We trust you dropped these dates months ago. We don't pay attention, because these dates do nothing for us. We can't afford to play tournament poker, and we're not very good at it, either. While most don't like Phil Hellmuth, some of us do like watching greatness. We like seeing him win, and we love seeing him lose. Visit the site He's larger than life, and poker needs a little of that on the televised stage. Why did ESPN bail on its coverage of the tourney? Why is it on a CBS cable channel? That's what I'd like to know. The most important event, though, remains the same since the second year in 1971 — the Main Event, which had been formally known as the $10,000 No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship. In 1970, the inaugural winner, Johnny Moss, was elected champion by his peers. The following year, the current “freeze out” format was adopted when Moss won again in a field of six players, earning $30,000. Last year, the Main Event champion, German Koray Aldemir, was first in a field of 6,650 players and won $8 million.