Come Wind, Come Snow, Come Tahoe
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Good morning! -- ugh -- and welcome to one of our favorite traveling stops of the year, the World Series of Poker Circuit in Lake Tahoe! Winter is just settling itself into the high desert, and the wind and wildfires have forced a handful of inbound flights to be canceled. That hasn't yet put a damper on the "12 Rings in 12 Days" campaign here, and the turnouts have been up across the board for the preliminaries. Most notably, Alexandru Masek has captured his fourth WSOP-C ring here this week, moving him just one ring behind the all-time leader, Mark "Pegasus" Smith. You can read more about the preliminary events here.
Today's the big one, though, the $1,600 Main Event. Relative unknown Stan Quinn bested a field of 246 players to claim the ring last year, but a look back in history finds some more notable former champs. Michael Binger won the Main Event title in 2008, and it was Chris Ferguson taking the gold ring in 2007. Will we see either of those men back to try for another title?
Well, no. But the field that will gather figures to be a fine mix of seasoned pros, aspiring amateurs, and local grinders from the Reno/Tahoe area looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. The Day 1a flight kicks off at 11:00am PST, and the second flight will follow at 7:00 this evening. Players who are eliminated during the first flight are permitted to re-enter tonight, so expect the early action to be brisk.
There are already 128 players registered for the first flight this morning, and that's a good sign. There's not really enough snow to go pound the powder on the mountains, and it's too cold to go enjoy the lake. So why not play some poker? If you're in the area with $1,600 burning a hole in your pocket, get up here to Harveys and get yourself registered.
The cards go in the air in just about a half hour.