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World Series Of Poker
2004
 Jesse May Reports
LAS VEGAS
April 23rd - May 28th, 2004

Jesse May Reports : Champ D6 - Champ D5 - Champ D3 - Champ D2 - Champ D1 - T - 1 - T - 2 - T - 3 (II) - T - 3 (I) - T - 4 - T - 7 - Day 13 - D 12 - D 11 - D 10 - Return (9) - D 4 - D 3 - D 2 - Carborundum
Championship : The First 6 Days - The Final - Places & Prizes
Picture Series : Winners - Ted Forest - $5000 Holdem - John Hennigan - 2 to 7 Draw - A-Z Player List - The Final
 
Jesse May in
Las Vegas
T minus 1

The last line this long was when the Grateful Dead hit Seattle in ’73. Starting back from the tournament area. Down the hall, past the gift shop, the buffet, through the smoking area, around the corner past the bathrooms, past the press room, around another corner and through the hall that leads out to covered parking. I ask a man at the end of the line what he’s waiting for. “Dunno, think maybe it’s the super,” he says. It’s 3:30 pm one day before the biggest poker tournament in the history of the world and there isn’t anyone anywhere who isn’t queuing up for a last $225 shot to get in. Announcement comes down the line. The 3pm super has been moved to four. The 8pm super has been moved to nine. And both tournaments have been renamed super double dupers. The best way to make the ten thousand would be to start up a soda concession on the line itself.

Four o’clock and the 2004 World Series of Poker press conference kicks off inside the main tournament area. Tom Jenkins, the Western Division President of Harrah’s speaks to a packed room surrounded by more cameras and reporters than an Airforce One junket. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman hands Jenkins the keys to the city and professes his love for poker, Binion’s, and downtown Las Vegas. “I’m a full push-in man right off the bat,” Goodman says of his own poker tactics, “and if they’re not scared of that they ain’t scared of nothing.” Too right. Tournament director Matt Savage announces that he now expects the official prize pool to exceed $25 million and that first place will be a cool five million. Life changer. Defending champion Chris Moneymaker says that he’s been excited all year long to get back in this room and play it again. Someone asks which books he read when learning the game. Moneymaker responds, “To be perfectly honest, I’ve never read any poker books. I’m just not a book person.”

Extra tournament tables are being set up downstairs, while slot machines are being cleared right and left. There’s no room to walk, to breathe, or even to see. The big names are mostly resting, skipping the jamboree until absolutely essential. A white registration card means you play on Day 1, pink is for Day 2. Against a back wall downstairs, staring silently out from their frames is the wall of champions. That’s what it’s all about, and if Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, and Jack Keller can see what they’ve wrought they’re smiling at the action. The soul of Benny Binion is sitting at his corner table in the coffee shop, recommending the chili. It’s 1946, and Binion has a vision of a good, clean, gamble. Fifty-four years later, and that’s what this is.

Late night and there’s a celebrity party at Bikini’s nightclub in the Rio Hotel. Belvedere Vodka is pouring drinks onto specially made coasters with pictures of poker stars. If you make it dark enough, even poker players look good. The room is dressed to the nines, and a gaggle of gold diggers have swarmed past security and made it to the vodka and the dance floor. The Devilfish is surrounded by well wishers, fans, women, and more. He says his first day table has both TJ Cloutier and Andy Glazer. Trays of canapés circle, and Daniel Negreanu is doing a Canadian jig in a thousand dollar suit. Two hundred necks crane towards the door. It’s not Matt Damon. Not yet.

Too much talk about how lucky a person has to get in order to win. I like to think of it another way. Think how much heart a person has to have in order to win. Coming through seven days and 2500 people, just think how much heart the winner has to have. When the smoke clears from this thing, and it eventually will, the winner left standing will have a constitution worthy of medical study. Tomorrow at one, the battle will commence.

Jesse May Reports : Champ D6 - Champ D5 - Champ D3 - Champ D2 - Champ D1 - T - 1 - T - 2 - T - 3 (II) - T - 3 (I) - T - 4 - T - 7 - Day 13 - D 12 - D 11 - D 10 - Return (9) - D 4 - D 3 - D 2 - Carborundum
Championship : The First 6 Days - The Final - Places & Prizes
Picture Series : Winners - Ted Forest - $5000 Holdem - John Hennigan - 2 to 7 Draw - A-Z Player List - The Final
 
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