Deal with it

Forgive me for not shutting up about poker, but Phil Ivey just made the final table! Ever since poker became the spectacle it is today, poker fans and players alike have suffered through years of final tables lacking any well-known, marketable players. Now we've got the best player in the world in contention for the biggest prize in poker. And they're not playing until November! This means we get four months of media exposure that poker so desperately needs. Of course, Ivey has already said he plans to change his cell phone number and leave the country, but I'm sure he will come to his senses and realize how great of an opportunity this is for him.

As for the eight other chumps players, you've got the typical smattering of likable but not lovable amateurs, arrogant douchebags* and unknown professionals that only poker players give a damn about. The most notable non-best player on the planet is Jeff Shulman, editor and president of Cardplayer Magazine. Shulman is actually doing his best to make this event half interesting by acting like a total baby. Juvenile antics aside, this will be Shulman's second main event final table this decade, a feat accomplished by only two other men, 1995 Champion Dan Harrington and Mike Matusow. Considering that he runs a popular publication during the day, this makes Shulman kinda sick in poker terms. In addition to this, pokerpokerpoker blah blah does this read like Greek to most of you?

For details on the "November Nine" as ESPN calls them, check out Gary Wise's breakdown here.

* I say douchebags because I am unapologetically judging Eric Buchman on the basis of his being from Long Island.