Recently, World Series of Poker (WSOP) officials announced open voting to determine 20 of the 27 spots in the 2010 Tournament of Champions. With five automatic qualifiers already in the field and two more left up to the event’s sponsor, Poker News Daily staff writers cast their votes.
Each person can vote for up to 20 players and only former bracelet winners are eligible. Automatic entries include 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman, 2004 Tournament of Champions victor Annie Duke, 2005 Tournament of Champions winner Mike Matusow, and 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions frontrunner Mike Sexton.
Dan Cypra
The 2010 Tournament of Champions will air on ESPN. As such, it’s important that the primary faces of poker appear in an All-Star Game. I cast my votes for the industry’s heavy-hitters, who first and foremost include four the most decorated bracelet winners: Phil Hellmuth (11 bracelets), Johnny Chan (10), Doyle Brunson (10), and 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Erik Seidel (eight).
In addition, WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Event champs since the modern poker boom began should all receive invites, as they have truly served as the main faces of poker in recent years. Therefore, I selected Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Peter Eastgate, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, and John Juanda.
I also picked the true powerhouses of poker. These players, while not Main Event champions or the top bracelet winners, exemplify what our industry is all about: Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein. Finally, the industry’s internet guns should be represented. The top names in this category that I voted for were Jason Mercier, Brock “t soprano” Parker, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond.
Sean Gibson
I voted for Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Allen Cunningham, Greg Raymer, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro, Doyle Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, Annette Obrestad, Hoyt Corkins, Antonio Esfandiari, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, and Huck Seed.
I voted for players based on a few criteria, but there was no absolute mathematical formula I had set. I first filtered by biggest money winners, but declined to pick players like Jamie Gold and Chris Moneymaker because, frankly, I didn’t think they could win. I then realized my main mental filter for picking players: “Could this person win this event,” which made picking the players a lot easier. There are a few players I left off on the bubble, but by and large, I felt that anyone in my list plays a current and relevant No Limit Hold’em tournament game and could take it down.
Earl Burton
I’m really glad that the WSOP allows fans to vote up to 20 players. It would have been close to impossible to limit it to just one, five, or ten. I also liked how the voting is limited to those who have won WSOP bracelets; it makes it a much stronger and more exclusive field than if anyone was eligible. Kudos to Harrah’s and the WSOP staff for bringing back the Tournament of Champions in this format.
I went with some of the usual suspects (Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, and Scotty Nguyen) because of their success at the WSOP and their longevity in the game. I also believe that the previous year’s WSOP Player of the Year should get an automatic entry, so in this case I voted for Jeffrey Lisandro. I also voted for T.J. Cloutier because he is regarded as one of the most successful tournament players in the history of poker and for John Juanda because of his championship at the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2008 and continued success in the game.
I also have some votes that I don’t believe will end up in the top 50 at the end of the voting process. Annie Duke cannot be the only female player in the game, so I voted for Barbara Enright (the only woman to ever make the WSOP Main Event final table), Jennifer Harman (the only woman to win multiple open WSOP bracelets), and Kathy Liebert (the all-time leading female money winner). Finally, I voted for Thor Hansen, who should be a lock for the Poker Hall of Fame or any All-Star tournament, and Mark Seif because I like Mark!
Although she would be a viable choice, Annette Obrestad shouldn’t merit a birth in this event. She has never been on the Las Vegas stage for the WSOP and, as such, let’s let her get some history in the Las Vegas version of the event before we bestow accolades on her. I also eliminated many “one-hit wonders” that seemingly have come and gone from the WSOP stage and have had little success in the game since their breakthrough.
Maria del Mar
My vote had to do with three main criteria. As Editor of Poker News Daily, I’m keen on players who make instant headlines, so I voted for Phil Ivey, Annette Obrestad, Barry Greenstein, and Chris Ferguson. Our readers are interested in anything these players do, as am I. Good headlines make this editor happy.
I’m all for women in poker, so I gave my vote to many female players. Besides Obrestad, I voted for Barbara Enright, a living poker legend; Jennifer Harman, whose charity work is as impressive as her poker skills; Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker and one of our beloved Guest Columnists; Vanessa Selbst and Kathy Liebert, who are shockingly not yet sponsored by any site; and Katja Thater. I wish I had Thater’s poker skills and I wish even more that I had her horses.
We all want good television, so I chose some players with a well-earned reputation for being incredibly entertaining at the tables. They included David “Devilfish” Ulliott; Dutch Boyd, my fellow Costa Rican Humberto “The Shark” Brenes, the dapper Sammy Farha, Carlos Mortensen, and of course Scotty Nguyen, baby!
As a bonus, I gave my last three votes to players I admire for various reasons: Allen Cunningham, one of the top players we never write about; Theo Jorgensen, who impressed me with his dignity after being knocked out of the first WSOP Europe Main Event; Chris Moneymaker because he is online poker’s true hero; and Rafe Furst because I have learned something every day since I started following him on Twitter.
Brett Collson
Rather than selecting 20 deserving players who will almost certainly be voted in by fans (like Phil Ivey), I picked one player who might be overlooked by most voters: Matt “mattg1983” Graham. While covering the WSOP for the past two years, I developed an admiration for Graham’s commitment to poker. Like most of us, he began as a No Limit Hold’em player, but has made considerable progress in every variation of the game. The result: two WSOP bracelets in two years: Limit Hold’em in 2008 and Pot Limit Omaha in 2009.
Cast your own vote by visiting WSOP.com.
I am happy to see a couple of you give props to Barbara Enright for the WSOP TOC. I am a bit disappointed that nobody voted for Jay Heimowitz. While he may not have done much in the post-Moneymaker era, I think that it is important to remember the history of the game. Anyone with six bracelets deserves a vote in my book. Also, Billy Baxter was left off the list for each voter. Seven bracelets and being the person indirectly responsible for Stu Ungar’s third WSOP Main Event title should get some recognition. I do realize that all of his bracelets are in lowball forms of poker, but 7 bracelets is still 7 bracelets.
Hey James,
Good points you bring up regarding Jay Heimowitz and Billy Baxter. I would agree with you that they are two of the most overlooked parts of WSOP history and both have extremely strong merits to get into the event.
the best female tournament player kathy liebert always gets overlooked by prettier faces etc bout time to give her her due kathy simply is great and has the record to back it up