Online Poker

Poker fans have been voting for which of the best WSOP bracelet winners should get a spot in the 2010 Tournament of Champions, and the results thus far have been quite interesting after more than 250,000 votes. The current Top 20 includes:

• Doyle Brunson
• Johnny Chan
• TJ 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 is still a long time left to vote, as entries do not close until June 15th, so this list will obviously change somewhat before then. Also, Joe Cada gets an entry due to his WSOP Main Event win last year, as does Barry Shulman for winning the WSOPE Main Event. Previous WSOP Tournament of Champions winners also get invited - which means Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton can all be expected to play. Nevertheless, there are many strange picks on the current list, as well as many glaring omissions. Of course, only previous WSOP bracelet winners are eligible, which means that many excellent online players cannot be considered. Which is kind of unfortunate, really.

First off, let's talk about players who really should be on that list. Annette Obrestad is an obvious choice, as without her Annie Duke and Jennifer Harman will probably be the only female players. While there are plenty of other more established female WSOP champs, Obrestad appeals to a younger demographic, as well as to viewers in Europe. I also think Jason Mercier would be a good addition, as I feel he'd be surprisingly competitive, definitely more so than many of the fading stars in this list.

Now for the players who just don't make sense in this tournament. Greg Raymer is a questionable pick, as he hasn't really set the world on fire since his WSOP Main Event win in 2004 and is unlikely to fare well against the other players. I'm also not too sure of Dan Harrington, who hasn't really been active enough in recent years, despite being an excellent live poker player. TJ Cloutier is also a suspect pick, especially given the controversy surrounding the sale of his WSOP bracelet last year. I'm not annoyed that these players are in there, but I don't expect that they'll still be on the list come June.

Some of the picks that I think are particularly good are Phil Hellmuth and Scotty Nguyen, if only for potential entertainment value. Now, the benefit of having them relies on at least one of the two staying in long enough to get on TV, but I think the chances of that are reasonably good.

Who have you voted for and who do you think should be included in the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

-Shad