World Series of Poker Final Table

Paul Phillips has a post about the WSOP final table, which aired Tuesday evening on ESPN, reminding me that I hadn't posted anything about it. The most obvious thing about it, and the thing I found most enjoyable about watching it, was the comraderie among the players and the welcome class with which they treated one another. It probably helped that Matusow was knocked out first, he would no doubt have had some nasty things to say at some point down the line, but I had to feel bad for the guy. How brutal is it to sit down at that table and take KK against AA almost immediately?

I love reading the poker message boards and seeing people saying that he should have mucked the kings. As Paul wrote, "For some reason televised poker never shows ANYTHING but easy laydowns. Come on man! You have the worst hand, fold! Man those donkeys on teevee suck." No kidding. All the laydowns and moves are so obvious when you know what the other person has. Who woulda thunk it?

But as I said, I really enjoyed the fact that the players all seemed to understand how incredible it was that they were there, and seemed genuinely warm to one another despite the pressure. Andrew Black handled his brutal and quick fall with grace. Joseph Hachem acted the way every Aussie I've ever known acts, gracious and funny and charming. And Steve Dannenman was just hilarious to watch. When he pulled his notes out of his pocket and began reading from them before laying down A-10 against Hachem's A-J, that was great TV. In an activity that so often promotes the boorishness of Phil Hellmuth, it's nice to see that the last two years the main event was won by real gentlemen.