We're about 10 minutes away from the scheduled start of today's Event #44 final table. Camera crews are currently setting up and it could be a bit of a delay before we actually get started.
Meanwhile, let's meet the nine who have made it through to today's final day of play.
So once said Crandall Addington, as quoted in The Biggest Game in Town, that great chronicle of the 1981 World Series of Poker by Al Alvarez. If Addington is correct, then an event like this one -- a mixed hold’em event in which players repeatedly move back and forth between limit and no-limit poker -- provides a special challenge.
It is probably safe to say the nine who have successfully negotiated their way through a tough field of 507 to make today’s final table have already proven themselves to possess both the technical know-how to handle the “science” of limit and the imagination and creativity to practice the “art” of no-limit. And, of course, the versatility to be able to switch between the two.
Jarred Solomon and Gavin Smith return today nearly even with the most chips, although the short stacks Dwyte Pilgrim and Mike Santoro are only one big hand away from positioning themselves to go deep. Play will begin with most of the limit half of Level 19 still left to go, after which the game will change back to no-limit, alternating every half-hour until a winner is determined.
By way of further explanation of the contrast he was drawing, Addington had something else to say about the difference between limit and no-limit: “In limit, you are shooting at a target. In no-limit, the target comes alive and shoots back at you.”
Come back at 2:30 p.m. to see our final nine each employ all the technique and creativity they can as they aim for the next WSOP gold bracelet.
Event #44: $2,500 Mixed Hold'em
Day 3 Started
