Reflections on Day 1

Well it has been quite a tumultuous first day here at the World Championships. A huge number of top players have been knocked out in the first round including Falafel, Tobias Hellwag, Fernando Braconi, Lars Trabolt, Matt Cohn Geier (defeated by our very own Tony Fawcett) and Philip Vichjager.

We Brits are holding our own despite a cruel start for Myke Wignall and Rachel Rhodes who both had anti-byes and were drawn against one another. Myke won through but we have yet to see the result of his next round match (everybody else's first round). Lawrence Powell and John Broomfield have made unlucky early exits. Tony Fawcett and myself are through to the last 64. Let's hope Myke joins us with a win later this evening.

As I left the playing area Paul Magriel and Leonid Riskin were still battling it to stay in the running. Quite a crowd had gathered as might be expected.

I have been hearing rumours that this might be the last World Championships to be held in Monte Carlo. There have been a number of sentiments voiced like this one:

http://www.bgonline.org/forums/webbbs_config.pl?read=100504
I for one would be sorry to see the World Championships leave the beautiful and historic surroundings of Monte Carlo. I went to Las Vegas once. It was OK. Big, brash, vulgar, over-the-top, cheap and in your face - in other words an excellent location for the World Series of Poker. I would prefer to improve attendance by other means than changing the location. Still, if a change breathes new life into the game we love then this can't be a bad thing.

Off for dinner and a glass of Sancerre now...