[sprfcta]

Your nominee could hardly be discounted as THE man. The poker world should see that he gets his props while he's still around.

My nominee from among the players would be Phil Hellmuth.

Prior to his win in the WSOP, the game had been dominated by older guys who looked like hustlers the average player would never dare to sit with, or folks of ethnic descent with whom the average viewer would have difficulty relating.

Then came long-haired Phil, the college dude, just a regular guy (kinda), and all of a sudden it looked like maybe "anybody" did have a chance.

Many of my friends who had never thought twice about poker suddenly took an interest after his win. I can imagine that interest waxed exponentially across the land.

I see it as a sort of convergance of events--Phil's win prompting an interest, and the arrival of the lipstick cam to feed the looming frenzy.