The two top players from this summer’s World Series of Poker will face off against each other at the final table of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship Wednesday afternoon.
The 2011 World Series of Poker hits its halfway mark this week. The world’s largest tournament poker series has already handed out the majority of the 58 bracelets up for grabs this summer. But it’s still nearly a month until July 19 when the final table of nine players emerges in the $10,000 main event. So far, the series has attracted 33,173 entrants for a prize pool of nearly $56 million — slight increases from this time last year.
Jake Cody joined one of poker’s most exclusive clubs early Saturday morning at the Rio. The 22-year old British pro won $851,192 and the first major World Series of Poker bracelet of the year in the $25,000 buy-in heads-up no-limit hold’em championship. More importantly to poker enthusiasts, Cody became only the third player to ever complete the “triple crown”.
A sign listing the World Series of Poker Main Event champions hangs inside the ballroom at the Rio, perfectly situated about 30 feet away from the table that will be used all summer for heads-up matches when the tournament’s 57 events are played down to two players. Poker legends Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth were at the table Thursday, playing in the made-for-television World Series of Poker Grudge Match — a series of three heads-up matches revisiting past final table battles at the Main Event, epic matches that helped shape the poker landscape.
The World Series of Poker will host the most expensive tournament in the history of the game next summer. Caesars Entertainment officials and a group of players announced plans to hold a $1 million buy-in tournament at the 2012 World Series of Poker.
As expected, poker superstar Phil Ivey filed suit Wednesday against Tiltware LLC – a suit suggesting he’s trying to distance himself from the company’s alleged ties to illegal online gambling.
The world’s best poker player will not play in the World Series of Poker this summer. In an unexpected and shocking move, Phil Ivey announced through his facebook account and eventually his web site that he would not play in any of the WSOP’s 58 events. Ivey said he wouldn’t appear at the Rio until Full Tilt Poker, his former sponsor, reimbursed players for their funds that were frozen when the Department of Justice shut the site down in April.
One of the most memorable moments of last summer’s World Series of Poker concurrently exposed one of the event’s most glaring weaknesses. The entire poker world took notice when then-23-year-old star Tom Dwan advanced to the final table of a $1,500 no-limit hold ’em tournament.
The prevailing thought from those around the poker community is that this year’s World Series of Poker will suffer its first decline in participation in eight years. With federal authorities shutting down the largest online poker sites in America last month, many players had large amounts of money frozen and/or lost an avenue to play themselves into some of the WSOP’s tournaments.
Schedule: The Main Event is officially a 13-day tournament. Players can choose between four starting days, Thursday-Sunday, which consolidate into two Day 2s. The fields are combined for the third day and play will run until July 20, when nine players survive to move onto November’s final table.
Last Established Pro to win: Although both Duhamel and Cada were poker professionals at the time they won the Main Event, a well known player hasn’t become the champion since Juan Carlos Mortensen in 2001.
Winningest Hand: Pocket 9s is the only starting hand that a player has used to win the Main Event on three different occasions. It happened most recently when Joe Cada used his pair of 9s to beat Darvin Moon’s Queen-Jack two years ago.
Doyle Brunson: The 77-year old “Tex Dolly” is the only player to have won the Main Event twice and made the final table five times. Brunson had said he wouldn’t play in this year’s tournament, but announced a change of heart via twitter Wednesday evening.