As they are wont to do, the WSOP has just released some of its notable numbers to this point, outlining some statistical highlights as of the end of Event #14.
With still 47 more bracelets to award, the numbers so far seem to be establishing the 40th World Series of Poker as, indeed, one of the most impressive series yet.
The highlights:
17,093 total entrants at the WSOP this year, with the vast majority (14,502) coming from the United States.
Of all states, California leads with 3,306 entrants. Nevada (1,649); Texas (987); Florida (896); and New York (819) round out the Top 5.
861 Canadians have represented the Great White North, will all 10 provinces (and one territory) sending players.
57 other countries have sent players, with the U.K. leading the pack with 269 entrants, followed by Germany (170), France (113), Russia (111) and the Netherlands (83).
Other countries represented include the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Korea, India, China, Belarus and Turkey.
Americans are dominating the bracelet leaderboard, winning 9 of the first 10 events. Russia (Vitaly Lunkin) has the lone non-U.S. bracelet.
The $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event 2 set a record for largest live tournament outside of a Main Event with a prize pool of $7,718,400.
The 918 entrants for Event 3 established a record for the largest Omaha live-tournament field ever.
The 40th annual WSOP started on May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and continues until July 15.
This will be the second year that the final nine players will return to Las Vegas in November to compete for the WSOP Main Event gold bracelet.
Catch the live action and more in the 2009 WSOP section.
Some days ago Gus Hansen stated in his blog that he will not be attending the start of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, but instead he will go to Paris for Tennis. Hansen implied that after a long walk in the Full Tilt tear machine he wanted a small break before new adventures.
“To bet or not to bet?”
Hansen said that the above could’ve been the title of his blog marking. He said that he hasn’t made a schedule but told that time by the Roland Garros tennis court is surprisingly much more interesting now when he isnt sure if he’s coming back with his pockets empty or full.
Hansen like many other top-poker players, is a tough player of blackjack and taking on sportsbets. During his stays at Vegas he had found himself in trouble for his gambling.
“At the moment I don’t think I will play in the 40k WSOP tournament, I will go to Vegas only after the Paris Finals. On the other hand it would’t be unheard of for me to change my mind. Playing the smaller events is just impossible for me, just like watching a Sex And The City marathon.
I believe I will play in the bigger tournaments – PLO, 08, HORSE and the bigger NL tornaments are certainly valuable. Like last year I’ve made some room for a bracelet or two, but at the moment I’m taking a step at a time.
Otherwise I am still puzzling with a few new projects that may or may not materialize in the closer future.”
“Deal Me In” tells the stories of arguably the 20 best poker players in the world and how they turned out as professionals. Hellmuth went after the biggest names in the poker world and got who he considers the 10 best in the world and another 10 who are in the running for the top 20.
Stories of Hellmuth, Brunson, Chan, Eastgate, Phil Ivey, Chau Giang, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Carlos Mortensen, Erik Seidel, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Chad Brown, Dave Ulliot, Layne Flack, Scotty Nguyen, Annette Obrestad and Tom Dwan are all told.
This book, unlike other poker and gambling books, is more about money management than strategy. “You’ve got money management and you’ve got strategy, and money management is almost as important as strategy. It might be more important.” Hellmuth says.
Hellmuth knows he is missing some notable players, which he addresses in his introduction. He said players like Gus Hansen and Mike Matusow should surely be in any conversation when spokern about the best poker players.
The book is scheduled to be released June 25 exclusively at Hellmuth’s Web site, www.pokerbrat.com. “It really is a contribution to poker history”. The book is dedicated to late great contributors to the poker world Stu Ungar, David “Chip” Reese, Benny Binion, Walter “Puggy” Pearson and Johnny Moss.
Cirque du Soleil founder and the high-stakes nosebleed poker player Guy Laliberté has been rumored to be the main candidate for the next commercial astronaut.
Various sources tells that he’s going to pay a visit to the International Space Station in September - this would make him the seventh private space explorer. Laliberte would be aboard of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft if everything goes as planned.
