Jennifer Newell

I'm back!

Arriving home to L.A. less than a week ago, I took some time to recover from the craziness that was the 2007 World Series of Poker. Working long hours doing tournament coverage, being away from home for nearly eight weeks, and trying to enjoy some of the Vegas nightlife, I was cooked when it was all over. But a few days of rest and relaxation at home has done wonders, and I finally feel like I'm back to my normal daily routine again.

As for the WSOP itself, there were positives and negatives.

I was grateful to be able to see the WSOP from a perspective that allowed me quite a bit of access that the general public doesn't have. At the same time, I worked myself pretty hard and didn't get to see as many final tables or behind-the-scenes action as I would have liked.

To see how hard Harrah's worked to try to overcome problems that it encountered during the series gave me some confidence that each year's WSOP will get better. But I also saw how the corporate entities played such a major role that some of the most obvious issues were ignored during the planning stages.

I saw how hard some of the journalists worked to get fantastic stories for the blogs and news sites, and I witnessed the struggles and triumphs of the players as they grinded it out day after day in those tournaments. I came away with a newfound respect for a number of writers and reporters. I also saw how some of the politics of the Harrahs/Bluff/PokerNews contract severely limited the reporting that others were able to do.

I was able to see parts of almost every single event that took place during the course of the series, but I was disappointed that I missed so many Day 2's and final tables due to my limited media access. I gained a greater understanding of the importance of tournament reporting to the readers, though I wish I had been able to give a different viewpoint. This is something I will do next year as a freelance writer; I'm going to be there on my own terms and do the kind of reporting at which I excel.

All in all, I was glad for the experience - invaluable lessons learned that I can and will incorporate into my work and my life in general.

In the coming weeks, I will take some time to reflect on some of the issues and stories from the WSOP. For now, I'm just getting back into the swing of things... and I'm glad to be back.