Less than one hour since the WSOP Main Event stopped play until November, and I'm compelled to write my first real post.
I don't have a problem with shutting things down for four months, after all I've been in broadcasting for more than 15 years....so I get the reasoning for having a November Nine, but I do have a problem with only 9 players coming back to compete for the $8.5 million top prize.
Why not a final table of 10? Is it simply because of alliteration? While November Nine is cooler to say than November Ten or the Rios' Rich River Rats, anyone who makes a final table, in any tournament, should be recognized for the accomplishment.
Unfortunately Jordan Smith wins the Miss Congeniality Award award of this pageant and is the first one out at the final table. And to pour sulfuric acid into a ruptured aorta, Smith is busted with pocket aces!
I feel the final 10 should all be back in November...there's just something cruel in reaching the final table and not get the accolades the other nine players will receive for the next few months.
Nine instead of ten can't be because of the drama of one more elimination..can it? Anyone who's watched or played at the last two tables (6 and 5 players) going hand for hand to decide the final table, knows it's some of the highest drama in a poker tournament.
How many times have you told the story of how you made the final table on-line, at a fund raiser or at the daily tournament at your local casino?
"So I was at the final table with blinds at 1 million/2 million...," is the best stage setter for rehashing how you lost set over set.
Jordan Smith's story will go something like this..."So I made the final table at the WSOP Main Event in '09 and had my aces cracked. But on the bright side, I didn't have to put up with all the B.S. of waiting forever to play my next hand. I was really in a zone and would've hated to trade my momentum for months of poker celebrity status. It was a true blessing."
Don't worry Jordan I'll remember you and your accomplishment of making a Main Event final table...you and that other guy from last year.
Borgata Poker Weekend Update
10 years ago
2 comments:
It's an interesting point you make because they play 10 handed, hence the final table would be 10.
But a true table should be played 9 handed. They play 10 to accommodate more players and be more efficient.
But poker tables were always made for 10 people, one of those a dealer.
I think it's more tradition thatn anything else.
Thanks Riggs...it makes sense 9 vs 10...(tradition vs accommodation) but I guess the bottom line for me: They're still playing 10 handed in July..why not Nov?
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