Last night, ESPN showed the Final Table of the World Series of Poker. Unlike previous years, the tournament was halted when the field was whittled down from over 6,000 participants to just nine...the November Nine.
ESPN produced their weekly poker show throughout the summer and into fall, culminating in nine men reaching the Final Table to be played live, well sort of live, in November. Nine men at a poker table could take more than half a day to complete, so ESPN put on the event in front of a raucous crowd at the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio in Las Vegas, then throughout the day yesterday, cut it up into a nice two hour, slickly produced card and chip extravaganza.
Now, I am a poker junkie. Many people out there are as well. I'm also in the bag for Norman Chad. Not as many takers there, I've noticed.
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For those who couldn't stay up to watch it and have it on DVR, I don't want to spoil it, so click here to find out who won, and here to see how much freaking money the final table took home (hint: it's over 33 million dollars). Thirty-three million bucks for nine guys. Hell, the Florida Marlins payroll was only $22 million for 25 guys!
Cole Hamels made half a million bucks last year. Ryan Howard made $10 million. And last night some guy won over nine million bucks for playing cards...really, really well.So, the question is: what would you do for nine million bucks?
Before people start railing on poker that it's not a sport and blah blah blah, it's not. It's a game. And say what you want about the money, these players are putting up their own money (or being staked by large companies who buy an interest in their success). Imagine every baseball player putting up their own cash at the start of the season. Better yet, imagine every golfer having to go to a tournament each week and put down $10,000 of their own cash to play against 6000 other players, 99% of whom are amateurs just looking for a story to tell.You think Tiger Woods would have as many career wins as he does playing with me, Matt and Enrico (or, hell, this guy) every time the US Open rolls through town?
But nine million bucks? Seriously, if you had that kind of money handed to you – and your chance is as good as anyone's out there next year – what would you do?
News
LINKS:
• Gonzo promoted the site in his column, explaining that the Eagles block a ton of websites, including Slate, Deadspin and KSK, but not this here site. So we link to his story linking to this.He also talks about how the Cowboys are taking out more loans to finish their stadium Ah, the economy.
• Reuben Frank gives the hard numbers on how bad the Eagles run game has been.
• Yesterday I wrote that Reid will not be fired. I should have read this first, from Iggles Blog.
• Bleed Eagles Green wonders if it's the chicken's fault, or the egg. I guess in this McNabb is the chicken and Reid is the egg...he's rounder.
• The Flyers played an afternoon game on Long Island yesterday, and won. Newsday live-blogged it. Best line: "Our new name should be the Isles Piles, and you know what those piles are made of."
• Sixers lost to Utah. Bob Ford explains how the Sixers won't be good until they get Iggy with it. (sorry, sorry).
• Kevin Noonan says Mo needs to be more coach, less chemist, but right now it's hard to find the right concoction. Or something like that.
• Skeets has video of Obama playing ball on the day he became President.
• We made jokes about Dawkins head gear. Well, this isn't funny at all.
PHOTO PHUN:
Yesterday's Winner: "Ha, who can concentrate on play calling when pitchers and catchers report in 119 days." - Lehigh Chris
Todays: From Philly.com's gallery of local stars.
