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 Entertainment | May 2005 
It's Time for the 2005 World Series of Poker
 Dale Blasingame - woai.com
| | Greg "Fossilman" Raymer |
If you're a poker player, the next few weeks are like the Super Bowl. Believe it or not, it's already time for the 2005 World Series of Poker.
This year's WSOP gets started on June 3rd, with the $1500 No Limit Hold'em tournament. More than 40 tourneys later, it wraps up with the main event's finale on Friday, July 15th. What happens in between that time will truly change the lives of hundreds of people.
There are some big changes this year. First, the location. For the first time in its history, most of the WSOP will be played at Rio, instead of Binion's Horseshoe (the final two days of the main event will still be played downtown). Second, the field size.
Around 8,000 players are expected for the $10k buy-in main event. That's $80 million in prize money! That means everyone lucky enough to make the final table will instantly become a millionaire. The winner will probably take home more than $10 million. Not bad for a week's work, huh?
So who will win? Honestly, who knows? Based strictly on the size of the field, you'd have to assume the chances of a big-name pro winning anymore are now slim to none. Pros used to call the amateurs in the field "dead money," meaning they had no shot of winning. Now it's basically the other way around. It's like the feeling you get when you're the best player at a home game and some guy who doesn't know what he's doing ends up busting you. You sit there, shake your head, wonder how he could call your all-in with a gutshot draw and hit his miracle. Now, imagine that happening dozens of times with millions of dollars on the line.
The one guy I will be rooting for is Dan Harrington. If you're a regular reader of this column, you know my strategy is fairly similar to Harrington's. As the old saying goes, "tight is right." Harrington's living proof of that. If he manages to make his third straight final table with these field sizes, they should just go ahead and put him in the Hall of Fame for that feat alone.
And if you press me for an answer on who will win...I'm about 99% sure it will be someone we've never heard of before. If I had to pick a pro, I'd put my money on someone like Daniel Negreanu (real hot right now) or one of the young guys, like Joe Cassidy.
If you're lucky enough to be going to the WSOP, shoot me an email and let me know how things are going. And if you're playing in an event, best of luck. |
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