A new Moneymaker and an old Moneywaster...

Well I guess it’s finally over. That is, for 3 months at least! The final table of 9 is now set for the main event and all we have to do for the next little while is wait, wait and then wait a little bit more.

To go with that waiting, we’ll need to put up with a fair amount of hype, B.S. and player name building, so that the advertisers will want to drool over every minute of TV time they can get during the show. But you know what? In the case of the 2008 WSoP Main Event, I personally look a little forward to it.

There were thoughts that Tiffany Michelle was the “last hope for poker,” and that her success or failure would drive the future of the game. I look at the 9 players left standing after surviving the 6,835 others that entered the event and I can’t help but be excited for poker. Seven North Americans made the final table. SEVEN !!!!

Dennis Phillips - St. Louis, MO - $26,295,000
Craig Marquis - Arlington, TX - $10,210,000
Ylon Schwartz - Brooklyn, NY - $12,525,000
Scott Montgomery - Perth, Ontario - $19,690,000
Darus Suharto - Toronto, Ontario - $12,520,000
David 'Chino' Rheem - Los Angeles, CA - $10,230,000
Ivan Demidov - Moscow, Russia - $24,400,000
Kelly Kim - Whittier, CA - $2,620,000
Peter Eastgate - Odense, Denmark - $18,375,000

A very large payday, significant chip stack disparity and three months to develop a plan of attack? Looking back on my initial judgement of the decision to hold off the final table of 9 for three months, I have to admit that they may just be on to something now. Other than a dream table including 9 of the biggest stars in poker, I don’t know how it could have worked out much better for the folks that laid out this plan.

I see serious potential for another round of the “Moneymaker effect,” and I think we’re going to be seeing the sponsors, television and all of the major poker sites pushing that to it’s fullest. And in my books, that means more poker news, more poker commercials, more poker hype and more poker players signing up every single day. I have to tell you, I see a fair amount of potential in that for yours truly.

I think it’s time to play a little more poker and pad the old roll a little bit, don’t you?

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On the UB/AP issues that are re-surfacing and only getting worse. I only have this to say. If you continue to waste/dump/deposit your money into those sights, I have no remorse for you I’m afraid. The news has been out for some time and it’s only getting worse, not better.

Suggested reads on the scandal ;

Nat Arem
2 + 2

My sincerest thanks for dropping by….