Everyone affiliated with the World Series of Poker has been experiencing the grind of the most prestigious tournament in the world.  The ESPN crew got a few days off before the main event started because they had been logging double-digit hours while working under the hot lights in the TV studio part of the poker room.  The suits over at ESPN want them to be fresh for the main event.

You can see the tired looks on the faces of cocktail servers and the various vendors.  The dealers are working seven days a week without any days off.  Some of them are working double-shifts at other casinos.  The media types have been going a little loopy.  With tournaments starting at noon and ending at 4 o’clock in the morning,  almost all of them have gotten sick at one point,  while others had minor metal breakdowns.  This is what happens when you see the same people,  eat the same food,  and breathe the same recycled air for five weeks straight.  A lot of us have been joking that a slew of our fellow press members will not make it to the main event.

Of course there was plenty of poker played over the previous week.  As usual,  almost every day there is history being made.  Doyle Brunson won his 10th bracelet,  which tied him with his friend Johnny Chan,  who'd won his 10th a few days earlier.  Allen Cunningham became the first player to win $1 million at this year’s WSOP.  And Paul McKinney became the oldest player,  at the age of 80,  to win a World Series of Poker bracelet.

One of my favorite stories from this past week involves Dan Schmiech,  a poker player from Texas.  In order for him to win his first bracelet in the $5K limit event,  he outlasted a difficult final table.  He had to beat out a law student  (Luke Neely),  a mother of four  (Annie Duke),  a former professional athlete  (Greg Mueller),  a small business owner  (James Kwon),  a magazine publisher  (Jeff Shulman),  a TV sitcom actor  (Gabe Kaplan),  the son of a famous poker player  (Joe Sebok),  and a seasoned tournament player  (Young Phan).  Dan Schmiech went heads up with Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter  fame.  Gabe Kaplan might just be one of the best celebrity poker players.  He made the final table at the Mirage World Poker Tour event and finally made a final table at the WSOP…  and all in the same year,  which is a tremendous feat.M

Plenty of Europeans have been making names for themselves at the WSOP.  Lawrence Gosney from Leeds,  England,  won his first bracelet in the $2K NL event that included five other Europeans.

The Razz event is one of the most grueling and difficult events to win at the WSOP.  Bruno Fitoussi from Paris and O’Neil Longson played heads up until past seven AM before a bracelet was awarded.  That’s impressive.  Both players refused to give up easily.

Of course, Doyle Brunson made history at the age of 72.  He won his 10th bracelet and that tied him for the most bracelets.  Johnny Chan,  who regularly plays in the infamous  “Big Game,”  won his 10th bracelet a few days earlier.  Doyle had to beat Minh Ly heads up to win the $5K NL Short-handed event.  Minh is also a regular at the  “Big Game,”  which features Barry Greenstein,  Phil Ivey,  Chip Reese,  Bobby Baldwin,  and Lyle Berman.  Also at Doyle’s final table were Layne Flack (5-time bracelet winner),  Jason Lester (main event finalist in 2003),  and Scotty Nguyen (1998 World Champion).  When Doyle Brunson won,  he got the loudest standing ovation that I have ever heard.  The crowd was paying homage to the best poker player who ever lived,  and it does not look like he’s going to slow up.

David Chui picked up his fourth bracelet in the $5K Omaha Hi/Lo event.  In the same event,  Allen Cunningham made his fourth final table and became the first player to win $1 million at the WSOP this year.

Andre Boyer is a poker announcer in Montreal,  Canada.  It was fitting that he won his first bracelet against the founder of the European Poker Tour in John Duthie.  In an epic win,  Boyer had to come from behind to beat Matt Glantz for the $3K NL title.

Paul  “Cigar”  McKinney is an old-school poker player.  With an unlit cigar dangling off his lip,  he’s been playing for over 65 years.  He’s won tournaments in Tunica,  at Foxwoods,  and in Atlantic City.  He’s made several final tables at the WSOP but never won a bracelet.  That changed after he won the Seniors No Limit Event.

Rafi Amit won his first bracelet in the $10K Pot-Limit Omaha event that featured some of Europe’s best players.  He also had to survive a wild heads up match with Vinny Vinh in which he was assessed a ten minute penalty for cursing.  The penalty cost him almost $200K in chips and his heads up battle that lasted well over three hours!