With the ANZPT Circus well and truly settled in and distracting most Kiwi poker players it’s easy to forget that 11000 kilometers away in Las Vegas over 7000 punters signed up for Event #57 of this years World Series aka The Main Event. (That’s Main with a capital M) The good news for poker is that it looks like the dip in entries over the last two years was recession based and that numbers are once again on the rise. More good news is that as the field has narrowed there have been a healthy amount of pros, sponsored and semi sponsored players doing well. I think the odd “every day guy doing well” in The Main Event is ok, but god forbid poker’s main display piece becomes the domain the of Jamie Goldesk luck fest and it’s seen more as pokies than poker. This year it’s best especially interesting for Kiwis, Simon Watt is fresh off OUR (lol) first bracelet win and local favorite and often honorary Kiwi Tony Dunst traveled deep (50th) (Tony has only been here twice but they were GOOD trips) For Simon it’s been an amazing 12 months. An APPT win, A WSOP win and now a cash in the main event.

The real question I have as this phase of the WSOP wraps up and finds it’s “November 9″ is will Simon’s success in the US inspire more New Zealanders to move there for the business end of the season. We have plenty of talented poker players (I should know, my dead money funds their buy ins) Simon should just be the start of what is an invasion of the continental United States. Kiwis all looking for the same thing. The Main event Bracelet in 2011… Do it… Do it…

Brooke Howard-Smith