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Only 22 players in the 44-year history of the World Series of Poker have won five or more bracelets, and David Chiu has now joined that illustrious group. Chiu, whose last bracelet win at the WSOP came back in 2005, won the $2,500 Seven Card Stud tournament over the weekend, to go along with his other four bracelets:

• 1996: $2,000 Limit Holdem
• 1998 $3,000 Limit Holdem
• 2000: $5,000 Seven Card Stud
• 2005: $5,000 Omaha 8 or better
• 2013: $2,500 Seven Card Stud

Chiu’s latest bracelet wouldn’t come easy, as the long-time poker pro had to contend with a very game final table where a mind-boggling seven of the eight final table participants were bracelet winners and the one player who wasn’t had a runner-up finish in a WSOP event just days ago! The final table included Scott Seiver, Mike Mizrachi, and Frank Kassela, as well as a bunch of Stud specialists in the forms of 2009 Seven Card Stud bracelet winner Freddie Ellis, 1996 Stud bracelet winner Gary Benson, Matt Ashton (at his second Stud final table of the 2013 WSOP), and 2012Stud 8 bracelet winner Adam Friedman.

After winning his fifth bracelet Chiu paid his respects to the late Dr. Jerry Buss, a Seven Card Stud aficionado who was a regular at the WSOP stud poker tournaments and in high-stakes cash games: “(I have) four bracelets this one is for Jerry (Buss).” Buss was also honored at the start of the tournament, including a video message from Kobe Bryant who performed the “Shuffle Up and Deal” duties.

Here is a look at how the final table of Event #23, the $2,500 Seven Card Stud tournament, and the only straight Seven Card Stud tournament on the 2013 WSOP schedule:

1. David Chiu – $145,520
2. Scott Seiver – $89,980
3. Freddie Ellis – $59,127
4. Michael Mizrachi – $43,188
5. Frank Kassela – $31,978
6. Gary Benson – $24,003
7. Matthew Ashton – $18,266
8. Adam Friedman – $14,086

Here is a look at the 22 players who have at least five WSOP bracelets:

13 WSOP Bracelets

• Phil Hellmuth

Ten WSOP Bracelets

• Johnny Chan
• Doyle Brunson

Nine WSOP Bracelets

• Phil Ivey
• Johnny Moss

Eight WSOP Bracelets

• Erik Seidel

Seven WSOP Bracelets

• Men Nguyen
• Billy Baxter

Six WSOP Bracelets

• TJ Cloutier
• Jay Heimowitz
• Layne Flack

Five WSOP Bracelets

• Daniel Negreanu
• Berry Johnston
• Chris Ferguson
• John Juanda
• David Chiu
• Jeff Lisandro
• Allen Cunningham
• Scotty Nguyen
• Ted Forrest
• Stu Ungar
• Gary Berland

*Resources: www.wsop.com, www.thehendonmob.com

Below you will find a rundown of the first 20 bracelet winners at the 2013 WSOP, as well as a few notes on some of the more interesting players who have captured WSOP gold in 2013.

Event #1: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em — Chad Holloway $84,915

Chad is a well-liked tournament reporter (his official title is Senior Editor) at PokerNews.com, and his win in Event #1 saw the 2013 WSOP start on the right note.

Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Eight Handed) — Trevor Pope $553,906

Pope is long-time poker pro who won his first bracelet this year.

Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Charles Sylvestre $491,360

Following his win, Sylvestre was called one of the best poker players in Montreal by 2010 Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Event #4: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (Six Handed) — John Beauprez $324,764

Event #5: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better — Mike Gorodinsky $216,958

Event #6: $1,500 “Millionaire Maker” No-Limit Hold’em — Benny Chen $1,198,780

It was only fitting that an amateur player would win the biggest preliminary event prize-pool of the first 20 tournaments.

Event #7: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Matt Waxman $305,952

Waxman is another longtime poker pro who won his first bracelet this year.

Event #8: $2,500 Eight-Game Mix — Michael Malm $225,104

Event #9: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout — Cliff Josephy $299,486

“JohnnyBax” picked-up his second career WSOP bracelet in Event #9.

Event #10: $1,500 Limit Hold’em — Brent Wheeler $191,605

Event #11: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em (Six Handed) — Levi Berger $473,019

Event #12: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em — Lev Rofman $166,136

Event #13: $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better — Mike Matusow $266,503

Matusow’s fourth WSOP bracelet came hours after Cardplayer Magazine published an interview with “The Mouth” where he called himself the second best tournament poker player in the game.

Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Jonathan Taylor $454,424

Event #15: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. — Tom Schneider $258,960

Two of the best Mixed Game players in poker squared-off in the final of Event #15, Tom Schneider and Owais Ahmed, Schneider prevailed this time, picking up his 3^rd bracelet while denying Ahmed bracelet #2.

Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em — Mark Radoja $331,190

Radoja is another poker pro who won his first WSOP bracelet.

Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Athanasios Polychronopoulos $518,755

The hardest working name in poker, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, or as I call him “Copy/Paste”, also won his first bracelet at the 2013 WSOP.

Event #18: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Taylor Paur $340,260

With over $4 million in online tournament winnings it was only a matter of time before Paur duplicated his online success in live tournaments.

Event #19: $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em — Davidi Kitai $224,560

The Belgian Triple Crown winner won his second career WSOP bracelet in Event #19 –both wins have been in Pot Limit Holdem events.

Event #20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better — Calen McNeil $277,274

*Resources: www.wsop.com

We are about a third of the way through the 2013 World Series of Poker so I thought it would be a good time to reflect upon the first 20 tournaments of this year’s WSOP and see what trends have started to develop, and offer up my thoughts on a few of the things that have stuck out for me thus far.

Where are the ladies at?

2012 was the Year of the Woman at the World Series of Poker, and I went into the 2013 WSOP with high hopes that the growing number of female poker players would keep the momentum growing and not only duplicate their 2012 success, but improve upon it.

Last year I was on a tear over the first couple weeks of the WSP writing about final tables and close calls for the ladies, and then they started winning bracelets and finishing 10^th and 11^th in the Main Event! But this year it’s been all crickets so far; the ladies have been virtually silent. There haven’t been any close calls, and nary a final table made through 20 complete tournaments.

Superstars are nowhere to be found

Paging Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Sam Trickett, Antonio Esfandiari, Mike Mizrachi, ElkY, Chris Moorman, Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel, Vanessa Selbst, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, and company? What’s going on here? Aside from a few final tables this group of players has been MIA through the first 20 WSOP tournaments. Not one of these players has challenged for a bracelet so far: Hellmuth made the Elite 8 of the Heads-Up Championship and Ivey had a top 15 finish yesterday.

The best-known bracelet winner thus far has been Mike Matusow, and after “The Mouth” I’d say Pokernews.com’s Chad Holloway is the biggest name to bink a tournament this year –maybe Matt Waxman or Cliff Josephy could make a case for being #2 behind Matusow, but that’s like being runner-up in your over-30 softball league.

Can I get a controversy up in here?

Remember all of the controversies in recent years? Just off the top of my head I remember the hard-stop rule; the no talking about your hand rule; the declare your action at the final table rule; Two Ace of Spades dealt on the same hand; players reentering more than the allowed number of times; and marked cards. This year the biggest “debacle” has been long registration lines. What gives?

Obviously the WSOP should get a tip of the hat for taking care of business, but as a poker writer I do need some material every now and then.

Poker is a high variance game, so what Mike Matusow did this weekend at the 2013 World Series of Poker is something along the lines of Babe Ruth calling his home-run shot. Matusow was making a deep-run in the $5k Seven Card Stud 8-or-better tournament when Cardplayer Magazine published an interview with “The Mouth” where he ranks the all-time best tournament players as #1: Carlos Mortensen, and #2: Himself!

While I give you a moment to compose yourself it should be noted that he does have a fairly valid reason for his assertions, especially with Mortensen who is someone I consider among the best of all-time –although I still think Matusow is overestimating his own tournament record. Matusow’s explanation, that, “I play my three or four tournaments, and I win them. You know what I’m saying? Per tournaments played, there’s probably no one in the world except Carlos Mortensen that has ever done better than me. I don’t play many of them. It’s quality, not quantity.”

