WSOP Main Event News

Only 205 players remain at the WSOP Main Event. 5 players have the best chance to win it with over 3 millions, but Canadian Evan Lamprea is leading the event with 3,564k chips.

Some of the top ten names are Theo Jorgensen, Bryn Kenney, Alexander “postflopaction” Kostritsyn and Johnny Chan. Some others are still hanging and we hope they keep on bringing the good game. Players like Michael Mizrachi and Phil Galfond have fewer chips but are still hanging.

Players finishing in the top 747 have been getting paid out, and the participants now guarant3eed at least $48,847. Scotty Nguyen is one of the players that is out and going home with the 209^th place. Unfortunately he was eliminated right near the end of the day’s action.

WSOP tournament continues on Thursday noon.

Here are the top 10 players of day 5:

1. Evan Lamprea 3564k
2. Michael Skender 3527k
3. Joseph Cheong 3357k
4. Duy Le 3186k
5. Theo Jörgensen 3088k
6. Bryn Kenney 2902k
7. Matt Affleck 2896
8. Alexander Kostritsyn 2564k
9. Johnny Chan 2559k
10. Sebastian Panny 2442k

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WSOP and Vegas Economy

It is not a surprise that the WSOP bets are lower than how they use to be. We still remember when poker pro players used to come out with some nose-bleeding bets and fought their place to win a bracelet.

Now days we see poker players that used to win many bracelets and that had awesome performance during the WSOP events going down and not even winning a single bracelet. This is something normal to see when you are a mortal and you have to sweat your way up to make it to the final tables, but it’s not something we are used to see among the poker gods.

There are maybe many factors that we need to take in consideration in order to find why this is happening to the WSOP. Maybe the problem comes from the global crisis and it just hit Nevada.

Vegas is a state that needs tourism to survive and people to gamble to keep to money flowing. The problem comes when poker players do not want to invest more money than what they are supposed to because they also don’t want to lose their money to an amateur that’s been playing online.

In fact, many tournament winners are not professional players that have won their entrance through online poker rooms and somehow have made it to the big events. Maybe poker pro players are not sure anymore about how good they are or which techniques will work with the new opponents.

Many fear a recession in Nevada; I think we all fear also a recession in poker and especially on a great even such as the WSOP. Another thing to that reflects on is that, now days there are so many poker tournaments going on, that probably players don’t have the chance to be part of all of them or they just rather wait and gain their way to another event by playing classifiers online. The reality of the situation is disturbing, in what used to be one of the busier, if not the busiest week in Vegas as far as hotel and services, have been deemed by low clientele and cheap hotels, that we never thought they would be available in times like this.

Even worst, during a public appearance early this year, the President of the United States, Barak Obama, suggested US citizens to refrain from going to Vegas and bet their money and instead pay their debts. This particular incident has affected and upset the Vegas community and organizations, and has had a great impact making the state of Nevada the most hit state as far as economy.

But not everything is negative, we have seen the service and commodities from most places been engaged in order to suit the diminished amount of guests at the different hotels in Las Vegas that benefits the ones that dare to go and have a chance on winning prestige and immortality as one of the WSOP bracelet winners.

Let’s hope that everything recovers and that we keep enjoying this powerful event and the extravaganza that normally accompanies it. Best wishes to all of the Nevada state residents specially the ones working at the different casinos along the Las Vegas city.

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WSOP Top 20 Tournament of Champions

The results have been announced for the WSOP Tournament of Champions million dollar freeroll online votes. 20 players by people’s vote will have the chance to be part of this tournament.

Familiar names were the favorites of the voters with players like Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson and Jamie Gold. Some big players were left out because of the voters, players like Phil Galfond and Jason Mecier, will miss the chance this year.

This tournament will have a total of 27 players. Five players were included automatically (Joe Cada – current world champion). WSOP Europe champion Barry Shulman and the TOC winners Annie Duke, Mike Matusow and Mike Sexton. The other two places are sponsorships given to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and the WSOP Academy winner Andrew Barton.

Only one woman is part of the top 20 vote-getters for the 2010 WSOP TOC, Jennifer Harman from Full Tilt Poker is the one chosen by the voters. She is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner.

The Tournament Of Champions is played for three days, 27^th and 28^th of June and 4^th of July. You can see the tournament on ESPN, they will be televising it. WSOP released the top 20 list on Friday.

