October 29 2012, Donnie Peters

Follow hand-for-hand action from the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Today marks the kickoff the of the greatest final table in poker as it belongs to the World Series of Poker Main Event!

Just about three and a half months ago, the nine finalists etched their name in the poker history books by becoming the nine members of the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table. Not only that, but they also became the first group called the “Octo-Nine”. Headed by big chip leader Jesse Sylvia, everyone remaining has locked up a minimum of $754,798, and it’s the top seven spots that will become millionaires.

Speaking of Sylvia, he’ll be looking to achieve what Jonathan Duhamel did when he came into the final table as chip leader, and that’s win the title. Other former chip leaders since the delay in action were Dennis Phillips (2008), Darvin Moon (2009) and Martin Staszko (2011), but they all failed to get the job done.

Trailing Sylvia are Andras Koroknai and Greg Merson with just about the same amount of chips. Koroknai could be seen as one of the dark spots of this final table, but to him it doesn’t seem to matter how the public views him. There has been some controversy around Koroknai, and he even told Robert Salaburu, “The French girl is mine.” upon making it down to the 10-handed final table, speaking of Gaelle Baumann.

Merson, on the other hand, has been to the dark side, but has since worked his way back. Having come into poker and money at a young age, Merson fell into a drug addiction, but has battled against it to get his life back in order. Doing so allowed him to win his first WSOP gold bracelet earlier this year, and can still see him win a second. He could also win the WSOP Player of the Year if he were to claim first place. Right now, Phil Hellmuth is set to take those honors.

Another feel good story alongside Merson’s would be if Jake Balsiger won, but he’d have to do it coming from the second shortest stack remaining. Balsiger is just 21 years and 281 days old, and he could become the youngest Main Event champion in history. The 2009 champion, Joe Cada, was 21 years and 356 days old when he won the event.

Here’s a look at the final table, and how the players will stack up in seat order:

The crowd here inside the Penn & Teller Theatre is heating up, and the electricity is in the air. There’s going to be plenty of excitement on the way, and you won’t want to miss a thing!

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May 26 2012, Chad Holloway

With the 2012 World Series of Poker right around the corner, it was time for the seventh annual ESPN Fantasy Poker League, and I couldn’t have been more excited. This marked my third year as a participant, and I was seeking to win my second title in three years after winning the competition in 2010.

This year’s draft saw an eclectic mix of pros and prominent media members participate, though last year’s champion and former November Niner, Dennis Phillips, and two-time bracelet winner Mark Seif both had to miss the contest. With the addition of Josh Brikis, who has more than $1.4 million in career earnings, the total number of teams for this year’s draft stood at 10.

Here are the 10 teams/participants in the draft order: Lance Bradley, Brikis, myself, Eric Baldwin, Gary Wise, Daniel Negreanu, Dwyte Pilgrim, Chops of WickedChopsPoker, ESPN’s and the league’s commissioner Andrew Feldman, and Bernard Lee.

The invite-only league, which is built around the World Series of Poker, doesn’t feature a buy-in, but there are some major bragging rights on the line. Each participant utilizes their expertise to draft a team of eight players whom they think will find success at the WSOP. That team is then awarded points based upon the following criteria:

• 1 point for making the money
• 2 points for the top 50
• 5 points for top 20
• 10 points for the final table (defined as top nine in hold ‘em, eight in mixed and other games, six during shorthanded events, eight in heads-up (5-8th will be awarded 5th, etc).

In addition:

• 1 additional point for ninth
• 2 additional points for eighth
• 4 additional points for seventh
• 6 additional points for sixth
• 10 additional points for fifth
• 15 additional points for fourth
• 20 additional points for third
• 30 additional points for second
• 40 additional points for first
• Double points will be awarded for all events with a $10,000 buy-in or more.
• Players will earn one extra point by cashing per every 100 players in the field. For example, if you cash in a 2000-player event, you will earn an additional 20 points.
• Every team can drop one player and replace him or her with another player. Stats will only count once on your roster.

The draft proved to be a quick affair, and some interesting facts emerged:

• Last year’s number one pick, Eric Baldwin, dropped to the 70th overall pick this year. As Pilgrim explained, “He’s learned a thing or two” since making his pick last year.
• Phil Ivey was drafted second overall the past two years. Let’s hope it works out better for Brikis than it did for me last year when Ivey didn’t play!
• Seven of the first-round picks were also first-round picks last year. Eric Baldwin, Erick Lindgren and David Chiu were the players who fell out of the first round, while Steve Billirakis, Eugene Katchalov and Shawn Buchanan were the ones who jumped in.
• Last year Erick Lindgren was the fifth overall pick, but dropped to 68th this year; meanwhile, last year’s second-round picks Shannon Shorr, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Mark Seif and Gavin Smith weren’t even selected this year.
• Other players not drafted this year included Huck Seed, Chau Giang, Andy Frankenberger, Ted Forrest, Andy Bloch, Galen Hall, Chad Brown and Jennifer Harman, just to name a few. Oh, and Chris Ferguson, he wasn’t selected either.

What’s even more interesting is that once the draft was completed (you can view the team rosters below), the Twitterverse chimed in:

Below is a round-by-round look at the 2012 ESPN Fantasy Poker League Draft:

Team Lance Bradley

Who do you think has the best team? Were there any players you were surprised to discover did not get drafted? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

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