Michael Craig (top center) playing in the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

THE FALLEN
Thank you, Robin. I have followed all the action at the World Series of Poker going back to June 26, and I will stay on the job until only one player remains late at night on August 10. I will highlight the pivotal closing moments for your Luxe Life readers, who can also read about this unusual event and its remarkable participants daily in Michael Craig’s Journal.

A field of 8,773 played in staggered fifteen-hour sessions between last Friday and Monday. In addition to every big-name poker player, numerous Hollywood and sports stars took their shot at the $12 million: Norm MacDonald (who briefly held the chip lead on Friday), James Garner, adult-film legend Ron Jeremy (who, gamblers were quick to note, lost a rare “last longer” bet when he busted), Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum, Lennox Lewis, Danny Masterson, Chris Masterson, Laura Prepon, Mekhi Phifer, Wil Wheaton, Tobey Maguire, Dax Shepherd, Brad Garrett (who hosted a roast for poker legend Doyle Brunson and continued yelling insults at Brunson throughout the day, only to be busted by Doyle’s grandson), Louie Anderson, Hank Azaria, Vince Van Patten, and Dean Cain. All are gone from the tournament.

But they are in good company. Nearly 6,000 players went broke in their initial session, more than the total number of entries in the 2005 championship. All three winners of 10 World Series bracelets -- Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth -- are gone (though Hellmuth continues to walk the floor of the Amazon Room, either because he craves the publicity or because he can’t believe his World Series is over). World Series superstars of recent final tables, likewise, are done: Greg Raymer, Robert Varkonyi, Steve Dannenmann, Chris Moneymaker, Sam Farha, T.J. Cloutier and my friend Mike “the Mouth” Matusow, who I saw bringing a bobblehead with his likeness to ESPN’s featured table.

 
Michael Craig with Annie Duke who is still alive in the Main Event and is a player to watch.

8,772 LOSERS WILL HAVE 8,772 STORIES, SO HERE IS MINE
Last Sunday, I lasted ten hours and three minutes in my first Championship, but it seemed like a lifetime. I have made a couple hundred trips through the Amazon Room in the last two years, but it seemed much larger, quieter, and colder than ever before.

Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller makes the ceremonial announcement, “Shuffle up and deal!” at 12:04 PM. At 12:07, the PA announcer says, “Congratulations, you have all made it past the first player eliminated.” Months of anticipation and $10,000, and it can all evaporate in 3 minutes. It is for this reason that I guard the 10,000 in chips in front of me as though they are worth far more, and why a room with 2,100 is silent.

1:25 PM -- I make three-of-a-kind with ace-king, beating another player with king-nine. As I rake in the 4,000 chip pot, Lisa Wheeler of CardPlayer.com happens to walk by and snap my picture. (I am later disappointed to see the picture has been cropped so my big, sloppy pile of chips is not visible.)

4:46 PM -- I have 12,050 chips and I’m getting antsy. I’m trying to figure out some way to chat up the table when one of the players mentions The Chimp. The Chimp is a common subject during the Main Event. Someone brought a trained chimpanzee to the World Series to enter him in the Main Event. Harrah’s, of course, wouldn’t go for it. (For one thing, the chimp was probably under 21.) The chimp happens to be staying at my hotel, an unglamorous place near the Rio where I have been awakened more than once by the fire alarm. I tell them that I met the chimp and offered to take a piece of his action, which was true. I am instantly the table celebrity and am peppered with questions, mostly about how the chimp plays poker. “Mostly by observing ‘tells’ in opponents and with Game Theory,” I say with a straight face.

6:30 PM -- I lose nearly 7,000 chips when I call a raise with ten-nine to trap my opponent (who presumably has a very strong starting hand, since he raised), hoping to flop a monster hand or release it with no further loss. The first three community cards are ten-ten-seven. Unfortunately, my opponent has queen-ten and I am under 5,000 chips.

8:39 PM -- As players get eliminated, they take full tables and split the players up to fill the vacated seats. After eight-and-a-half hours, I am now at a table of strangers. On the very first hand at my new table, I see the player to my left get all his chips in the pot with ace-jack and community cards of jack-ten-nine (for a pair of jacks). His opponent shows ace-ace. The final card, however, is a jack, making a lucky set of jacks for the player to my left. I hear the other players grumble that this has happened to this player several times today. He then explains that he won his seat online by turning a pair into a runner-runner (4th and 5th community card) four-of-a-kind.

10:03 PM -- Down to 3,100 in chips, it is my turn to post the forced “big blind” bet of 200. One of the last players to act, coincidentally a player who was at my previous table, raises to 700. He has been raising a lot of pots but is quick to release his hand when someone reraises. I think about stealing and then look down at ace-queen of hearts. I am still going to move all-in, but now I can pick up 1,200 in blinds and antes if he folds and probably double-up if he calls. I move all-in and he quickly calls, showing king-king. I do not improve and am eliminated. I stagger back to my hotel and get my best night of sleep in a month. The fire alarm does not sound; Monday must be my lucky day.

STILL STANDING
 
LEFT: Model Joanna Krupa still has chips. RIGHT: Pro Robert Williamson III, with Carmen Electra, does not.

In all likelihood, the champion crowned next week will be a man most poker fans have never heard of. But there are still many superstars of poker in the hunt, and some of them are women.

A highly regarded quintet of female players are still with chips as of Wednesday afternoon: Cyndy Violette, Melissa Hayden, Susie Isaacs, Cecilia Mortensen, and Kathy Liebert. As big as poker has become during the three years since Chris Moneymaker’s historic win in2003, it will get a lot bigger if Annie Duke, one of these six, or one of several other women remaining in the field is crowned as poker’s reigning queen next Thursday night.

One of those women, Playboy's July 2005 covergirl & Polish supermodel Joanna Krupa, was on a roll Wednesday, her second day in the World Series of Poker. She had just gone all-in with pocket queens and won a $9,000 pot -- her fifth win of the day -- pushing her chip count to $23,000. She admits: "I'm not a professional poker player," but she was proudly holding her own against more experienced players.