Here are the Top 20 Players and number of Online Votes:

1. Phil Ivey 16 267
2. Daniel Negreanu 16 239
3. Doyle Brunson 13 796
4. Phil Hellmuth 12 673
5. Chris Ferguson 11 585
6. Allen Cunningham 10 486
7. Johnny Chan 10 434
8. Scotty Nguyen 9 834
9. Barry Greenstein 9 806
10. John Juanda 8 835
11. Erik Seidel 8 802
12. Jennifer Harman 8 206
13. Huck Seed 8 180
14. Dan Harrington 7 342
15. TJ Cloutier 6 281
16. Sam Farha 6 085
17. Howard Lederer 5 596
18. Greg Raymer 5 404
19. Joe Hachem 5 272
20. Antonio Esfandiari 5 129

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WSOP Ladies Championship 2010

French Vaneessa Hellebuyck won the $1,000 Ladies Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker. After some controversy because some male players wanted to enter this tournament, everything got solved and after taking down 1,053 players, Vanessa became the final champion. Vanessa is a common woman with extraordinary poker gifts; she is the mother of two daughters and works as a web designer. She didn’t only win $192,132, but she also became the fifth French bracelet winner in the WSOP history.

The final game was against Sidsel Boesen from Denmark. Boesen was the chip leader, but lost it and tried to get it back. Hellebuyck defeated Boesen after only seven hands.

"This is my first World Series," she said. "It means the world to me. I can't describe it. Cashing in Europe was very exciting for me. But I don't know what more I can do now, except maybe win another event that is not the Ladies event. That is the next step."

Controversy created by 10 men during this event, ended without major issues after they wanted to enter the event. Nevada gaming laws prohibit discrimination by gender in poker tournaments. Shaun Deeb entered the event dressing like a woman as a result a bet; he wanted to play the event to send a message.

Here are the top 5cresults of Event 22 at the 2010 World Series of Poker:

1.Vanessa Hellebuyck $192,132
2. Sidsel Boesen $118,897
3. Timmi Derosa $74,389
4. Allison Whalen $53,994
5. Kami Chisholm $39,860

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WSOP Coverage – First time Bracelet winners!

WSOP Coverage – First time Bracelet winners!

WSOP just started and already have many bracelet winners. It was Matt Matros at the WSOP Event#12; $1.5k Limit Hold’em who took his first bracelet and $189,870. Matros already have some history at the WPT Championship 2004 were he took the 3^rd place. On Monday it was Yan Chen’s turn that won his first one at the $1.5k NL 2-7 Draw Lowball event.

As you may recall last year Phil Ivey was the winner of this event, but wasn’t part of it this year.

It was a very close match among 3 players, but it was Chen that took the lead and dominated the game when he called Wattel who lost his last 90k.

Here are the results of the WSOP Event #14 -$1.5k 2-7 Draw Lowball (250 players):
1. Yan Chen $92.817
2. Mike Wattel $57.375
3. Nicholas Binger $37.857
4. Derric Haynie $25.839
5. Todd Bui $18.096
6. James Bord $12.997
7. Alexander Kravchenko $9.568
8. Daniel Nicewander $7.215

On another note the WSOP announced their decision about what to do with the final exemption for its 27-player Tournament of Champions. It will be the winner of a nine-person sit&go who will be awarded with the final spot, mainly from all the poker pros that have never won a bracelet.

The list includes Tom Dwan, Andy Bloch, Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier, Gus Hansen, Michael Mizrachi, Liv Boeree, Paul Wasicka, Sorel Mizzi, and Don Cheadle. Of all these players only Mizrachi won a bracelet, but he is not eligible to receive votes because he won it a week ago in the $50,000 Players Championship.

The winner will play with 20 bracelet winners who were voted by the public, divided into automatic entries and an online qualifier.

The event will be filmed on Thursday and it will be shown on the WSOP Academy. The WSOP Academy runs instructional seminars during summer.

The Tournament of Champions will be held on June 27^th and will have its final table on July 4^th. Some of the players earned automatic entries; Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton and Duke are some of the names in this Championship.

Twenty players will have the chance to be part of this event through public vote. The voting ends on June 15^th, so keep on voting for your favorite player.

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Poker for the People

The online poker industry is a monster that have expanded widely over the years, and although we all dream to become the next WSOP Main Event Champion, not all of us have the money, time and patience to invest in this dream. Because of this many poker sites have started to cater the average Joe, that player that plays recreationally and is interested in polishing the poker skills one posses than just turn their accounts into a virtual ATM.

If you have a regular schedule job and have a family this is perhaps something you want to do during your spare time. Look for small buy in tournaments that have a good prize but that profitable in terms of time and players. Freerolls are a very good choice, if you have the time; however, they are intended for another type of player.

