WSOP

Whether you love or hate Phil Hellmuth you can not rebuff that he might just be the finest player in the history of the WSOP. If he is not the greatest he at least is on the short list of players that would include Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Stu Unger and Chip Reese. Phil has more bracelets has one thing on all these guys or anyone you can think of. He already shared with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, by winning his eleventh bracelet in 2007 Phil set the record. Phil has finished more then five million dollars at the World Series of Poker alone.

Phil’s biggest cash at the World Series of Poker is the first bracelet came in 1989 and still. In 1989 Phil won took home $755,000$ in the 10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event. That seems like not anything compared to the fact that the Main Event winner these days can make more then $10,000,000. Although the field was no where near the size of today’s events you need to understand that in those days the Main Event was filled with top professional players. Phil was only 24 years old and his first bracelet didn’t come easy in 1989, he had to beat Johnny Chan heads up to take the title. At the time Johnny was going away for his third straight title and may have been the best poker player in the world. Phil didn’t manage to win a bracelet, but in 1992 he took home the $5000 Limit Holdem poker bracelet.

1993 was the year that Phil Hellmuth formally began the talk that he might be the best player in the poker world. He succeeded three events in 1993 including the $1500 No Limit Holdem, $2,500 No Limit Holdem and the $5,000 Limit Hold’ em. With more then $450,000 in earning and three coveted bracelets, Hellmuth walked away from the 1993 World Series of Poker. For the three years following Phil’s advance in 1993 he didn’t manage to win a single bracelet, but broke through again in 1997. Hellmuth won the $3000 Pot Limit Holdem tournament taking home more then $200,000 in 1997. Heading into 2001 Phil Hellmuth was a poker star. He had six bracelets and was looking further. He tied poker legends Chan and Brunson, winning his tenth bracelet in the $1,000 No Limit Holdem Rebuy tournament in 2006. In 2007 Phil captured his second best single tournament making at the World Series when he won over $630,000 in the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event, his record infringement eleventh bracelet.

Phil Hellmuth’s nickname when he is sitting at the poker table is “The Poker Brat”. As the World Series of Poker gained exposure on television, so did Phil Hellmuth became as popular for his tricks at the poker as he was for his outstanding play. If he thinks you made a bad play he is going to tell you about it, maybe more then once Phil is known to speak his feelings when he is at the tables. You better watch out if you are at a table with Phil and you hit an inside straight to beat his set. The public want to see him play this persona has taken Hellmuth along ways. Most because of his unpredictable attitude, although some even watch to see a great poker player in action. Unique to him and was created through years of experience “The Poker Brat” has his own style. It will be like walking on a tight rope, you never know when you are going to fall if you play like Phil. His inert and slow play opens himself up to get sucked out on, or to win pots with monster hands. Attempt it play like that and you will find you might get a little disturb from time to time at the tables to.

Texas Hold’em is Phil Hellmuth’s game, all eleven of his bracelets won playing it and has won bracelets playing Pot Limit, Limit and No Limit Hold’ em, but has never won playing a new form of poker. People who criticize Phil tend to look directly at this stat, Hellmuth has mastered hold’ em.

However Hellmuth has won eleven bracelets playing Hold’ em. “The Poker Brat” will always have his reviewers, although if you ask around the top pros in the world you find they have great respect for his game. People will hate on Phil because of his publicity, much like the way people hate on Tiger Woods in golf, but it is not reasonable. Hellmuth is still in his prime and who knows how many bracelets he will win in his life time, other than you can be assured that he will try to win them all. Over Five Million Dollars in career World Series of Poker pay, a record eleven bracelets and more then sixty cashes, Phil Hellmuth is a star at the World Series of Poker.

Groups of Poker tournaments held at various locations around the United States, The World Series of Poker Circuit season has already begun and kicked off the event at its first stop in Elizabeth, IN. The World Series of Poker Circuit has always been a platform where players are given exposure to the World Series of Poker, albeit on a smaller scale. Most tournaments are around the $500 buy-in range, although there are higher buy-ins. The Main Event of the circuit event comes in at a $5,000 buy-in.

Aside from a shot at Poker stardom, the winner of each circuit event receives a gold ring along with the first place prize money. On the other hand, winners of the Main Event of each Circuit series will receive an entry into the Main Event of the next year’s World Series of Poker Las Vegas. This year the circuit will be at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana from October 2 to 14. From the 24th of October to the 2nd of November, they will be at the Horseshoe Hammond in the Chicago area. They will stop by Harvey’s Lake Tahoe in Nevada from November 6 to 16 and at Harrah’s Atlantic City from December 5 to 18. They will start the New Year off at Harrah’s Tunica in Mississippi where they will be from January 20 to February 9. From February 12 to 25, they will be at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa. While from March 4 to 14 they will be at the Caesars Atlantic City and at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego from the 19th to the 29th. They will visit the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas next from April 12 to 29 and the last stop will be at the Harrah’s New Orleans where they will stay from May 8 to 20.

Majority of the events in the WSOP Circuit are No Limit Holdem, but you can expect them to mix the events up every now and then, offering H.O.R.S.E., Limit Holdem, Omaha 8 or Better, 7 Card Stud and, on much rarer occasions, Stud 8 or Better.

Many view the WSOP Circuit as the minor leagues because here you will find that many of the preliminary events are headlined and won by virtually unknown players. There will be many occasions when a first time poker player will play in an event and take one down. This is in part what the circuit is all about. One of the reasons why they hold the event is to give players at all levels a chance at WSOP glory.

Some poker professionals tend to fly in for the Main Event of the various WSOP Circuit Events where the $5,000 buy-in is part of the attraction. Another is the opportunity for media exposure because many of the Main Events are widely covered by various media outlets.

Like in the World Series of  Poker in Las Vegas, you can also satellite your way into any event at the WSOP circuit. You can win an entry into the $500 events with $65 satellites. At $125 satellites, you can enter the $1000 event. You can play all the way up to $550 satellites if you want your shot at the $5,000 buy-in Main Event. There are also mega satellites being held.

Nicknamed Kid Poker, Daniel Negreanu is among the most respected and most decorated professional players in the history of poker. At every event he plays in, he is a fan favorite and surely someone to reckon with at the Poker tables. Coming off a great performance at the latest World of Series Poker Europe, he remains one of the top players in the poker world. The general public find it easy to relate with his style of play, which includes a whole lot of talking. He comes off as easy going and seems to always have a great time at the tables. His broke out into the poker scene in the mid 1990s and continues to be successful today. He has a natural love and knack for gambling and even bets on golf. Negreanu is a true poker player in essence and will play any form of poker available to him.

He is a poker icon back in his native country Canada where his Poker dreams started. He first tried playing in backroom games and in casinos near Toronto Ontario and broke through in 1997 at Foxwoods where he won two events for more than $50,000. This started the climb to the top of the poker world for the young man. The year after that he won his first bracelet at the WSOP, this was worth more than $160,000 and would be a sign of future success at the tournaments. His next bracelet was won in 2003 but during that period he had eight top 15 finishes and came close several times. The second bracelet was won in a SHOE tournament where he also bagged more than $100,000.

But the best year so far in his career was in 2004 when he claimed top honors for his efforts. During that year, he finished in the top 10 in tournaments for five times. He finished 3rd in a No Limit Holdem event and won the limit holdem event for his third bracelet. In 2005, he took home more than $750,000 after winning a circuit event. This was his biggest cash at the WSOP. In 2008, he won his fourth bracelet in a Limit Holdem tournament. Just recently he was in London and was looking to win his first WSOPE bracelet. Although he didn’t win, he still made the final table at the main event and won more than £250,000. Overall, he has four bracelets, 33 cashes, and more than $2 million in WSOP earnings in his careers so far.

He has also had considerable success outside of the World Series of Poker. He has two WPT titles and was the WPT Player of the Year back in 2005 with 16 WPT cashes in his career. If you try to add everything up, his total poker tournaments earnings would reach up to $10 million. He ranks the second all time to main event winner Jamie Gold. And as he is still young, we can expect to see more of him in the poker world, whether he is at the tables or as an announcer.

Las Vegas is the place to be if you want to hit it big in the world of Poker. Every year this is where players from all places come to make a name for themselves and to compete for the World Series of Poker bracelets. Along with the growing popularity of the game, poker’s best players have also come to take on center stage. Guys like Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and Scott Nguyen are among those you can expect to see every year in Vegas and on World Series of Poker programming. Good at what they do, these players definitely deserve the wide recognition they’re getting. But there are some who have not taken on the spotlight but have multiple bracelets to their names.

Billy Baxter. Baxter has a total of seven WSOP bracelets. Yet a lot of people do not even know him. Baxter is a true poker legend. He won his first WSOP bracelet in a 1975 deuce to seven event and since then has gone on to cash 28 times so far. In the 80s he won five of his seven titles and won one in the 90s. In 2002, he captured his latest bracelet and soon after made seven cashes. So with all the credentials to back up a superstar personality, why is Baxter not so known in the poker world? The possible reason is that he plays in less popular games like deuce to seven lowball, Razz, and Ace to Five draw. Just recently, he made the final table in event 40, proving that he is still a great player. Seven bracelets and more than one million dollars in WSOP earnings – Baxter is truly deserving of a spot among the greatest poker players of all time.

