Lee Davy shares his votes for the seven categories of poker excellence scheduled for high praise at the World Series of Poker’s ‘First Fifty Honors’ celebration, including a mid-opinion piece decision to not vote at all.

There is always an ache in my heart at this time of the year. After three years of World Series of Poker (WSOP) abstinence, I still miss the Rio. I feel like a wolf removed from the taiga and dumped into a zoo. My zoo is currently Starbucks in Cardiff city centre.

I made my debut in 2011, working for PokerNews as a live reporter. I was in for the entire series, with a week respite to play $1/$2 cash games in Bally’s with visiting friends. It was the only year that I worked the full series in this capacity. Days of the week vanished, ambushed by Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and so on. My lungs ached for air, brutalised by the chill of the air conditioning units, carbon dioxide and bad beats.

In the ensuing years, I divided my time between playing in WSOP events and live reporting. I eventually put a bullet through the last part of that tandem and restricted my work to interviews.