WSOP Releases Current Top 20 for Tournament of Champions

RELATED ARTICLES

• WSOP Announces Tournament of Champ…
• WSOP What to Watch For: Tuesday, J…

With one month down in voting, the World Series of Poker released the names of the players who would qualify for the Tournament of Champions if it started today.

The WSOP announced the rebirth of the TOC format in March. The latest revision resulted in a 27 player field that will duke it out for a $1 million prize pool. First will be worth $500k, second $250k, 3rd 100k and 4th through 9th take home $25k for their efforts.

That field will be made up of two types of players: automatic qualifiers and fan favorites. The five automatic qualifiers: Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Joe Cada and Barry Shulman. Additionally, 20 more players will be drawn from a pool of 521 living WSOP bracelet holders; public voting determines which of the 20 get the invite. There will also be two “sponsor’s exemptions” that will get into the field.

Here are the 20 players who top the balloting right now (in alphabetical order)

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

A few noteworthy things about the top 20, or who’s not in it:
–Top European players, like Annette Obrestad and Peter Eastgate and Dario Minieri, are apparently not faring that well.
–Chris Moneymaker, whose WSOP main event victory many credit for the poker boom, would not make the cut, currently. The man he beat for the bracelet, Sam Farha, would.
–Erick Lindgren, a popular player who often appears on TV, isn’t in the top 20.

The WSOP has said more than a quarter of a million votes have been cast already. Voting closes on June 15th.

From WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart in a release on the event: “The poker community has rallied behind this event and judging by the results thus far, hosting a tournament with a field such as this would be a tremendous event. Saying that, the voting is so tight and close, and with two months of voting to go, we can see this list changing dramatically between now and June 15.”

The tournament will take place on June 27 as part of the WSOP at the Rio in Las Vegas. When a final table is reached, play will be suspended until the Fourth of July, when a winner will be crowned.

If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so at the WSOP Web site.

Get your daily dose of poker news with the PTP Hit and Run.

Props Get Paid up to 102%+ Rakeback. Click for Offers >>>