Layne Flack. Sure, you might have heard the name and know the face. But do you know that he has six WSOP bracelets? Flack has been on television quite a few times, although he isn’t a regular on popular programming. With 19 cashes so far, he has more than $2.2 million in WSOP earnings. His first title came in 1999 when he won a Pot Limit holdem event for more than $220,000. His career took off from there and since then he has won bracelets in No Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Pot Limit Omaha rebuy. This year, he won his first bracelet in five years, taking home more than a half million dollars. Flack has a current title count of six and has finished in the top five five times.

Berry Johnston. Although a lot of people do not know who he is, Johnston is a main event winner. In 1986, he won the main event and took home the bracelet along with $570,000 in loot. Overall, Johnston has a total of five bracelets and has cashed 56 times in his career. He has won titles in limit and no Limit Holdem, Omaha, Razz, and in Heads Up. This year he cashed in three times. His best finish in 2008 was being 10th in the World Championship of Omaha. He has a total of over $2 million in earnings and is known for being one of the tightest and most solid players in the history of Texas Holdem poker. His playing style has definitely helped him get a lot more cashes in his career and compete for bracelets.

Tom McEvoy. He first took the title in 1983 and has so far won four bracelets and has made 36 career WSO cashes. The highlight of his career was the year 1983 when he won two events which included besting Doyle Brunson himself at the final table of the Main Event. His bracelets were won in four different games: Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Razz, and Omaha. His career earnings has reached more than $1.2 million, which will surely increase as he continues to play in the series every year. Although he has failed to win another bracelet since 1992, he has had seven cashes in the last three years. This year he finished in the top 30 twice and made more than $12, 000.

Chau Giang. Giang has had 46 career cashes and has three bracelets to his name. This year has been amazing for him as he cashed in eight times and finished in the top 15 three times. His first bracelet was won in 1993 and the latest was in 2004 for winning the Pot Limit Omaha event. His total career earnings reach close to $1.5 million, becoming one of the most consistent and best players in the world.

Erik Seidel is proof that there is more than what meets the eye. If you ever have the pleasure of watching him play at table, you will see a quiet and well-dressed man. You could easily mistake him for a mediocre player. But if you were to play against him, you’ll soon find that first impressions are sometimes wrong. And if you’re not careful, you just might lose all of your Poker chips to him.

Erik Seidel started his career as a professional gambler with backgammon. At that time he was still in college and attending Brooklyn College. Later on, however, Seidel eventually dropped out. Soon after, he took up a career as a backgammon player. He also started playing Poker and continued to play these two games up until 1985, when he decided that it was time to get another job. He became a stockbroker, playing a little poker on the side in his spare time. He played some high stakes poker, too. It was like this for years. But the stock market crashed and he lost his job. He continued to play poker and in 1998, after taking some time to improve his game, he took his first shot at the World Series of Poker.

Unfortunately for him, the first nine games didn’t go as well as he had wanted to. He had practically no cash left back then. But fate helped him a bit and he eventually ended up playing against Johnny Chan, the World Champion, during the Main Event. He lost. But that was just the beginning. It was apparent that the world of Poker was going to see some great things from Seidel in years to come.

He refrained from playing as a professional poker player even as he won the bracelets back in 1992 and 1993. In 1994, he bagged his third along with $210,000 after winning $5,000 Limit Holdem event. That was when he finally decided to be a professional, soon moving to Vegas with his wife.

He currently ranks 5th all time for WSOP bracelets, winning eight different World Series of Poker Bracelets. Two of these bracelets were won in No Limit Holdem, two in Limit Holdem, two in 2-7 Lowball, one in Pot Limit Omaha, and yet another one in Omaha 8. Overall, he has managed to bag an estimate of nine million dollars in tournaments. In 2008, he won his very first World Poker Tournament title. He also won the Foxwoods Poker Classics where he took home $967,390. Now, he has the titles for the former Diamond Jim Brady, Four Queens classic, and Fiesta Al Lago events.

This poker player extraordinaire enjoys listening to music and is a self-confessed much buff. He is even known to wear a set of headphones where he can tune in to his music as he plays poker. He works for Full Tilt Poker and is part of the team that takes care of the site design.

You can bet that Erik Seidel will be here to stay for a very long time. At the age of 48, there are still some promising things out there for him in the world of poker. And probably one of the most interesting things to watch out for is whether he finished on the all time list for World Series of Poker bracelets.