Calistri's Corner

The WSOP has a cycle much like a washing machine.  At the start of the series, players pile into the preliminary events like dirty clothes into the tub, hoping to come out cleansed, with a bracelet or a replenished bankroll.  The preliminary events churn through the players, lifting some to the top and leaving many to swirl around the bottom in dead money limbo.    

After the preliminary event schedule, everything suddenly stops.  The energy and optimism, like the water in the tub, drains out of the Amazon room.  There is an eerie quiet - then BAM!  The Main Event spin cycle begins.  The whirlwind of activity in the preliminary events in retrospect now seems tame and orderly.  Within the context of the Main Event’s life changing $8.25 million payout, every hand becomes a drama, every player becomes an actor, and seemingly unconnected stories are joined by the Main Event’s unpredictable script.  A suckout at one table fuels a key hand hours later at another table, as the players are spun through the cycle.  

The media tries to focus on single players and stories.   But with the speed of the spin, sometimes we are left with only a blurry representation of the event.  ESPN’s many film crews race around the Amazon tub, hoping that footage taken at one point in time has meaning even hours later.   The many online media outlets record hands, chip counts, and players’ names.  They work on the premise that the collection of these bits of data will eventually aggregate to a larger picture.   Looking back and projecting forward, all as the event continues to spin, is dizzying. 

And then cycle stops, as quickly as it began.  As we slowly regain our orientation, we begin the process of understanding what this year’s WSOP cycle meant in a context outside of the tub…and thus the drying process begins.

The above picture was taken by funkypancake.  Check out his great photoblog here.                 

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 7:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized.