WSOP Releases Current Top 20 for Tournament of ChampionsTwo Months Remain to Cast Your Votes |
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On July 4, the World Series of Poker will host what will be its fourth Tournament of Champions since the poker boom erupted following Chris Moneymaker’s magical win at the 2003 WSOP main event. But ironically, if voting for which players the public wants in this year’s freeroll ended today, Moneymaker still will not have competed in one of these exclusive tournaments.
The Tennessee accountant highlights quite a list of players who are not in the current top 20 of Harrah’s public poll to seat 20 of the 27 players in this year’s Tournament of Champions. Five spots are reserved for the last three TOC winners (Mike Sexton, Mike Matusow, and Annie Duke) and the reigning WSOP ( Joseph Cada ) and WSOPE (Barry Shulman) champions, while two spots are being held for sponsor exemptions, which are expected to be used as qualifiers for the public.
There are still two months for fans to vote in up to 20 players who they would like to see in the ESPN event. The top nine finishers in the 27-player field will divvy up the $1 million prize pool, with the winner receiving $500,000. Only living bracelet-holders are eligible to be voted in.
Voting concludes June 15 at midnight. There have already been over 250,000 votes cast in the poll, according to the WSOP.
The current top 20, in alphabetical order, according to Harrah’s press release today:
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
T.J. Cloutier
Allen Cunningham
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Joe Hachem
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Howard Lederer
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Greg Raymer
Huck Seed
Erik Seidel
There are hardly many surprising names on that list, but with only 20 spots available, many people are curious of those who have fallen short of the top 20. With still two months of voting to go, it is still very possible that the top 20 list changes dramatically. But there are a few pros who haven’t garnered enough support yet who might surprise some fans.
Below is a list, in random order, of the top 50 vote-getters. You can compare with the above list and discover some of the people who are close, but do not currently have the votes to get in.
Currently, there are nine former main-event champs in the top 20. But there are five main-event champions in the top 50 who have fallen short of the top 20 thus far — Moneymaker, 2008 champ Peter Eastgate, 2006 champ Jamie Gold, 2001 champ Carlos Mortensen, and 1983 champ Tom McEvoy.
Of the post-boom WSOP champions, Jerry Yang appears to be the only player not in the running. Cada has already locked in one of the automatic bids as the reigning champ.
Other pros who die-hard fans might be surprised not to see in the top 20 (and who are currently in the top 50) are 2007 WSOPE main event champ Annette Obrestad, highly regarded tournament pro Jason Mercier, high-stakes cash game regulars Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and David Benyamine, six-time bracelet winner Layne Flack, and the last two pros who won WSOP Player of the Year, Jeffrey Lisandro and Erick Lindgren.
Other pros that have gotten their fair share of TV time, but are also not in the top 20 include Humberto Brenes, Eli Elezra, and Dario Minieri.
If you’re not satisfied with the list and have yet to cast your vote, you can do so today at www.wsop.com.
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