While the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions (TOC) takes a break until July 3rd, the leaders of Team UB.com, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, find themselves right in the thick of things.
With 17 of the original 27 players remaining, Hellmuth and Duke are back-to-back in the middle of the pack. With 44,100 chips, Hellmuth is in eighth place, while Duke is right behind him in ninth with 42,600. If they hold those same positions throughout the rest of the tournament, they will both earn $25,000. Undoubtedly, though, they each have their eyes trained on the $500,000 grand prize.
Duke has not had any success at this year’s WSOP, as she is still without a cash, so a win in the TOC would be a great boost for the 2009 “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up. It will also be quite an accomplishment to beat such a stacked, albeit small, field after recently winning the similarly challenging National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Duke was one of five automatic qualifiers for the TOC, earning her spot by winning the inaugural Tournament of Champions back in 2004. Coincidentally, she defeated Hellmuth heads-up in that event to win the $2 million purse.
While Hellmuth prides himself on holding the most WSOP bracelets of anyone in the history of poker, he would still love to win the TOC, even though it would not technically count as his 12th bracelet. Hellmuth has had a disappointing run at the WSOP so far, with just three cashes for $70,622. He does have two top-15 finishes, including a final table, but for Hellmuth, also the all-time leader in number of cashes at the WSOP, it has been frustrating. Last night, he Tweeted, “Feeling so TORTURED right now!! Busted on level 15, in 59th place… 45 get paid. Four times I played till level 14 or later, and didn’t cash.”
Hellmuth earned his seat in the Tournament of Champions through the online fan vote. He was the fourth-leading vote getter of the 20 players who qualified via balloting, garnering 12,673 votes. Ahead of him were Phil Ivey (16,267), Daniel Negreanu (16,239), and Doyle Brunson (13,796).
The TOC has a dash of past UB flavor, as well, as ex-UB pro Antonio Esfandiari (now with Victory Poker) is 16th place and Scotty Nguyen, who was once sponsored by UB, is in fourth place.
The TOC is slated to pick back up on July 3rd and play down to a final table, which will be contested the following day. If any player is still alive in events happening on July 3rd, however, the TOC will not resume at all until July 4th, when it will start bright and early at 9:00am local time.