Jun
22
by Chad Holloway
The World Series of Poker is crazy, but in a good way. A typical day reporting for PokerNews consists of about 12-14 hours, constantly running around gathering hands and chip counts, and posting them to the web. It can be difficult at times trying to keep track of all the big name pros, but it is also a lot of fun. Where else do I get the opportunity to stand next to and talk to the biggest names in poker?
Since coming to the WSOP a few weeks ago, I have had the opportunity to see some pretty incredible things. Among them were Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s second place finish, Michael Mizrachi’s victory in the $50,000 Players Championship, Men “The Master” Nguyen’s win to capture his 7th bracelet (almost an 8th as well, finishing in second place just last night), and controversy surrounding men entering the Ladies Event. It never ceases to amaze me just what I’ll see on poker’s biggest stage.
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Tournament of Champions. For those of you who don’t know, the WSOP is bringing back the T.O.C. that occurred from 2004-2006. You may have seen the episodes on ESPN when Annie Duke defeated Phil Hellmuth heads-up in 2004, when Mike Matusow won in 2005, or when Mike Sexton claimed victory in 2006. Anyway, this year Harrah’s announced they would be bring back the T.O.C. in a different format; that is, the fans would vote in an online poll to choose who would get the opportunity play. The only catch was that past bracelet winners would be eligible (Sorry Mr. Laak and Mr. Dwan).
The T.O.C. would feature 27 players. The past three winners would get in, as would the reining Main Event Champs from the WSOP and WSOP-Europe (Joe Cada & Barry Schulman). Harrah’s then reserved two spots for sponsor exemptions, meaning the top 20 vote getters in the poll would get in. Phil Ivey was the number one vote getter, beating out Daniel Negreanu by only 28 votes! Check out who will be playing in the T.O.C.:
Rank Name 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 T.J. Cloutier 6,281
16 Sammy Farha 6,085
17 Howard Lederer 5,596
18 Greg Raymer 5,404
19 Joe Hachem 5,272
20 Antonio Esfandiari 5,129
Automatic Annie Duke 2004 TOC Winner
Automatic Mike Matuswo 2005 TOC Winner
Automatic Mike Sexton 2006 TOC Winner
Automatic Joe Cada 2009 Main Event Champion
Automatic Barry Shulman 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion
Exemption Bertrand Grospellier WSOP Academy Playoff Winner
Exemption Andrew Barton WSOP.com UK Qualifier
There was mixed reaction here at the Rio concerning the decision by Harrah’s to give one of the exemptions to the winner of a single table tournament for the WSOP Academy; regardless, it was Bertrand Grospellier who took it down and got in. Aside from that, the poker community has been mixed on the line-up. It seems they all agree those voted in certainly deserved it, but believed there were a few who may have been overlooked.
The two names I’ve heard mentioned the most were Erick Lindgren and Carlos Mortenson. Lindgren’s success on the World Poker Tour and being named the WSOP Player of the Year in 2008 is hard to ignore. As is Mortenson’s Main Event win in 2001 and subsequent success on the WPT, namely being the all-time money winner. There is no doubt that these are two of the greatest players on the circuit, but when you boil it down, the T.O.C. is a popularity contest and the public voted on who they wanted to see. Now, we just have to wait a couple more weeks to see who becomes Champion of Champions.