2007 WSOP Diary: Day 44, July 14th

  As the day went on players continued to disappear as if play was happening in the middle of the Bermuda triangle or Jeffrey Dahmer was in the room with a Hibachi and a big appetite. At this point in time, most of the sport's stars that we associate with something as monumental as the WSOP Main Event are hanging out at the bar, watching the action at the tables and trying out lines on cocktail waitresses. One of them involved the words "club" and "bad beat" but we won't go any farther with that.  Just because the Brunsons, Hellmuths, and Fergusons of the world have been relegated to tournament obsolescence doesn't mean that all former champions have succumbed so easily to the stiff competition.WSOP">  Scotty Nguyen, who was the 1998 WSOP Main Event winner, is still alive and kicking in this tournament (barely). Of course his stack of 1,960,000 should hold up just long enough for him to get his first drink from the waitress, but probably not much longer. Of course stranger things have happened. Of course for him to win it would require a miracle on par with turning water into wine or watching "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" without shooting yourself, but it is not out of the realm of possibility.  The biggest stacks left belonged to David Tran, who has an intimidating 10,280,000 and Kevin Farry who goes into day 45 with 7,400,000. Kevin drew some cheers but mostly the ire of the crowd when he eliminated Maria Ho. A number of fans had begun to appreciate her for more reasons than her poker skills, and wanted her to hang around a bit longer.  We are down to the wire and it will all be over soon. Who eventually wins is still anyone's call.