It's Time for WSOP Picks Again

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

The World Series of Poker is only a little over a week away, and it's time to name our picks of who we think will do the best this year. It's so hard to pick just 3, so I think this year we ought to get 5 picks. I'm going off the Cardplayer point system for determining who does the "best" all-around in the WSOP.

Are there prizes? Nope, just a fun exercise to see how well we can predict the success of our favorite players.

My picks:
1. J.C. Tran (he is running too hot to be picked)
2. Jared Hamby (The Waco Kid online, tearing up the circuit right now as well)
3. Phil Hellmuth (just because he shows up in a big way almost every WSOP)
4. Nam Le (extremely solid player for several years, always in contention)
5. Daniel Negreanu (this is a bit of a gamble, as it depends a lot on his state of mind; but I know Daniel is planning to play a lot of events, and when he is on top of his game and hungry, he's still a top player)


Pains me to forgo my usual pick of Chris Ferguson this year, but there are just too many good tournament players who play very well in preliminary events to justify leaving players like Nam, J.C., and Jared off the list. Phil Ivey I couldn't pick just because he doesn't play that much Poker these days and I know for a fact he won't play more than 7 or 8 tournaments. I was also tempted to take someone like Grinder (Michael Mizrachi) or Gigabet (Darrell Dicken) over Daniel because both of them are top-notch and historically do well in prelim events, but Daniel has had slightly better results this year (well, sort of starting with the final event of 2006), and for whatever reason, Grinder has never had really good showings at the WSOP, even last year, when he trounced the competition for POY on Cardplayer.

What about everyone else? I'll try to keep point totals on the leaders throughout the WSOP.

[LeafsFan1122]

1) Joe Hachem
2) Michael Mizrachi
3) Daniel Negreanu
4) Phil Helmuth
5) Allen Cunningham

[Gunslinger]

I read Ivey is only playing two events this year, the $50,000 HORSE and the ME.

[LeafsFan1122]

Thanks: edited.

Decided to throw in Hachem as a longshot.

[Ensano]

this might be too hard to do but what if we had kinda a pool for the WSOP...

something like maybe 5$ and everyone gets 16 picks... points are the same as the WSOP leader board and whoever has the most points gets the pot..

[LeafsFan1122]

I'm game but 16 players is too many.

[Ensano]

I'm game but 16 players is too many.

whatever amount of picks is fine... i just threw a number up there as an example...

[Eusebio]

I am really curious about Juan Carlos Mortensen.

He and Phil Hellmuth played very good poker at the EPT Monte Carlo and WPT Final.

[MrDarling]

Where can one find which of these pro are expected to play in which event?

FullTilt has some kind of competition that you need to pick 15 players for each event (in 3 groups) if you pick enough players that cash you get prizes.

Though its hard to do if you are not sure who play in which event.

As for the above, I'll consul my crystal ball and will give reply on a later date

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Ah crap, I may be forced to recant my Daniel pick:

http://www.cardplayer.com/blog/entry/453

But who knows, the guy has ups and downs... I'll have a final list by May 31, the day before WSOP starts.

[HalfSugar]

I'm basing these on no criteria

1. Michael Mizrachi
2. Sammy Farha
3. Greg Raymer
4. Daniel Negreanu
5. Dustin Woolf

[Ensano]

ok... are we going to have the pool?

[UrAteUp]

Brunson
Helmuth
Chan

You can't go wrong by picking 10 time bracelet winners for 3 of your favorites... . Besides Helmuth has proven he can finish ITM often with co-holding the WSOP record for most ITM finishes.

My other picks

Cunningham
Hatchem
Dannerman
Raymer

(No order on these 4 names).

Long Shots this year...

Adam Marshall
Carson Cashman

But you will see their name on a board sometime in this years WSOP events.

[JMX360]

1. Joe Hachem
2. Paul Wasicka
3. Phil Hellmuth
4. Jeff Madsen
5. Daniel Negreanu

I'm probably going to be way off, but whatever....I think Wasicka will be making some noise this year.

[groton]

Hatchem
Raymer
Wasicka
Adam Marshall
Carson Cashman

thats my Top Five
LETS GO TEAM THP