The person lucky enough to win the 36th annual [World Series of Poker] tournament will earn an astonishing seven-and-a-half (m) million dollars. Last year's prize was a mere five (m) million, doubling what accountant Chris Moneymaker made in 2003.
The person knocked out first in the final table of the no-limit Texas Hold'em event will receive a one (m) million-dollar consolation prize. A total of nine people will be seated at the final table, which is scheduled to begin Friday at Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
The main event began July 7th at the Rio hotel-casino with a record five-thousand-619 players. That compares to just over 25-hundred in 2004 and 839 players in 2003.
Link.
A good opportunity to recall Marshall McLuhan's observations about poker:
Poker is a game that has often been cited as the expression of all the complex attitudes and unspoken values of a competitive society. It calls for shrewdness, aggression, trickery, and unflattering appraisals of character. . . Poker is intensely individualistic, allowing no place for kindness or consideration, but only for the greatest good of the greatest number”“the number one.
Understanding Media, 1964