One of the best investments you can do is play sit and go tournaments that have a great return value and don’t take much time. Although one can be interested in something a little bit more appealing than money, but what can that be? Well, goods! Many online poker sites offer other type of incentives from mugs and apparel to big fancy gifts such as cars, travels or electronic gadgets.

Poker is meant to be a social game; something that can benefit you not only by winning, but it aids you in all aspects of your life, and a poker player knows that when you have family or other responsibilities spending time playing poker can affect these areas. So take the chance, look for events that give a little extra something apart from money, and believe me there are a lot of examples.

Tickets to concerts or shows, cars, trips to paradisiacal beaches or extreme weather locations, and we are not talking about tournaments.

But beware; your mentality toward these games is play for the fun of it, but with the seriousness to win it. You will find a lot of players in the way that will make aggressive moves just wait for your hand and protect it. If you do this, your reward will be good and you can enjoy the prizes you get with your family.

Another big thing poker sites are offering are loyalty rewards for your play. These are stores where you can exchange points you accumulate from playing and trade them for goods or money. So combine all these alternative and give a little something extra than just the money. We are sure that you will enjoy them a lot more than just a few hundred dollars at the end of the month.

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Trading season is running

That is right, just like many other sports poker trading season is running. But you might ask what do we mean by trading? Well just like in football or baseball professional players are been captured to represent franchises that are worth millions! Based on their skill, media presence and even popularity on the web, pros are been drafted by the biggest poker sites to represent them; but why? Simple, the WSOP is just around the corner and we are expecting a lot of action from these players.

But why is it important to have a professional player representing a site? Not only it represents an investment as most poker sites share winnings with the sponsored players, but also it signifies a media presence campaign. Look at it this way, if a poker player with a known name appears in a worldwide television broadcasted event with your logo on their shirt or hats, many people who look at the player play, will go online and search for the site. And on top of it the investments are not that big, of course depending on the player.

Now, we say it is open and running as we have already seen the first movements been done for the past few months. David Williams, a very solid poker player previously represented by Bodog has rupture its relationship with the multimillion company in what we think are efforts to go after one of the big ones. In his spot Amanda Musumeci is now the carrier of the brand in her chest.

Another big movement has been the poker young vixen Annette Obrestad a.k.a Annette_15, the winner of the WSOPE and said to have won several tournaments in PokerStars without looking at her pocket hands, not only showing it is possible to win using just skill, but also proving that she is one of the best, has recently signed with FullTilt on their team along with players like Phil Ivey, Jesus Fergusson, Mike Matusow and Gus Hansen. She will be part of the Red Pros team with very talented and skillful players like Mandy Baker, Svetlana Gromenkova among other top poker players she will have by her side.

Another consequence of the “draft” has been the exposure of other pros at mass media alternatives. This week we saw Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth on Good Morning America, where they set a small poker table to show how this business can be fun and lucrative if you have the skills and experience of both players. We also remember Ms. Duke during her role on the Celebrity Apprentice show where she was runner up and helped make her name even bigger.

So poker maniacs, keep your eyes and ears open, during the next few weeks for the WSOP to start you will see a lot of players with great skill been involved with major and small poker sites. The big question is, or better the more than $10 Million Dollar question is: would this year be different and we will finally have a poker pro champion?

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Is the WSOP slowly dying?

The World Series of Poker started the poker madness we live on today. It was the fire that started the online and offline thrill and excitement of the poker world, and showed us that is was possible to become a millionaire by performing another sport. Long time has passed when Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million out of pretty much thin air, and although the WSOP Main Event still is one of the most attractive tournaments in the planet; we wonder if it’s losing its shine…

The magic recipe that used to attract so many is the same one that has eclipsed the very own characteristic that made the WSOP so great: an elite tournament with the best players of the world that declared the ultimate player champion, and the chance of anyone on becoming such champion. This has made many serious players concentrate on other tournaments such as the “poker tour” series from PokerStars and the WPT. And numbers do not lie either:

Year	Players
2003	839
2004	2576
2005	5619
2006	8773
2007	6358
2008	6844
2009	6494

Although it is true the change in the laws affected heavily the amount of players, the format chances have also affected the attractiveness of the event. For instance, the final table been played on November has had a lot of bad comments on most players. Now the Tournament of Champions might be a strategy the organizers are using to try to change the image of “freeroll nesting” the event has become. Let’s hope in the future the event gets more innovative alternatives or we will see the so loved WSOP Main Event perish and become just another tournament out there.

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