It has been speculated that Laliberté wants to celebrate and promote Cirque du soleil’s 25th anniversary with his quite expensive flight. Nevertheless this big celebration would cost him $35 million which is the same amount what he has “donated” in poker in the past years - at least according to all rumors circling around his poker games.
Undoubtfully some of the high-stakes players at FullTilt Poker would like to see Laliberté staying on Earth and spend those big dollars to online poker as he is famous of his nosebleed games against top poker professionals online.
According to Forbes Magazine Laliberté is one of the 50 richest billionaires in the world, with a net worth of $2.5 billion, so we can take a guess that his poker career isn’t over after the flight to the stars.
You can find Laliberté on Full Tilt Poker using one of his poker nicknames (not 100% confirmed): “lady marmelade”, “noataima”, “patatino”, “elmariachimacho”, “Bleachbum” and “ahtata”.
Poker icon Doyle Brunson signed a worldwide management and marketing representation deal with Poker Royalty. The deal includes all major platforms, including media, sponsorship, licensing, commercial endorsements and appearances.
“Texas Dolly” Brunson is considered to be the poker’s modern day patriarch. No one can deny his achievements as the living legend has been in a major role to uplift poker’s image. He has been one of the most important people to build poker as big as it is these days.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. I’m a terrible businessman and dealmaker, so I’m glad to be able to turn over all that stuff to them”, Brunson says about Poker Royalty and the deal.
Currently Brunson holds ten WSOP bracelets, two of them which are from Main Events. These two Main Event victories came in 1976 and 1977 when Doyle held 2-10 as conclusive pocket cards. No wonder the hand is now known as the “Doyle Brunson”.
Nobody can question Doyle’s superior poker skills, but he’s a successful author as well. His ‘Super System’ can be considered as the basis of modern poker.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Poker Royalty, Brian Balsbraugh tells that representing Bruson is his career highlight. “If it weren’t for Doyle and his hard work the poker industry would not have evolved to the point where there could even be a Poker Royalty. I have no doubt we will do some big things together.”
More big news for DTD now, as the English Poker Open is building momentum. The $1 million guaranteed event has already shifted 105 of the 270 $5300 seats, with 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and European Ladies Champion Liv Boeree confirmed for the event. The Open will take place just before the WSOPE on September 15th, 16th and 17th and will have a 10,000 stack with 1 hour blinds. There will also be a £500 No Limit Freezeout starting on day two that will conclude on day three. The final of the main event will take place on day three. An extra £250 No Limit Freezeout will kick off on day three. All events at The English Poker Open have been awarded European Poker Rankings status.
The GreenJokerPoker team, who brought us the European Deepstack Poker Championships, held another adventurous format event over the weekend. A festival of deep stack, shorthanded poker with all 6 max tables for every event including the cash games. It’s very surprising that such a well organised and exciting looking event would have an overlay, but that seems to be a common predicament these days and there was a €9,000 overlay on the €150,000 guaranteed main event. The eventual winner was Raymond Beytrison, who presumably was one of the large French contingent who love these deepstack events in Dublin
Final Table
1st Raymond Beytrison €39,000
2nd Michael Muldoon €27,000
3rd Eoin Olin €18,000
4th Ciaran Taggart €13,500
5th John Weafer €10,500
6th David Normoyle €9,000
Whether it was for the chance of another overlay or just to show their support, the UK poker community was out in force at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham this weekend. Both guarantees were met in the £80,000 guaranteed (Which got a £97,500 prize pool and 325 entrants) and the £20,000 guaranteed (£21,000 prize pool and 140 runners). In the end there was a five way deal in the main event, which saw the final five all walk away with a 5 figure score, which looked like this
Stephen Lloyd £15,836
Richard Horton £14,887
Nicolas Mclellan £13,103
Simon Deadman £12,154
Ashley Mason £11,730
The club is now looking forward to the SPUKT Main Event next weekend, which has a £25,000 guarantee but has already hit £30,000 and looks like it will be a load of fun. Sky Poker have released 100 seats for direct buy-in to the event, which you can get online by registering a Sky Poker and going into the tournament lobby. The buy-in is £200+£20 and you start with a 10,000 stack with 45 minute blinds.