As (Not?) Seen on TV

From the dept. of: Ooops!

The final table of the $5,000 NLHE event at the WSOP looks to be the most exciting yet. Marcel Luske, Vinny Vinh, and Isabelle Mercier are all there … so is Phil Hellmuth, with his record-tying 10th bracelet on the line.

But who’s not there is ESPN. Their crews have gone home for the weekend. I actually have a sidebet with the venerable blogger Pauly. My $1 against his says they will be there … certainly word will spread in time for them to capture a little potential history, right? We’ll find out tomorrow.

The $5k event, of course, is one of the toughest out there. It’s a deep-stack tourney, rich enough to attract the pros and pricey enough to keep away most amateurs. And unlike the $10k event, there are far fewer online satellites to win your way into it. The pro-heaviness to prize payout ratio is probably bigger here than in any other event. Should be good final-table poker fun tomorrow, with big money and a lot of pride on the line.