We now have the November 9.
After four day ones, two day twos and the following days three, four, five and six, even hardened poker journalists, accustomed to the Vegas time distortion, were at sixes and sevens.
Twenty seven players remained from the field of 6,844 at the start of day seven. Two thirds of the remainder would have to slope home, a mere quarter of a million dollars richer, but no doubt plagued by thoughts of 'what if?'
Although the November 9 will now have plenty of time to waste thinking about how they will play when they eventually return in 117 days, the man most likely to need the assistance of the trauma team is Dean Hamrick.
When he pushed his 3,420,000 chips into the middle, the tournament was at level 33 with 30,000 antes and 120,000-240,000 blinds. He had been dealt A-J and he was one of the first to act.
Chris Marquis went all in over the top and we watched the others players quickly fold. Chris revealed QQ.
The flop landed K-T-3 so Hamrick picked up a straight draw but when the turn produced another T and a king fell on the river, AJ was beaten.
Hamrick cashed $591,869 and a proud finish of tenth, but we will suspect he will rue his actions.
One player who may well want to shake Hamrick's hand is Kelly Kim.
When Hamrick's statistically weak push collapsed, he left Kim in 9th place with only 2,620,000 chips. He is now $300,000 richer.
Of the other players whose challenge collapsed yesterday, Tiffany 'Hot Chips' Michelle will have to wait another year to etch her hancock into the record books as her 17th place finish guaranteed an all male final table.
Yesterday also saw the end of Nicholas Sliwinski's challenge when he bowed out in 13th place. Theoretically, that now leaves Jonny Chan without a player to mentor during the summer break.
However, we at Eyebrows suspect that some of Chan's minions will contact some of the remaining nine players and we may yet see his influence at the final table.
The player who will probably feel that he needs little assistance at the moment is Dennis Phillips. The accountant from St Louis, Missouri is chip leader with 26,295,000. The average stack is 15,208,888. He plans to return to his job and 'play a lot of poker'. Again, it will be interesting to see if he can stick to that plan.
It would be hard for anyone, not least an online qualifier who paid $200 for his seat, not to be swayed by voices with tempting offers.
It is a good example of The Utility of Money, or the theory that not every dollar has the same value.
Here's an example – if you start from scratch, make a million and then are presented with the chance to double it on a coin-toss, what would you do?
It depends on lots of things:
- Is it your complete bankroll?
- How did you make the money?
- What could you do with the money?
Most people wouldn't take the bet as they would deem the first million more valuable than the second.
They are risk averse.
Jonny Chan might take the bet, as long as he was getting at least even money.
He is risk neutral.
He has a large bankroll and, to him, every dollar has the same value.
For a few members of the November 9, they now have a substantial time to think of how much they have in comparison to how they started – for one, $200 has become a minimum of $900,000.
They could easily become risk averse and vulnerable to risk neutral types manipulating them, either in deals at the table, or in offers purporting to increase their chances, if they are prepared to surrender a small fee or sponsorship rights.
Some of the above happens at every major poker game but, with four months to play with, the worm-tongues will be almost impossible to escape.
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