Main Event-- has the sport jumped the shark??

[oaktoon]

I was utterly disgusted watching the final two episodes of this year's main event. and I'm not sure what i was more disgusted by: the quality of behavior or the quality of play.

On the former, Hahvid Khan is bad enough, but Jerry Yang's constant prayers were way over the top, and so what if they were answered? But lee Watkinson's wife did the same thing! Listen-- Poker Gods and beseeching them are one thing-- bringing the Big Guy into it goes way beyond the pale.

as to the play, wow. childs laying down Queens seemed bad at the time when we didn't know what Yang had-- watching that table made it even worse.

And counting Scotty's implosion just before the final table, i counted three different players who went all-in for their tournament lives on draws. with millions of chips. Unreal.

Watkinson's play wasn't the worst thing i ever saw-- he had to assume Yang had something worse than A7 given the situation-- but again, when you see Yang dominating with all those chips, why even try with at best a 60-40 advantage when you know he will call??

The whole thing was virtually unwatchable-- lacked the class of hachem and danneman; the intrigue of farha vs. Moneymaker; the genuine spirit of David Williams and greg raymer (and doesn't Arieh's trashing of raymer seem mild compared to what we see now??) i guess jamie Gold was the turning point, but I sure don't like what I see. and oh yeah-- all the full Tilt/Poker Stars dressed in black was pretty depressing too.