The WSOP main event is about to reconvene?
OK, that’s a joke, but it does seem as though a lot of people don’t know (or care) that play in the world’s biggest poker tournament is set to resume today at 10 a.m. PST. Unfortunately, rather than build excitement and anticipation, the delaying (for 117 days) of the final table of the World Series of Poker championship event seems to have cooled interest.
When you think about it, it’s not that surprising. In an article published in the Las Vegas Sun last Thursday, gambling columnist Jeff Haney made an excellent point, noting that WSOP promotors didn’t exactly have an easy line-up of events to compete against between last July and today. Those events included the Olympics, the baseball World Series, daily coverage of the most significant financial crisis in 75 years, and a presidential election that delivered a historic result. Up against those headlines, there weren’t exactly a lot of media openings for a poker tournament that’s down to nine players who are, as yet, completely unknown.
Or are they?
These players are certainly now familiar to the ESPN TV faithful, as they’ve been effectively chronicled and featured over the past several weeks of coverage. And it’s likely there’ll be a good-sized audience at their TV sets come Tuesday night’s first airing of the finale. Still, even if the ESPN ratings are good for the final, the intent of using these four months to attract a whole new fan base did not materialize.
As for the schedule, the champion is expected to be crowned either late tomorrow or early Tuesday morning. The tape will then be quickly edited into a two-hour special that will air Tuesday on ESPN at 6 p.m. PST. The tournament format precludes covering it live, but the rapid turnaround should make it so most viewers will not know the result as they watch.
Following is a recap of the finalists remaining from the starting field of 6,844, along with chip counts and the current odds on them to win (from Pinnacle Sports.
| Player | Chip Count | Odds |
| Dennis Phillips | 26,295,000 | +466 |
| Ivan Demidov | 24,400,000 | +434 |
| Scott Montgomery | 19,690,000 | +519 |
| Peter Eastgate | 18,375,000 | +518 |
| Ylon Schwartz | 12,525,000 | +842 | Darus Suharto | 12,520,000 | +1062 |
| David "Chino" Rheem | 10,230,000 | +886 |
| Craig Marquis | 10,210,000 | +1081 |
| Kelly Kim | 2,620,000 | +2807 |
Note that the odds fall close to the chip counts, with Demidov, Eastgate, and Rheem getting a little additional respect for their perceived talent. The champion will win $9.1 million and all but ninth place, which gets $900,000, will take down at least $1 million.
