The Ol' Slowdown
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We've got 39 players left in the field, and only 36 of them will be earning a paycheck here today. We're three from the money, and we've already been seeing the play slow right down in this level.
Arnaud Mattern was noticing this just a moment ago, thinking the same things we were thinking. Mattern had raised the last pot from the button, and the small blind reraised. In the big, James Bord tanked for several long minutes before folding, and Mattern quickly released his cards as well.
"You're not going to think for, like, twenty minutes every hand, are you?" he asked. Mattern was smirking and speaking in jest to some extent, but his point was a serious one. "I know you want to make the money, but..." he added, trailing off.
Comparing this bubble to the bubble of the WSOP in Vegas sheds a little bit of light on the seriousness of the situation. Those who squeaked into the money took home $19,263 this summer, not a bad paycheck at all. The inflated £10,000 buy-in here across the pond, however, makes cashing in this WSOPE Main Event a much more pocket-padding experience. The first man out in the money today will earn the equivalent of $33,388, and that's nothing to blink at.
The only mitigating factor that could help break our bubble is that we've got a lot of high-level players left who are more or less unconcerned about a minimum cash. Whereas hundreds of qualifying amateurs were just looking for a free $20,000 in Vegas, the men and lady still left in this event seem much less inclined to fold their way through the bubble.