Got home from the office tonight in time to catch the last stretch of this week's episode of the World Series of Poker. This is almost embarrassing to me, but I've really gotten into watching the WSoP each week. I won't even attempt to rationalize its appearance on a "sports network" (ESPN), nor will I suggest that it's for everyone, but there's something oddly fascinating about watching it, especially since ESPN tips the audience to the hands that each of the players are betting. The early round broadcasts featured short bio segments on most of the top players, and help with the lingo, and I was hooked. I've never been a poker player, and if you asked me two months ago what I thought about watching televised poker, I would have laughed at you. There's sort of a talk show groove here: just as there's something appealing about watching people on talk shows and knowing that "at least my life isn't that bad," I've been quietly fantasizing about the WSoP, thinking, "hey, I could do that."
Of course, if I had $10K for the entry fee, I could also take a significant step towards minimizing my debt, which would be far preferable to losing all my chips on the first day to some bum who draws an inside straight on fifth street. Still, for an hour or two each week, I'm Matt Damon in Rounders.
I was thinking about this mainly because I just finished one of the books listed to the right, Positively Fifth Street by James McManus. McManus got a $4000 advance from Harper's to go to Las Vegas and cover a murder trial (the two defendants were accused of knocking off a big casino wonk). He turned the 4 into 10 at a WSoP satellite tournament, and ended up making it to the final table of the big one, despite a fairly casual interest in poker. The book is an account of his involvement in the tournament, of the events surrounding the trial, and in part a reflection on masculinity and the culture of Las Vegas. It's a very literate book, which explains (in part, I think) the complaints at Amazon about the fact that he tells more than one story at a time. He's a little over the top in places stylistically, but it's a fun read, a fast read, and does nothing to dispel my fantasy of one day entering the WSoP.
That, along with the fantasy that someday more than one or two people will read this blog, is what's keeping me going right now.
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