You feel that delicious thrill coursing through your every nerve and vein and you know, subtly, without quite knowing why, that something has changed. The air is still and the birds are strangely silent. The sun beats down with a relentless intensity from a crystalline, cloudless sky and you feel as if you could see for thousands of miles in every direction. Strangers make eye contact, and by their quiet, knowing smiles they communicate with an unshakeable certainty that all men truly are brothers — united in a quest for truth, serenity, rectitude, beauty, wisdom, perfect justice and an exalted, almost unendurable vision of unblemished excellence.
What is it? You guessed it. The Main Event is still a month off, but The World Series of Poker starts today.
Morgan Brown says:
One of my wife’s good friends is currently 2 out of 10 remaining at the WPT @ Mandalay Bay (last I checked). Once he is done with that one he has a full slate of WSOP events lined up – amazing.
June 1, 2007 — 10:48 am
Jonathan Dalton says:
Few things cause you to reevaluate your existence more than listening to hand-by-hand coverage of the WSOP on a Sirius Satellite Radio.
Having said that, it’s time to check the broadcast schedule.
June 1, 2007 — 3:09 pm
Greg Swann says:
Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold
by Townes Van Zandt
when the wicked king of clubs awoke
it was to his queen he turned,
his lips were laughin’ as they spoke.
his eyes like bullets burned.
“the sun’s upon a gamblin’ day.”
his queen smiled low and blissfully.
“let’s make some wretched fool to pay.”
and plain it was she did agree.
he sent his deuce down into diamond,
his four to heart, and his trey to spade.
three kings with their legions come
and preparations soon were made.
they voted club the day’s commander.
give him an army, face, and number.
all but the outlaw jack of diamonds
and the aces in the sky.
well, he give his sevens first instruction:
“spirit me a game of stud.
stakes unscarred by limitation
‘tween a man named gold and a man named mudd.”
and club filled gold with greedy vapors
’till his long green eyes did glow.
mudd was left with the sighs and trembles,
watchin’ his hard earned money go.
flushes fell on gold like water.
tens they paired and paired again.
but the aces only flew through heaven
and the diamond jack called no man friend.
the diamond queen saw mudd’s ordeal.
began to think of her long lost son.
fell to her knees with a mother’s mercy.
prayed to the angels, everyone.
the diamond queen, she prayed and prayed,
and the diamond angel filled mudd’s hole.
then the wicked king of clubs himself
fell face down in front of gold.
now three kings come to club’s command,
but the angels from the sky did ride.
three kings up on the streets of gold.
three fireballs on the muddy side.
the club queen heard her husband’s call,
but lord, that queen of diamond’s joy
when the outlaw in the heavenly hall
turned out to be her wanderin’ boy.
now mudd, he checked, and gold bet all.
mudd he raised, and gold did call.
and his smile just melted off his face
when mudd turned over that diamond ace.
now here’s what this story’s told:
you feel like mudd, you’ll end up gold.
feel like lost, you’ll end up found.
so amigo, lay them raises down.
June 1, 2007 — 8:35 pm
Jay Thompson says:
If someone’s got a spare $10K to stake me in the main event, let’s talk….
June 1, 2007 — 11:06 pm
Jonathan Dalton says:
Stake you? Why would your first-day flameout be any better than mine, Jay? 🙂
June 2, 2007 — 8:31 am