ESPN, FLIPCHIP & THE WSOP

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com
Devilfish begins his come back
I’m very fortunate to have been there in the mix, as a working stiff, but there nonetheless. I got to witness first hand the days and hours of play among this bunch to get to this point on TV. Viewers get to see the sanitized, miniaturized, ad enhanced, pre-packaged colloidal soup poker hour. My version was the long one filled with more hours of boring wait time than the ESPN 2007 TV Series fills in its entirety, and they didn’t play a hand of poker. This was just the accumulation of time from the dinner breaks, player breaks, TV breaks, chip-up breaks, crew breaks and break breaks.Fortunately, when they are playing I had available a nice bevy of professional still cameras and equipment plus a badge that allowed me to use the stuff. I got to see and record the WSOP from my unique camera angle. Sometimes, I even lucked into a money shot after holding a manual focus for what seems like hours.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com
Burt Boutin rulesThe Super Star pros are absolutely the most difficult to master. With most of the Reese, Hellmuth, Ferguson, Brunson, Chan, Ivey level player the photos all look alike, no time divined difference…same face, different year. It’s like shooting a statue, a fixed expression attached to an immobile mask. Oh joy! when they finally move. Ironically, the Easter Island pose is just one of the many prerequisite talents that turned them into magicians.

Not all of the greats are stone still all the time, there’s another group with an added challenge all its own. The Negreanu, Laak, Matusow, and I must add Tuesday night’s star, Burt Boutin, to the list of pros that tend to constantly be in motion. Like a boxer, they weave and dodge their way along the felt. The intense eyes constantly sweeping the opposing players while they naively hold open court with their game pieces. Lucky for me, this group is most likely to reward with some of the classic ‘frozen in time’ action shots.

Glamour most definitely exists at every poker tournament and I get to see it up-close through the Nikon’s viewfinder. Oh! Nikon, the very word is a stimulant. Nikon, a high precision tool that has the best odds of soliciting a response from some of the World’s most beautiful women. The camera screams at you for your best look, a look I promise to share with the world. I get to photograph women that are filmed for the big bucks. I get to connect through the lens to produce an image that screams, “Look at Me!”

I’ll be sharing my thoughts and views of the 2007 WSOP as we count down the remains of Summer 2007. Shorter days and lower temps are a reminder that we’ll soon need a warmer hoodie. Our priorities will be holidays, shopping, great food, family, pro ball, and the WPT at the Bellagio. All those things are covered Vegas Style right here on LasVegasVegas.com

Sundays are becoming the Poker Prof’s day to outline the week’s poker hotspots and gaming musts in Las Vegas. Poker tournaments in Las Vegas are a constant with some, the Bellagio comes to mind, rivaling the majors in size of prize pools and number of entrants. You can stay on top and fully informed at our new improved Poker Prof Tournament Directory, updated continuously. Another new Poker Prof Tournament Directory feature is an easy player/user interface to upload your own new poker tournament information or to update existing info with just a click.

All photos today were taken by Flipchip at Event #7 of the 2007 WSOP. If you like what you see here then check out the all new Flipchip Photo Galleries especially designed to provide high quality images of the latest Flipchip/LasVegasVegas photos added weekly to the thousands of vintage images.