/ Short-Stacked Shamus / 11 June 2010 / Leave a comment

I write today from Las Vegas, Nevada, the hot, broiling center of the poker universe for the rest of June and half of July. Two weeks of poker have already been played as part of the 41st annual World Series of Poker, with a third of the 57 bracelet events having been completed. It's a special time of year for poker, a time when players and fans alike come together from all over the world to play and celebrate the game they love.

This marks the third summer I've spent helping cover the WSOP for PokerNews. Once again I am here as one of the live bloggers who write reports throughout the day from a given event. I also help with the gathering of other information during the course of the event such as chip counts, details regarding prize pools and payouts, and more. I work as part of a much larger team of bloggers, field reporters, photographers, video hosts and producers, and others who are together working to tell the stories of these many events and the Series as a whole.

This week I have been helping cover Event No. 19, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit), an event that generally attracts a small but especially formidable field of poker's elite players.

This year was no exception, with just 101 players turning out, including about every top name pro one can imagine, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Huck Seed, Carlos Mortensen, and Greg Raymer. And that's confining ourselves to the former WSOP Main Event winners in the field!

I did a review of the field before the second day of play yesterday, and realized that of the 72 players who had made it through to Day 2, nearly half of them had won WSOP bracelets before. And of the total field, the players collectively had well over 100 bracelets between them -- in other words, more bracelets than entrants. Check out the reports from Event No. 19 for more on who was there and how the tourney has played out.

Helping cover the Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship this week has reminded me of at least three ways the WSOP is special.

Everyone is here
As I say, nearly all of the big "name" pros we see on television and regard as poker's top players were playing in the 2-7 Lowball event this week, but even those who were not could more than likely be found elsewhere in the Rio playing other events. For any poker player at all serious about tournament poker, the World Series of Poker is a required part of their yearly schedule.

Thus does the WSOP function as a kind of "family reunion" for many players, a time of year when they get to reconnect with longtime friends and competitors. Of course, as I was noting a couple of weeks ago, that "family" has gotten bigger and bigger over the years, and some have lamented the loss of intimacy that necessarily results from the Series having expanded from a small gathering of players to an annual destination of thousands. Still, if you're looking for somebody in poker, chances are good you're going to find that person here.

Unusual games
A game like deuce-to-seven lowball -- indeed, any draw poker variant -- is rarely if ever spread in poker rooms. Prior to the start of the first day of the event on Wednesday, a dealer said to me he'd only dealt the game once before in his life. "I hope I don't deal a flop," he said with a grin.

In fact, we saw that very mistake happen one time yesterday! After dealing the five cards to the table and administering the first round of betting, the dealer burned a card and accidentally spread out three for a flop, to which the players immediately reacted with a mix of censure and amusement.

The WSOP does a great job -- in my opinion -- of promoting these non-standard games and thus encouraging players (and dealers!) to learn them. One almost never finds draw poker games, razz, or even Stud/8 or Omaha/8 on offer in other tournament series. Including those games in the schedule is another reason why the WSOP is special.

Fan access
One other way the Series is special -- something I also was reminded of more than once this week -- is how accessible the tournaments are to spectators. On Day 1 of Event No. 19, I had a couple stop by my table where I was working to ask if any famous players were in the event. I rattled off a few names, pointing to the tables to indicate where the players were seated, and could see how excited -- and amazed -- they were to realize they could walk right over and stand within mere feet of the action.

Players are generally very cordial with fans as well, and I frequently see them signing autographs during breaks and posing for photos. As a reporter, I like witnessing these meetings and seeing both the players and spectators enjoying themselves so. Such interactions happen at other tournament series, too, of course, but more so at the WSOP, I think.

Event No. 19 concludes today, to be followed by many more events as we wind our way to the Main Event which begins July 5th. For those who aren't in Vegas, you can follow the coverage at PokerNews as well as a host of other great sites. And if you do happen to be here in the hot Nevada desert any time over the next few weeks and have any interest at all in poker, do stop by the Rio.

And if you happen to see a skinny guy with glasses feverishly typing away at his laptop, ask him and he'll be glad to tell you where Phil Hellmuth is sitting.