WSOP Fantasy Poker (Signup NOW, WSOP begins 6/1)
 

I see this starts this week (6/1 to 7/17), so I figured to get it going.

Rules:

Pick 8 Poker Players (no restrictions), 1 Woman, and 1 Player who has not yet won a bracelet at the WSOP.

Designate one player as your "Money Man". That person scores double points for you.

Designate one player as your "Main Event Champion". if he or she wins the Main Event, you automatically win the game. This can be the same player as your "money man"

Here's mine

1. Phil Ivey (money man)
2. Doyle Brunson
3. Barry Greenstein
4. JC Tran
5. David Pham
6. Joseph Hachem
7. Gavin Griffin
8. Ted Forrest

Woman
1. Clonie Gowen

Non Bracelet Winner
1. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (Main Event Winner)

Allen Cunningham (money man)
Phil Ivey (main event winner)
Paul Wasicka
Carlos Mortensen
Ted Forrest
Daniel Negreanu
JC Tran
Phil Helmuth
Eric Lindgren (Non Bracelet)
Jennifer Harman (Woman)

Thanks for starting it up this year. I was lax and completely forgot the WSOP was coming up...

Going with almost the same exact group as last year. After how poorly I fared, most of these guys are due:

Erik Seidel (ME winner) (Money Man)
Mark Seif
Chris Ferguson
Jennifer Tilly (Woman)
Freddie Deeb
Minh Nguyen
Mike Matusow
Phil Gordon (Non-bracelet)
Howard Lederer
Johnny Chan

Michael Mizrachi(ME Winner)
Allen Cunningham(Money Man)
Phil Ivey
Daniel Negreanu
JC Tran
Patrick Antonious(non bracelet)
David Williams
John Juanda
Jeff Madsen
Jennifer Harman(woman)

No prob, I was surprised how early in the year it was.. we'll need someone to keep track of scoring :)

John Juanda (main event)
Daniel Negreanu (money)
Jennifer Harman (woman)
Darrel Dicken (no bracelet)
Huck Seed
Layne Flack
Carlos Mortensen
Nam Le
Phil Ivey
Phil Hellmuth

Wow, I'm surprised at the folks tipping Negreanu. After reading his columns over at cardplayer (can't link because I can't get there at work), he sounded pretty much burned out on poker, and I didn't select him

Sounds like he just needs some time off which he is doing. Hopefully he'll prove valuable in the $50,000 HORSE Event which is actually HORSE all the way through this year. He's made 2 WPT final tables this year so it's not like he's playing bad, just needs some rest from poker for a little while.

This has been fun the last few years


Allen Cunningham
Joe Hachem
Gus Hansen ( Main Event)
Phil Gordon ( non braclet winner)
Chad Brown
Cindy Violette ( Woman)
Phil Ivey
Dan Harrington
Chris Ferguson
Jordon Morgan ( Money Man)

So, uh, if the main event winner automatically wins you the contest, and two people tab the same guy as the main event winner, are they co-champions?

Me and Lathum did our team together last year but I am gonna go on my own this year.

Daniel Negreanu- main event
Mike Matasow
Phil Ivey
Patrick Antounious- no braclet
Annie Duke
David Williams
Chris Ferguson- Money Man
Phil Laak
Jennifer Harmon
Joe Hachem

Exactly.

Phil Ivey (ME Winner, Money Man)
Phil Hellmuth
Michael Mizrachi (non-bracelet)
Allen Cunningham
Humberto Brenes
Mike Matusow
John Juanda
Jennifer Harman (female)

Theo Jorgensen (money, main event)
Phil Ivey
Ram Vaswani
Joseph Hachem
Luca Pagano
Isabelle Mercier (woman)
Noah Boeken (no bracelet)
Rob Hollink
Mark Boudewijn
Marcel Luske

Woman
Kathy Liebert

Non-Bracelet
Michael Mizrachi

Money man
J.C. Tran

Shannon Shorr
Paul Wasicka
Allen Cunningham
Gavin Smith
John Juanda
Barry Greenstein
Ted Forrest

1) Phil Hellmuth (moneyman)
2) Scott Fischman
3) Mark Seif
4) Paul Wasicka
5) Phil Ivey
6) David Williams
7) John Juanda
8) Alex Jacob

Non Bracelet - Erick Lindgren (main event)

Woman - Jennifer Harmon

A couple of you have posted ones with Money Man, but not ME winner, I'll assume that your Money Man is your ME winner :)

I took a stand against all the 22-year-olds who cut their teeth in the Moneymaker Era. I think the group of them will do well, but I don't think I'm qualified to pick out which one(s) will do the best this time around. So I won't.

