatus for the WSOP Main Event is too doggone long. You build to this crescendo, you have your final nine players in the biggest event in poker…and then you leave it hanging for a quarter of the year. That’s long enough for the media to write tens of thousands of words about the players and the event, but its also enough time for fans to forget who the heck these guys are. When I was in Aruba some of us reporter types were trying to list the members of the November Nine as quickly as possible. It was harder than you’d think, even for folks working in the industry (Antoine Saout was the name that slipped the most minds).

But as the poker world again turns it’s gaze toward the Rio it almost feels like the Main Event wrapped just yesterday. Watching ESPN’s coverage has reminded me of those happy days ensconced on Media Row, wolfing down Jack’s Links Jerky and wondering which of my strung-out colleagues would be the next to snap. And thinking about that moved me to look at some of the photos I took during the Main Event, which seemed to both go on forever and end before we knew it:

After waiting nearly four months we’re just a few days from discovering who is the latest World Champion. Play will start at noon on Saturday, and when they’re down to heads-up they’ll pause again and resume playing at 10pm on Monday, with ESPN’s final-table broadcast airing on Tuesday. The wait is almost, almost over.