I have some buddies who headed to the arena Series of Poker this week, and their plans are big. There is a fancy three-bedroom suite with a spiral staircase and a pool table. There's a WSOP tourney schedule. I've even seen one in all them flipping through pictures of fancy custom suits. I DO NOT know whether to feel free or sad for them. 

We've done these trips before, haven't we? The wait--the antici........pation--can be grueling. It's some warped adult version of puberty, one where literally everything on our minds is feasible and just beyond our grasp. The joy collects like water against a dam, and before too long it's impossible to consider anything else. 

By this time Saturday, any of my friends may well be sitting at a WSOP final table. They're all talented players, and there is nothing to mention they couldn't do it. Regardless, even they confess, the anticipation aside, they know the score. When a bunch of 3 buddies goes to Vegas, odds are no less than considered one of them is coming home with not up to he brought and perhaps nothing in any respect. Poker could be a zero sum game, but Vegas is not. In the The Count of Monte Cristo (uh, spoiler alert), we're taught "'...all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope'." The similar may well be said of the sector Series of Poker. 

That was one of the most cavernous Rio convention center rooms throughout the Colossus, a tournament that drew an incredible 21,000+ entries and paid $1,000,000 to the winner. The quantity of anticipation leading as much as it was enormous. For weeks before the start of the tournament, players from around the globe pounded WSOP Twitter Czar Kevin Mathers' account requesting updates on entries, begging not to be shut out in their chance to play within the monster tourney. Once the loads arrived, they sat down with their hope, and when it was done, the majority of them left with nothing however the privilege of having to play for an afternoon or two. 

For a few of them, that's where the hope died, but for lots of others, the lingering effects of the poker boom hung on. They looked out in that crowd of people--people identical to them--and saw other faces that a mere 15 years ago have been simple grinders, too. Those people were now champions, international stars, and legitimate veterans of the sport. Even supposing The Colossus didn't bear fruit, there has been still hope for the folks who still had a couple of dollars of their pockets. Maybe a satellite would do the trick. Maybe they may run it up in a cash game. Maybe. Maybe. Hope. Hope. The wait would continue. 

Victor Ramdin and Greg Raymer, two famous champions play within the Colossus

It was just yesterday we were warning the poker world to watch out of Naoya Kihara who led the $1,500 HORSE event on the WSOP with 201 players remaining. He was a person who had every reason to be stuffed with anticipation and hope as he entered Day 2 of the development on Wednesday. By the top of the night, Kihara was an insignificant memory for those left within the tournament. He busted in 48th place and banked not up to $4,000 for his efforts. 

Naoya Kihara, lacking the smile of the day before

For the entire lost hope in Kihara's eventual demise, there was--and remains--much more for Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari. Yesterday, he was farther down the leader board than Kihara and so forth. Today, he's one of the vital final 20 players remaining within the HORSE event and has an opportunity to win his second WSOP bracelet. 

Akkari first won gold back in 2011 during a raucous Brazilian celebration that closed out the $1,500 NLHE event. He won $675,117 for the effort, but he's been on the lookout for that second bracelet ever since. Today, he has a chance--hope, when you will--to do it again, however it won't happen without some luck. The opposite 19 players (including the likes of Ben Ponzio, Justin Bonomo, and Svetlana Gromenkova) are ridiculously tough opponents. For now, all Akkari can do is wait until noon Vegas time to get started...and then hope. 

Akkari on the lookout for his second WSOP bracelet today

While all of that may be noteworthy, I WILL NOT help but find the largest well of hope in a man named John Smith (which we'll just assume isn't a pseudonym). Today, at age 69, he's going to play some of the final four for the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship bracelet. Who's he? You'll be forgiven for not knowing.

In a tourney field stacked with one of the toughest heads-up players within the world, Smith is an amateur, a highway contractor, an enthusiast for those who will. His only profit the WSOP was a few years ago when he won $26,000 within the same event for an 11th place finish. 

John Smith

This year, Smith beat five people on his approach to the general four and is guaranteed $123,000. It is very possible this man could've waited until age 69 to win his first WSOP bracelet. 

Or, no less than we will hope he will. 

Because really, that is what it is all about, isn't it? Whether we waited a year or our entire lives to make it to a WSOP event, we've done so with the hope that someday shall we call ourselves a bracelet-winner. Regardless of whether it's my buddies hitting the city for an extended weekend, Akkari hoping for an extended day within the HORSE, or John Smith fulfilling an established dream, it all is occurring today in Vegas. It is not what Dumas was talking about when he wrote "Wait and Hope," but it's as close as poker goes to get. 

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging. Follow him on Twitter: @BradWillis. WSOP photos by PokerPhotoArchive.com

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Series of Poker]