I was on top for two whole days midway through last year. Let's see if we can't finish the job:

* Mike Matusow
* Chris Ferguson (money man)
* Kathy Liebert (still a woman)
* Gus Hansen (Main Event winner - sure)
* Joe Hachem
* Sam Farha
* Barry Greenstein
* Ted Forrest
* Phil Hellmuth
* Marcel Luske (non-bracelet winner)

Jennifer Harman (woman)
Michael Mizrachi (non bracelet)
Chris Ferguson (Money Man)
Phil Hellmuth (ME Winner)
Scottie Nguyen
Phil Ivey
Barry Greenstein
Mike Matusow
Johnnie Chan
Erik Seidel

I wanted to take some shots with people who would be on less lists this year. So no Ivey, no Negreanu, no Grinder, no Ferguson. Of course, I see that my list is fairly similar to QuikSand's, with same ME winner and four shared players. Oh well, guess I know who I'll be rooting to finish in second place.

JC Tran (money man)
Phil Hellmuth
Patrik Antonius (non-bracelet)
John D'Agostino
Erik Seidel
Darrell Dicken
John Juanda (main event)
Jennifer Harman (woman)
Eric Lynch
Chip Reese

Let's see if we can repeat:
Greg Raymer (ME)
Phil Hellmuth (money man)
Phil Gordon (non-bracelet)
Erick Lindgren
Darrell Dicken
Justin Bonomo
Ted Forrest
JC Tran
David Williams
Cindy Violette

Jennifer Harman (woman)
Michael Mizrachi (non bracelet)
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
Barry Greenstein(ME)(money man)
Mike Matusow
Gavin Griffin
Scott Fischman
Alex Jacob
John Juanda

Evidently the new cards have not went over so well. They have already died a painful death.

Allen Cunningham
Doyle Brunson
Phil Ivey
Carlos Mortensen
Ted Forrest
JC Tran (money man)
Phil Helmuth
David Williams
Michael Mizrachi (Non Bracelet)
Jennifer Tilly(Woman)

Just read that the "F-bomb" does not automatically give you a 10 minute penalty anymore. Only if it is used maliciously or directed at another player or dealer.

Wow.. Common Sense broke out. Who'da guessed?

By the way, the traditional "Casino Employees" Tournament is not the leadoff tournament this year, although it will start (and end) tonight.

Instead, Event #1 is the World Championship Mixed Hold'em, alternating rounds of No Limit with Limit Poker.

451 players entered, this tournament will pay the top 45, and at the end of Level 6, 270 players remained. This is a 3 day tournament, so the first pay day will be Monday

Late in day 1 of the first cash event, here's some selected names who are still in with 126 left in the tourney (I might miss a couple of players on lists, but I'll double check when they hit the money tommorrow)


Barry Greenstein (39,000 Chips)
Isabelle Mercier (33,000)
Johnny Chan (31,000)

Im curious, have TV ratings indicated that the poker phenomenon hit its peak and is on the way down?

Im amazed at how out of it I am versus 1 or 2 years ago. A lot of that had to do with a combo of real life and the slow strangulation of online play for me. I think it's been literally 1 year since I played poker of any variety, in real life or online. It makes me wonder if there were a lot of people like me who were totally on board and then dropped off or if there have been way more new viewers/players there to take my place.

I thought Negreanu was a fascinating read a couple years back, i couldn't believe how honest he was about a shitload of horrible personal decisions he'd made. That and his likeable persona really make me root for the guy overall. I hope he does well this year.

Other name players still alive

Violette in 17th $44,500
Jeff Madsen in 40th $27,500
Arieh in 41st $27,500

WPT and NBC Heads have been going down every year. I think the WSOP has been about the same the past couple years. The tv broadcasts must not be expensive to produce and that's why poker is still on. In fact, ESPN is enhancing its WSOP package this year to include:

- Increase from 26 to 40 cameras for better coverage
- Plan to broadcast in HD for the first time
- 32 one-hour episodes in total (10 bracelet events, 16 Main Event episodes, and 6 $50K HORSE episodes... in that order)
- Player chip counts during hands (About damn time)
- Some sort of new 3-D graphic that displays holecards, community cards, and players' actions


And here are the events they plan to cover and when they're on tv:

