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Poker Trip Report

WSOP 2003 Days 35, 36 & 37:
The Final Curtain

What an amazing end to my trip, the final table was as exciting as you could hope for, Dan and Rich from PokerStars have their faces locked in permanent smiles, it was a great day for on-line poker, an even greater day for PokerStars.

But first let me catch up with the last couple of days, although it seems like forever ago now. I played in 'The Seniors Second Chance' event at the Orleans. Patti B. has already posted about the event, she was spot on. The tournament director treated the staff like they were idiot children, verbally abusing them over the microphone and making himself look like a fool. Then there was the 'raise' rule which they changed half way through, no tournament clock, started 30 minutes late because they decided people arriving late should be able to keep the rest of us waiting. Don't even get me started on why on earth they would call it "The Seniors" when actually anyone could play, they only meant that it was being sponsored by the seniors. I approached them to suggest that they may have lost a whole bunch of players because like me they assumed it was only for seniors. They countered with 'it says right on the ad that anyone can play'. Well that's nice, but I never saw the ad, I heard about the tournament from a friend. As for the tournament, I played well enough, lost a big pot with AK vs AQ, got short stacked, couldn't recover and went out soon after.

The only thing to do after losing a tournament is to go for another expensive meal. I did that tonight with a friend, at Renoir in the Mirage, $125 with tip for an excellent meal with excellent service. If you ever give it a try, glass of Merlot, duck appetizer, braised rib entree, chocolate trio dessert is the way to go. They even let you take home an original Renoir off of the wall. I could be wrong about that.

Dutch treat: Russ "Dutch" Boyd has glared at me for two days now, I've glared back, no words have been spoken, although I'm sure he was thinking of a few. Even after cashing out he has been around for the final day, I guess he doesn't fear those who would like to meet him. Unfortunately I missed his exit from the tournament, but I was present to witness something else and have the most incredible inside information that I only wish I could share, but I can't so please don't ask; let me just say two things, 1) justice was partially served, 2) he proved yet again that he lives his life by a different set of rules.

But enough of that, today was about poker at its very best, Chris Moneymaker is the worthiest of champions, as fearless as Stu Ungar, as astute as Johnny Chan, as unexpected a winner as Robert Varkonyi. Yes, he got lucky a couple of times, but I think when we see the hands on ESPN we'll be as amazed as we were when we watched John Duthie bluff his way to victory in Poker Million. I think we'll also see Sam Farha (who otherwise played brilliantly) throw away presto in a crucial hand that could have swung the pendulum back to him. What we won't see are any missing chips, the count has been perfect for the whole series right up to the end, and we won't see any creditors seizing $8,000,000, everything went smoothly with no incidents. And one more thing we might not see is a replacement for Matt next year, I think they finally realize that you shouldn't mess with perfection, and this was the most perfect of tournaments in every way. I only hope they also realize the contribution of Steve McDonald who kept it all running like clockwork and George Fisher whose awesome marketing skills got 839 people to show up for the final event. The press conference afterwards brought some embarrassing questions from the national press that Chris handled perfectly, one asked him how he was going to explain his playing on-line poker in a state that doesn't allow it ("I can't answer that without my attorney present"), another asked how much he earned in his regular job, ("Less than this"). I guess as poker becomes more mainstream we'll have to expect more of this type of investigative journalism.

Well, this is my last night, it's been an amazing five weeks. I should have gone stir crazy and been bored to tears by now, but instead I'm sorry to see it end. I've met up with so many old friends, made so many new ones, and had fun every single day. I hope you enjoyed sharing my trip as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

ighn.

Paul Westley


2003 WSOP TRIP REPORTS

Day 0 Day 1a Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 & 8 Day 9 & 10
Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15
Day 16 & 17 Day 18 & 19 Day 20 & 21 Day 22, 23 & 24 Day 25 & 26
Day 27 & 28 Day 29 Day 30 & 31 Day 32, 33 & 34 Day 35, 36 & 37

Send us your trip reports and we will add them here.
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