Maybe You Are Just Supposed to Look...

The Old Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, Fenway Park, The Rose Bowl, Lambeau Field, Wrigley Field. All iconic American stadiums that have been home to instant-classics, countless legendary performances and history that will live on for generations. In the poker world, Bobby’s Room holds the same weight as those sporting cathedrals.

Think Bobby’s Room is just a room? Look at the face of anyone who peers through the glass after picking up their $1/3 buy-in from the cage. The look on their face, as they peer back down at their own chips and wonder, “Does this even cover the ante in there?” The look on their face when they realize that legends like Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harmen, Eli Elezra and others are casually playing a high-stakes cash game and a $25,000 mixed game tournament.

They were here yesterday too and during the dozen or so hours that the first-ever Bellagio $25K Mixed Game High Roller ran in Bobby’s Room, there were hundreds of people that walked around the glass, with that look on their face. There were a few though, that braved the force field that separates Las Vegas’ biggest games from the rest of the Bellagio and that look was even better.

Instead of walking into Fenway Park and seeing how freaking big the Green Monster is, they walked into Bobby’s Room and saw, that yes, those are pink chips. The look on their face when they tried to figure out how much those pink chips were worth, priceless. 

The look on their faces as they pivoted around the room and saw the pictures that line the walls of Bobby’s Room. Eli, Jennifer, Lyle Berman, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan and the room’s namesake, Bobby Baldwin. Then they, as well as the poker fan in me, tried to imagine what this room must have felt like, when all of those legends were here together.

The look on their face when they wish that it wasn’t just another Monday when they finally bit up the courage to step into The Office. When they wish they could go back to the nights that “The Corporation” took on Andy Beal. The night that Todd Brunson took on Andy Beal. The nights that “The Big Game” ran. The nights of swings and beats that are only remembered by the eight players at the table and the dealer in the box.

Maybe that is the allure of Bobby’s Room though? That those nights are now history and that only a select few have actually been inside the glass for all of it. Maybe you are only supposed to quickly walk in with your $1/3 buy-in, give Daniel Negreanu a nod and watch a pile of black, purple and orange chips grow in the middle of Table 1 for a few minutes.

Maybe you are just supposed to look.