Unfortunately, I caught a nasty cold that had me down for the count the last two days of the WSOP. I tried to soldier on for a bit on Thursday, but just couldn't cut it and headed for the comfort of my MGM bed.
Like most of you readers I discovered who won the WSOP by logging on and reading PokerBlog. Congratulations to Jamie Gold for achieving the dream 8,772 fellow main event participants had. May Gold be a great ambassador for the game as it gears up for what will be a major discussion with Congress in the coming years on the future of online poker. There's no doubt the effect that the online game has had on the growth of poker offline (8,773 participants in the WSOP being proof number one) and to pull the plug on the online game would certainly reverberate within the real world poker community.
It's always sad to see the WSOP come to an end. There is no other tournament like it in the world; truly nothing comes close. Other tournaments offer trophies, rings or watches to the winners, but there is nothing that compares to a WSOP bracelet. Thousands of professional, intermediate and rank amateur players traveled to their Mecca this summer. Most of them went home empty handed (or with empty wallets), but almost all of them returned with great stories and the experience of a lifetime.
This summer also marked a major change in my life, as my one-year journey through the tournament circuit has now come to a close. I'm returning to Tuscaloosa tomorrow and starting graduate school in a couple of weeks. My goal had always been to play the WSOP main event in 2006 and I was glad I could achieve that goal. No, I didn't go deep in the tournament or become an instant millionaire, but I was able to cash and that was just gravy really.
Thanks to Party Poker and Dan Michalski for putting this blogging team together. I've met new people and made friendships I expect to last for years to come and I've also enjoyed the chance to write about poker and the WSOP on a new platform. As Amy said, this was an experiment that came off very well -- and I hope it will continue.
