MSNBC.com Ruined My Poker Viewing

I love USA Today. Fast news organized well, complete with pie charts, color, and an easy crossword puzzle. And while traveling on business, it's often what greeted me when I opened my hotel room door each morning.

During those years when I was on the road constantly for work, on Thursday mornings I used to avoid reading the upper right hand corner of the Life section in USA Today. I would literally tear the corner off and throw it away so I could read the rest of the newspaper.

Why?

American Idol.

I didn't want to know who was voted off. I wanted to watch it on my TiVo (or later, DVR).

I had a tear-the-corner moment this morning, but unfortunately the surprise has been ruined.

It involves the World Series of Poker Main Event.

This year, the format was a bit different. Rather than the entire tournament be held over the summer and then be televised months later, results already in the bag, the tournament structure this year was unique and conducive to a suspenseful finale.

They played down to the final table of nine players, paid them all 9th place winnings, threw the rest of the cash in an interest-bearing account, and told them all to come back in November, once ESPN has televised the rest of the tournament. Anyone finishing above 9th place earned additional cash, escalating quickly to $9 million for 1st place.

The final table was going to be telecast held mere hours after its conclusion.

Or so I thought.

I was looking forward to watching the final table tonight. I have been skipping my poker magazines over the past few months - literally allowing them to pile up so I didn't even know who was on the final table. Last week's WSOP episode on ESPN finally revealed the final nine, so I have once again been reading the magazines this week.

I logged onto MSNBC.com this morning, and sure enough, first thing I see on the right hand side is...

...SPOILER ALERT....(stop reading if you care)






"Dane, 22, wins poker's $9 million grand prize"

Grrrr.