The Last Day of the Summer in the Middle of July

The best part of the summer ending at the World Series of Poker when it does is that there’s still half the summer to go.

Today marks the final day of play at the 2014 WSOP until November as the Main Event will be playing down from 27 to a final table before once again -- as they’ve done every year since 2008 -- pausing the tournament for nearly four months before finishing things out.

That “November Nine”-era exactly encompasses my own reporting on the WSOP, as 2008 was the first time I went out to Las Vegas to help PokerNews report on the Series. I continued going out every summer since until this one, this time instead staying close to the farm while I helped out the team with articles and in other ways from afar.

Today, for example, I’ve written a preview of Day 7 mentioning all 27 of the players and highlighting a few of the more interesting storylines. Check it out: “WSOP What to Watch For: Main Event Day 7 Preview -- From 27 to the November Nine.”

After doing essentially the same thing for six years, this year following the action and writing about it from home has been different, for sure. I was saying late last week that now’s the time I probably miss being out there the most, with this day -- the day they play down to nine -- has always been the “finale” (so to speak) for me when it comes to the WSOP.

It does make for a fairly exciting finish, although still -- after seven years of it -- I still think the day is anticlimactic and the delay not preferable. But after writing thousands and thousands of words about the WSOP this summer, I suppose I’m more or less ready for the “end” -- of sorts -- to come.

Last year we reported 633 hands total on Day 7 (i.e., all of them). Check the PokerNews live updates today for hand-for-hand reports all of the way from 27 players down to nine.