Tonight will crown one of nine contestants as the 2006 World Champion in the 37th Annual World Series of Poker No Limit Hold’em Championship, and reward him with a record US$12 million. All but one of those seated at the final table comes from the United States, the only exception being Erik Friberg from Stockholm, Sweden. The youngest finalist is Douglas Kim (22) from Martsdale, New York who recently graduated with an economics degree. The present chip leader, Jamie Gold, is from Malibu, California.

Whoever finishes last of the nine competitors will walk away with over US$1.5 million, a reasonable return for eight days play since the competition started with a US$10,000 buy-in by over 8,700 hopeful players on Friday, 28 July. The winner will have the kudos of being named World Champion plus the coveted diamond bracelet and US$12 million. Staged at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas, this year ESPN is making the final table action available via pay-per-view.

Beneath all the razzamatazz this year’s competition has highlighted some poker-playing issues. Since the arrest and subsequent detention of the then CEO of BetonSports, and the bill passed by the House of Representatives making Internet gambling a federal crime, organizers of the WSOP competition are playing down any links with online poker sites. There are an estimated 15 million US online poker players that could face criminal charges if anti online gambling bills become law, and that over half the entrants to the main WSOP event won their US$10,000 buy-in through online poker websites.

Party Poker.com, based in Gibraltar and the world’s largest poker website, has discreetly altered advertising and hospitality rooms to .net, as have other .com poker sites at the request of organizers Harrah’s Entertainment. The .net sites have no links through to online gambling and are described as educational. Clothing worn at WSOP has also been changed so that no .com logos are visible. Many argue that poker, whether played online or not, is a game of skill and does not create addicts. The nine finalists play on regardless but it will be interesting to see the status of online poker in the USA this time next year. (E-08.10.06)

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