Breakdown of the 2011 WSOP – Rio Hotel & Casino
It may seem funny to see the term “World Series of Poker” pop up. Odds are, it was much more familiar to you a few years back. The poker boom happened in the mid 2000s. We all played it. People who weren’t even poker players started winning money off their friends on Friday nights.
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Now, the landscape has changed. Poker has taken a backseat to other major sports again. The NFL is always booming but the NBA and NHL in particular have made major comebacks in recent years, shattering TV ratings records. We can thank LeBron and Sid the Kid for that.
The online poker situation is also changing for players across North America. A huge number of poker giants were indicted by the U.S. government this past spring for allegedly disguising gambling payments as payments to “clean” online merchants like golf outlets, florists and jewelry stores. Many sites had to shut down their “for-money” operations as a result.
It was a shame to see it happen just as a hot new mode of poker, rush poker, was becoming all the rage. Skipping every hand you don’t want to play? “Rushing” to play only the ones you want to bet? Fun stuff.
But I digress. The landscape has changed significantly – but we can still watch and enjoy the pros doing their thing. Here’s a breakdown of the 2011 World Series of Poker.
2011 WORLD SERIES OF POKER
Bracelet events season: May 31 to July 19, 2011
Main Event World Championship: July 7, 2011
November Nine final table: November 5, 2011
Venue: Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Current event: Even 34 — $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Contrary to the layman belief that the World Series of Poker is just one big, be-all-end-all championship, the WSOP season is laid out much more like a PGA golf season. There are 58 events, with the last one being the “Main Event World Championship,” which is the equivalent of a golf major like The Masters in many ways. After that, the final table gathers for the November Nine, which determines the true world champion of the year.
Winning an event nets you a coveted World Series of Poker bracelet, which is like winning a golf tournament during the PGA season or a race during the NASCAR season. The all-time bracelet leaders:
11 – Phil Hellmuth
10 – Doyle Brunson
10 – Johnny Chan
9 – Johnny Moss
8 – Erik Seidel
8 – Phil Ivey
The stakes for each event vary. The Main Event World Championship has a $10,000 buy-in.
2011 WSOP Player of the Year standings
Naturally, we consider this group the list of top contenders for the November Nine. Hellmuth is one of the all-time greats. Stein has been final tabling left and right and won Event 31 – Pot-Limit Omaha. Don’t forget about No. 10 Daniel Idema. After finishing second at the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship last year, he took it this time around.
1. Phil Hellmuth (393.75 points)
2. Samuel Stein (385.75)
3. John Juanda (336.00)
4. Amir Lehavot (330.75)
5. Sean Getzwiller (325.00)
6. Steve Landfish (317.70)
7. Viacheslav Zhukov (315.00)
8. Jake Cody (313.13)
9. Eric Rodawig (311.50)
10. Daniel Idema (309.50)
The sleeper for the November Nine:
Andy Frankenberger
Frankenberger is currently 20th in the WSOP Player of the Year standings but he was recently crowned the World Poker Tour Player of the Year. He flashed some major ability in winning Event 28 – No Limit Hold’em. Should he win enough to top the WSOP standings, he would become the second player to ever win both the WSOP and WPT Player of the Year titles in the same year (after Daniel Negreanu).