* July 10 at 8 and 9 pm: Event 1, World Championship Mixed hold 'em (limit/no-limit, 3 day event), $5,000 buyin
* July 17 at noon: Live pay-per-view of the final table of Event 55, No-limit hold 'em (the Main Event), $10,000 buyin
* July 17 at 8 pm: Event 3, No-limit hold 'em (3 day event), $1,500 buyin
* July 17 at 9 pm: Event 4, Pot-limit hold 'em (3 day event), $1,500 buyin
* or
* July 17 at 9 pm: Event 7, Pot-limit Omaha w/rebuys (2 day event), $5,000 buyin
* July 31 at 8 pm: Event 8, No-limit hold 'em w/rebuys (3 day event), $1,000 buyin
* July 31 at 9 pm: Event 13, World Championship pot-limit hold 'em (3 day event), $5,000 buyin
* August 7 at 8 pm: Event 28, No-limit hold 'em (3 day event), $3,000 buyin
* August 7 at 9 pm: Event 30, No-limit hold 'em - 6 handed (3 day event), $2,500 buyin
* August 14 at 8 pm, Event 31, World Championship Heads Up no-limit hold 'em (3 day event), $5,000 buyin
* or
* August 14 at 8 pm: Event 33, Pot-limit Omaha w/rebuys (2 day event), $1,500 buyin
* August 14 at 9 pm: Event 50, World Championship pot-limit Omaha (2 day event), $10,000 buyin
* August 21 to October 9, Tuesday nights at 8 and 9 pm: Event 55, No-limit hold 'em (the Main Event), $10,000 buyin
* October 16 to October 30, Tuesday nights at 8 and 9 pm: Event 39, World Championship HORSE (5 day event), $50,000 buyin


It's good they're going to start airing these in about a month. I like the HORSE tourney expanded coverage and the Heads Up tournament should be a better format than NBC's. I don't know why they have 3 events listed to air on July 17 and Aug 14. Maybe they'll see which has the best tables and air 2 of the 3.

I'm looking forward to getting the final table pay per view

Alex Jacob is chipleader at the final table of the first $1500 NL event

My disclaimer is this comes from a very casual poker fan.

IMO, TV really botched the way they handled the poker boom. You went from not seeing much of it on TV, if any at all, to having it force-fed to you. It was great for the hard-core poker fans, but not much explaination as to what event means what or really any explaination of the poker tour schedule for the more casual fans. It was more of a "here's poker, watch it". I think this is a big reason there's been a dip in the casual fan's interest.

I will give ESPN credit, their poker coverage is generally excellent and the backstory they do on the players is fascinating.

SirFozie asked me to post results for the first event. If I missed anyones players lemme know.

Cyndy Violette $11,658
Todd Brunson $11,658 ( not sure if anyone has him)
Johnny Chan $13,778
David Grey $15,898

People who scored in Event 1

Lathum
Cindy Violette - $11,658

Barkeep49
Cindy Violette - $11,658

timmynausea
Johnny Chan - $13,778

albionmoonlight
Johnny Chan - $13,778

Well I'm excited. I feel a repeat coming on.

Doesn't look like anyone cashed in Event 3

I feel like coming on your repeat

Alex Jacob?

Oops! Should have said "Doesn't look like anyone cashed SO FAR in Event 3" :)

no braclet for Jacob

Huh, didn't think I was going to see multiple people with Jacob in one of my pools. Rizen (Lynch) is going to get me some points in Event 4. Gavin Smith is still alive in that event as well as they are down to 13 players.

Event 5 has a bunch of name players still going at it. Jesus, Duke, and Violette are definitely people I expect are on lists here. Benyamine, Arieh, Scotty Nguyen, and John Phan are also still in the mix. 23 left, so they are into the money in this event.

Alex Jacob scores $282,367 for the following folks

Marshall881
TroyF

Yikes, that 282K for third in Event 3 is worth more than the title for Event 4.

Is it me or the pros that are playing the majority of the WSOP events are getting their chips in real early in the tournament. Looking at the results you'll see a lot of the top pros finishing in the bottom 90% of the field. To me it looks like they're playing an all or nothing in the 1st couple levels...

I think they are probably taking some bad beats because everyone at the table is gunning for them. I would think probably 70% of amatures would get their money in bad hopiong to at least have a story to take home with them.

Also, remember to look at how many players actually entered the event and how many are listed in the results. Often times websites like Cardplayer will only list the players that cashed and players that are somewhat known, so pure amatuers that no one has ever heard of won't be in the results. Like Event #1, it says 451 players entered, but only 240 are listed.

I will try to update events 4 and 5 tonight.