Remote patrol

You won't find a more unlikely looking bunch of highly paid competitors than the finalists in the "World Series of Poker," featured in a Discovery channel special at 7 and 10 tonight. The four-day marathon, which whittles a roomful of competitors (each having paid a $10,000 entry fee) down to a single table, takes place at the Horseshoe Casino, a decidedly down-home leftover from the Las Vegas of old. (The $1 million prize is still paid in cash and is carried out to the winner in a cardboard box.) The program doesn't do a great job of explaining the blow-by-blow of crucial games but is worth a look just for the parade of players: old and young, amateur and pro, freaks and geeks and even 12 women (who, it must be said, have to play next to some real chauvinists). @ART CAPTION:World Series of Poker champ Scotty Nguyen @ART:Photo (color)