2008 WSOP Forecast, Day Nine: 7-Card

  As the ninth day of the 2008 World Sereis of Poker dawns in Las Vegas, some poker players are just going to be headed for bed. Other players, however, are sleeping hard, getting in some exersize and trying to eat right to do their best in the tournaments. And some try to do both. Today the World Championship Seven-Card Stud game will start off, the $10k event number 14. Like other "World Championship" events with a ten thousand dollar price tag that are not the Main Event, this stud game will likely wind up light on players. Add to the it the fact that it is seven-card stud - a game gathering dust with all but the most dedicated of poker players - and you lighten the load even more. Expect less than a thousand players - in fact, expect less than 600 players.  But also expect a mid-range player - in terms of name recognition - to come out of the blocks on fire and win the whole shooting match. Say, a player like Stevie Z. Steve Zolotow cuts an interesting figure. Glasses, bald pate fringed with white hair. White handle-bar mustache. Sharp wit. Steve Z is well known in poker circles, but only peripherally known to the poker world at large - and that mostly through an appearance on Poker After Dark. But he very well may make the news in a few days when he wins Event #14.