WSOP Gaming Expo Starts With a Bang

The World Series of Poker's main event starts tomorrow, and today was dedicated to four super satellites, a media and celebrity event, and the final table of a $1,500 no-limit event that began Tuesday.

Compared to past days, today's slate was tiny, but the hallways leading to the Amazon Room were still packed with poker fans, players and the curious, carrying bags of free stuff.

Today, more than 100 vendors descended on the Rio to show of their products at the Gaming Expo. It's the second year this circus has come to town and it goes on until Monday.

The room was full of curious gawkers checking out the many different booths sponsored by large companies such as online sites Bodog, PartyPoker, Activision and Full Tilt, to small businesses selling everything from $8 novelty card protectors to $15,000 custom card tables by Diamond Tables of Las Vegas.

Kent Reynolds owns Diamond Tables, which sells high-end poker tables and customized table felt. His company does the felt for the World Series of Poker. People walked by and ogled a gorgeous custom card table that sold for $15,000.

"I think it's good," Reynolds said. "It's an awesome opportunity to get all these customers in one place. It's going to get out of hand next year."

As far as spectacle, it's a feast for the poker fan. Women dressed in nearly nothing hand out flyers, and video game companies along with online poker sites set up screens and invite people to play for prizes. Bodog even has a mock-up of a bachelor pad, complete with a second story bedroom that includes two babes in lingerie wriggling around on the bed. A video of this is broadcast on a flat-screen television down below.

Next to the Bodog booth Seth Weinger's booth. His company, Poker Faces, sells a dozen different card protectors that are meant to represent different poker styles. They're funny, and they're cool.

He choose the Gaming Expo to introduce his product.

"We picked the show to be our launch pad for our product," Reynolds said. "It's the biggest stage, what can you say?"

He paid $2,100 for his corner spot, and says he sold about enough to break even. However, it's really not about turning a profit this weekend, he says.

"We're making a lot of great contacts," he said.

Chaz Ramsden is lucky. He's right next to a booth that features two beautiful women who are dressed like they're going to a beach volleyball game at the Playboy mansion.

"I've had guys ask me if they can watch my booth while I take a bathroom break," he says.

Ramsden's company, One Jack Off, sells T-shirts and belt buckles bearing his trademarked logo. This is his second year. Last year, he said he showed up to expose people to his product and it seemed to work.

When he got home from the expo last year, he noticed a sharp rise in hits to his website, and expects the same thing to happen this year.

"They keep me coming back just because of the exposure," he says.

The Gaming Expo runs from today until Monday. Doors open at 11 a.m. each day.

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