Final Thoughts Before the Final Table

You’re not going to believe this, but I’m not in Tunica. Not in Mississippi, even. This morning, my wakeup call came at 5AM, which is usually the end of my night, not the start of my day. I packed some now wrinkled clothes, headed to the airport and now I’m in Atlantic City.

God bless the Internet.

I’m perched in my room on the 37th floor of the Borgata, wanting to know as much as you guys do about what’s about to go down. A few hundred miles away, I’m sure Linda Johnson is making a few wisecracks to warm up the TV audience, Sexton and Van Patten are getting their final make-up touches and Ryan and Tony are gorging themselves on catered munchables. Me, I’m wiped out; welcome to life on the poker road.

To my mind, today is all about Daniel Negreanu. Two times he’s won these WPT title things, once he’s been player of the year, and he seems determined to own every record in the book. A victory today would tie him with Gus Hansen with three victories atop the list. The money wouldn’t bee too shabby either.

Standing in Daniel’s way is the mountainous stack belonging to Young Cho. Cho once lost a jewelry store to poker…he was actually that bad. He’s paid his dues, though, and come out on the other side. He comes into the finale with T2,571,000. For those too lazy to do the math, that’s just over that magical 50% mark.

The rest of the boys are in for a fight. The WPT’s newest millionaire JC Tran and ‘amateur’ two-time WPT finalist Kido Pham are going to be fighting uphill battles. At least they’ve done this before; Gary Kainer and Bryan Sumner are new to the ‘stage and lights’ deal, so we’ll see if they gather their senses in time to do some real playing.

Sit back, relax and wait for the sound of the bell. They’ll be getting started any moment. I’m watching with you today; should be a fun one.

Oh, and one last reminder; check out my site at www.wisehandpoker.com when it’s all done. Peace.