In it he reminds even yours truly about how close the World Series was to going out of business in 2004. He’s right, of course, even though I had completely forgotten about that.

I have a request for all poker players. Anyone that wants to complain at the WSOP 2008, please STAY HOME! I don’t care how much dead money you bring to the tables, I don’t want to hear the yakking when I’m taking a leak.

At the 2007 WSOP, bitching was the theme. Here are just a few of the complaints that I heard.

• Harrah’s is making too much money. Have you seen how much juice they are taking out?
• The food is horrible
• The dealers are making too many mistakes
• It’s cold
• It’s hot
• The lines are too long
• The structures are too fast, too slow, too medium
• The walk is too long to the tournament area
• There are too many tournaments
• The cocktail service is bad.

Is that enough or should I keep going?

Here are my thoughts:

Harrah’s is a business. I expect them to make money. I hope they make money or they might stop having the WSOP. If you don’t like the juice they charge, buy their stock and get excited about an increase in fees and attendance.

[Ed. Note: Harrah's stock is no longer available.]

I’m going to put the biggest complainer in Jeffret Pollack’s job and ask him what his first move is. I have an idea. Why don’t you propose a way to reduce Harrah’s bottom line by reducing the juice and providing free food for all. I hope you enjoyed your first and last day at work.

The biggest critics are usually the guys who have never had a real job. They can do everyone’s job better from the cocktail waitress to Pollack. They don’t appreciate the coordination it takes to have an event 2 months out of the year with temporary employees and temporary facilities. These guys have expectations that are completely unrealistic. I think that the WSOP keeps getting better every year.

• Tournaments start on time
• TV coverage is excellent
• We play in a nice facility
• They have got a players’ advisory committee, (bitch to these guys because they are representing you)
• They have more satellites to get into your favorite event.

[Ed. Note: Tom is now on that players' advisory committee, so technically you should be bitching to him.]

Do you remember back when the event was at Binion’s and Bobby Thompson would announce 600 names and seat assignments over a microphone that didn’t work while everyone was talking real loudly? The event started two hours late.

Rather than bitch this year, appreciate the fact that you’re playing and not dealing or serving Red Bull, because I can tell you it’s not fun. Maybe if all poker players went with a new attitude this year we could help change the attitudes of those who are serving us.

I say make the F-Bomb acceptable and implement a bitching penalty.