The Poker Corner

The Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker is under way, with a jaw-dropping 5,619 entrants vying for the bracelet and about $6 million in cash. These numbers are so large as to be nearly incomprehensible—just five years ago, when Chris Ferguson won the title, there were 512 opponents standing in his way. This year 560 players will CASH.

It's certainly not news that poker's popularity has boomed in the last 2 years. The real question is how long can the boom go on? The World Series can't grow much larger, for one simple reason—bathrooms. A friend of mine covering the entire tournament slate (you can read his fantastic reports at taopoker.blogspot.com) has a regular feature mentioning which pros he's recently taken a leak next to. The facilities are barely sufficient to handle 2,000 people trying to pee in the same 15-minute window. Kick it up to 5,000 anxious, Dasani-swilling players and suddenly the Amazon Room at the Rio risks turning into the world's most luxurious litter box.

It's possible that the event could be spread out over several casinos to absorb another massive influx of players. But Harrah's doesn't yet have the technology to warp the time-space continuum. This year's WSOP will be a 7-day death march to the final table, with each day a twelve- to fourteen-hour-long session. Endurance will be nearly as important to the makeup of this year's World Champion as it is for Lance Armstrong. Endurance, and an understanding boss who doesn't mind you suddenly asking for "just one more day" as your luck holds. There comes a point where people won't want to invest the time as well as the money to play in the Main Event, and this year we may have reached that point.

The 2003 Champion, Chris Moneymaker, spurred interest in the game because he showed that even a tournament rookie could translate a $40 satellite win into $2.5 million. Greg Raymer was a much more experienced player, but he was still an amateur who also qualified online. He has proven to be a personable and thoughtful champion who has been an excellent spokesman for the game. While it's unlikely that this year's champion will have the same extraordinary effect on the game as Moneymaker, anyone who loves poker hopes that the person slipping on the bracelet will be a champion worthy of the game.

By the time my next column appears that person will have already been crowned, so who do I hope I'm writing about in a week's time? I could rattle off a list of players I like and/or admire, but that didn't appeal to me. No, I started thinking in purely selfish terms. What sort of champion would most benefit ME? I know a few people playing in the main event, and of course I'm rooting for them. But if they somehow found a way to win the bracelet its doubtful the benefits would trickle down as far as me. I may have a good story to tell, but it wouldn’t affect my bottom line.

What exactly do I want? Quite a lot, actually. I'd like to see poker become more and more accepted as a socially acceptable game of skill. I live in Pittsburgh, where poker is illegal. Our legislature recently passed a law okaying slots casinos, but table games are still strictly verboten. There are organizations that run charity poker tournaments, where a portion of the buy-in goes to the worthy non-profit, church group, or fire department in question. These tournaments became so popular that law enforcement reluctantly stepped in to make sure everyone knew these games were, you know, against the law. So, to start off, I'd like the chance to play live poker without the fear of a really stinging wrist-slap.

I'd also like online poker to continue its spectacular growth. You hear statistics thrown around saying 50 million people in the United States play poker, which proves that there are lots and lots of folks out there who haven't taken the online plunge yet. And then there are lots of people in the US (and around the world) who haven't tried poker at all. Maybe all they're waiting for is a compelling story that catches their attention and makes them think, hey, maybe I should give poker a try, looks like fun.

Which is why I'm rooting for a woman to win this year's Main Event. Just as the success of Danica Patrick as revived interested in the moribund sport of Indy-car racing, a female World Champion would generate an incredible amount of interest in the game, even among those who don't know a flop from a flush. It would hopefully inspire more women to take up the game, hoping to emulate this newly-famous and incredibly wealthy role model.

And, returning the focus back to me, maybe some of these new female players would share something in common with at least a handful of rookie male players—they'd actually be worse players than me. I'm all for adding more fish to the global aquarium, and it matters not to me that they're members of the fair sex. Call me liberated, call me a feminist, but please, please call me with bottom pair when I'm holding the nuts.