Jeff Haney relates why poker’s seven-week world series is like a compressed full season of racing or basketball

Wednesday, June 6, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

Jeff Haney will talk poker and gambling in a guest appearance on the Fezzik's Place national conference call at 8 tonight. For information on how to listen or participate, e-mail conference coordinator Jon Spevack at jonsotheremail@gmail.com.

What: World Series of Poker

When: Through July 17

Where: Rio Pavilion convention area

Admission: Free to watch

Information: www.worldseriesofpoker.com

Jeffrey Pollack, who has worked in the executive offices of NASCAR and the NBA, sees the seven-week odyssey of the World Series of Poker in much the same light as a full season of one of those sports.

Only a lot shorter.

And more hectic.

And restricted to a more confined space.

And although he's too diplomatic to say so, quite possibly populated by more irascible whiners per capita (Tony Stewart and Rasheed Wallace notwithstanding).

"The World Series of Poker, over the course of 48 days, is not much different from a sports season that runs eight to 10 months," Pollack, commissioner of the World Series, said shortly before the opening ceremony of the world's biggest and richest poker tournament. "We have a beginning, a middle marked by a sort of all-star event and an end that captures the world's attention.

"But we do it all in a very compressed time period, and in essentially one room."

The 38th annual World Series of Poker began Friday at the Rio with a $5,000 buy in mixed (limit/no-limit) Texas hold 'em tournament and concludes July 17 with the final table of the $10,000 world championship no-limit hold 'em event. By then, ESPN's seemingly wall-to-wall coverage of the tournament's early events will have started.

Most of the 55 bracelet tournaments - "the broadest spectrum of events in tournament history," Pollack said - take place over two or three days, with the championship event stretching across 12 days.

Some of the talk at the Rio this past weekend centered on the long registration lines for the first couple of events (What? Poker players complaining? Naaah ...), but those remarks had the hollow, Yogi-esque ring of "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

The mixed hold 'em event drew 451 players, with 21-year-old Steve Billirakis of Chicago outlasting a field laden with established pros to become the youngest winner of a gold bracelet in World Series history. Billirakis, born the year before Johnny Chan won the first of his back-to-back main event titles, earned $536,287. (Chan placed 31st, collecting $13,778.)

A day later, the $1,500 buy in no-limit hold ' em event attracted a field of 2,998 players - the third-largest live poker tournament ever, behind only the 2005 and 2006 main events. Ciaran O'Leary of Seattle won the top prize of more than $727,000.

No-limit hold 'em remains the game of choice for today's breed of poker players, but the World Series schedule features other games as well , including today's world championship 7-card stud event. A selection of mixed-game tournaments is highlighted by the $50,000 HORSE world championship, a five-day event that begins June 24 - the midseason "all-star" classic Pollack referenced.

Veteran poker pro Chip Reese's victory in last year's inaugural HORSE championship - each letter in the acronym stands for a form of poker - stood out as Pollack's most memorable moment in his rookie year as commissioner.

"That event was an important first step for us in proving we can modify and reform the schedule with credibility," Pollack said. "We had the best players in the world turn out for that event. I think that will become the bracelet of choice for the professional players."

This year's mixed-game tournaments were added to the schedule in response to player demand, Pollack said.

"We started planning for this year's World Series of Poker before last year's World Series of Poker was over," Pollack said. "We're constantly in a planning mode. We learned enough from last year to innovate for the benefit of the player this year.

"The tournament room is dressed to the nines. It looks like what the World Series of Poker should look like."

Jumbo banners with photos of previous World Series of Poker champions drape the walls of the Rio's poker area - a massive convention room filled with tables. In a new twist this year, final tables take place on a stage surrounded by stadium seating and a lounge for spectators.

Of course, souvenir seekers can find the World Series of Poker logo slapped on everything from baseballs to money clips to Pilsener glasses along with the requisite T-shirts and ball caps.

The organized chaos at the Rio is a long way from, yet inextricably linked to, World Series of Pokers of yore, when a handful good-old-boy gamblers would gather on Fremont Street.

"The beauty of the World Series of Poker is how authentically and organically it has grown," Pollack said. "Prior to Harrah's buying the tournament and my team's arrival, the World Series of Poker was a very well-established and globally prestigious poker tournament.

"All we've done over the past 24 months is apply the basic principles of sports management to the business. As much as we're modernizing everything we do, I think we're also doing more to honor our history and heritage."