World Poker Open Sets Attendance Records

The Jack Binion World Poker Open started the year off with a bang for tournament players, as the player fields and prize pools broke all previous records. During most of the tournament, the lists for live games were very long, but the wait was worth it, as the poker action was tremendous.

I have never seen so many pot-limit games going at once. The many Europeans who traveled to the Tunica area to play must have been pleased with the abundance of pot-limit choices, which ranged from $5-$10 blinds to $400-$800 blinds. Limit games of hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and mixed games ranged from $50-$100 to $8,000-$16,000. There was even some Chinese poker available throughout most of the tournament.

The players seemed to be very pleased with the Southern hospitality they experienced. High on the list of comments I heard were raves about the no-smoking policy and the generous food comps. A special buffet for players was available at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. During after-hours, hot dogs and sandwiches were available, as well as the regular buffet and coffee shop. They even served sushi one evening!

Horseshoe Poker Manager Ken Lambert and Gold Strike Casino Resort Cardroom Manager Pepper Munsey always seemed to be on hand to take care of every detail and to greet players. They assembled an outstanding staff to aid in this effort.

A total of 160 players entered the $10,000 buy-in championship event, which was part of the World Poker Tour, so you will be able to watch it on television this spring. The filming went off without a hitch. I'd like to thank my co-announcers, Jack McClelland and Jimmy Sommerfield, for making it look so easy. Special congratulations go to the final-table players, listed here in order of their finish, from first to sixth: David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Phil Ivey, Johnny Donaldson, Buddy Williams, Jeremy Tinsley, and Tommy Grimes.

I heard and observed several funny things during the WPO. The first one happened on the day of the no-limit hold'em event. At about 7 p.m., Jimmy Sommerfield made the following announcement: "OK, everybody, you ought to play in tonight's supersatellite! It will be your best shot yet to win, because all the good players are still left in the tournament."

I also participated in a last-longer game, not a last-longer bet. There were some real die-hard players from Chicago in the game, and we had been playing for about 20 hours. Several of the players proposed a last-longer challenge, whereby each player would put up $100, and whoever lasted the longest in the game would get the $900.

I got a chuckle from John Esposito, who had a big stack of $100 bills in front of him during an Omaha eight-or-better game. When it was his turn to call a bet, he started looking through the stack of bills. Someone asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "I'm looking for my dirtiest bills, because I don't think I'll be getting them back."

My three weeks in Tunica passed very quickly, and I enjoyed the visit. I have one recommendation for anyone thinking about attending next year's tournament: Make your room reservation early! This tournament will only get bigger.

Change of subject: The following question was asked about the recent announcement that the World Poker Tour would air at 9 p.m. ET/PT: "What does 9 p.m. ET/PT really mean in cable TV terms?" Here is the clarification: As is the case with most cable TV programming, the Travel Channel is a single-feed network, which means that if it airs a show at 9 p.m. Eastern time, it will air at 6 p.m. Pacific time. This would be noted as 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. With the World Poker Tour, the Travel Channel plans to air the show twice on Wednesday nights starting April 2, so that it will hit the 9 p.m. time slot on both coasts. Therefore, it will air at 9 p.m. ET and again at midnight ET (which is 9 p.m. PT). The Central and Mountain time zones fall in accordingly (8 p.m. and 7 p.m., and then again at 11 p.m. and 10 p.m.).*