Obviously Matusow plays more than three or four tournaments, and he doesn’t win them all or even close to that, but he does raise a valid point, and while he may be accused of hyperbole, he did go out that day and back-up his words by winning Event #13, adding another bracelet to his resume.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from Mike Matusow’s fourth WSOP bracelet win:

Event #13: $5k Seven Card Stud 8-or-better

1. Mike Matusow – $266,503
2. Matthew Ashton – $164,700
3. Mike Leah – $108,412
4. David Baker – $79,078
5. Yuval Bronshtein – $58,835
6. Tony Cousineau – $44,543
7. Gavin Smith – $34,268
8. Vladimir Shchemelev – $26,757

Considering his assertion that he is one of the best tournament players of all-time I decided to take a closer look at Mike’s track-record. While he does have $9 million in career tournament earnings, two of his top three cashes were in invitational events. Matusow is 25^th on the all-time money-list, but only 50^th when we exclude invitational tournaments according to thehendonmob.com. Still, he does have a more impressive resume than I initially expected to see:

• 4 WSOP bracelets
• 2 WSOP Main Event final tables
• 2013 NBC National Heads-Up Champion
• 2005 Tournament of Champions winner
• 5 WPT final tables

Now I wouldn’t say this is one of the most impressive resumes in tournament poker (even factoring in a limited schedule) but should Mike notch a few more big wins he may have a strong case to argue down the road.

*Resources: www.thehendonmob.com

We’ve now seen 11 World Series of Poker bracelets handed out at the 2013 WSOP tournament series taking place in Las Vegas, and aside from a fun ending to event #1 it’s been a rather ho-hum WSOP up to this point. We have seen a few “name” players pickup some WSOP hardware though: Trevor Pope and Matt Waxman, and since our last update Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy doubled his bracelet count by winning Event #9, the $3,000 NLHE Shootout.

Here is a look at the results from the past three events at the 2013 WSOP:

Event #9: $3,000 NLHE Shootout tournament

Event #9 featured a very tough final table that included Steve Silverman, David “Bakes” Baker, Tim West, Chris Klodnicki, and the eventual winner Cliff Josephy, AKA “JohnnyBax”. Shootout final tables are always a tough affair, as the players must win their first and second round tables to make it to the final; something that is very hard to do by simply getting lucky. The win marked the second WSOP bracelet of Josephy’s career, adding a NLHE Shootout bracelet to his 2005 Seven-Card-Stud bracelet.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Cliff Josephy — $299,486
2. Evan Silverstein — $185,487
3. Steven Silverman — $123,202
4. Tim West — $91,428
5. Alessandro Longobardi — $68,613
6. David “Bakes” Baker — $51,997
7. Max Steinberg — $39,756
8. Chris Klodnicki — $30,641
9. Ryan Hughes — $23,791
10. Simeon Naydenov — $18,609

Event #10: $1,500 Limit Holdem tournament

Limit Holdem is dead… well except at the WSOP where several Limit Holdem tournaments are played. A total of 645 players registered for Event #10, and in the end it was Jason Wheeler who would take home the bracelet after a three-hour heads-up duel with Mark Mierkalns.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Brent Wheeler – $191,605
2. Mark Mierkalns – $118,300
3. Malissia Zapata – $76,904
4. Chiduziem Obi – $56,485
5. Grayson Scroggin – $42,074
6. William James – $31,747
7. Brian Nichols – $24,232
8. Alex Queen – $18,703
9. Eric Froehlich – $14,585

Event #11: $2,500 No Limit Holdem 6-Max tournament

For the fourth time at the 2013 WSOP a Canadian came out on top. This time it was Levi Berger who outlasted the 924 player field and defeated a very game Scott Clements in heads-up play to win the $2,500 NLHE 6-Max event and nearly half-a-million dollars. Clements was in search of his third career WSOP bracelet but will have to settle for a runner-up finish, which was worth almost $300k.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Levi Berger – $473,019
2. Scott Clements – $292,339
3. Ben Palmer – $185,426
4. Eddy Sabat – $121,711
5. Jacob Bazeley – $82,297
6. David Gonia – $57,282

*Resources: www.wsop.com

Some days the action at the World Series of Poker is fast and furious, with four or five events taking place at the same time and multiple bracelets being awarded. And so it was on Tuesday, as three WSOP bracelets were won yesterday, including the conclusion of the Millionaire Maker tournament.

Benny Chen wins Millionaire Maker

The big story at the 2013 WSOP on Tuesday was the crowning of the winner of the Millionaire Maker tournament, a record-setting $1,500 No Limit Holdem tournament that attracted a field of 6,343 players. The winner of the event, Benny Chen, drew praise from the commentators for his flawless play from start to finish. Also at the final table was Dan Kelly, who made his second final table of the 2013 WSOP, and now has a 5^th place finish to go along with his 6^th place finish last week.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Benny Chen — $1,198,780
2. Michael Bennington — $741,903
3. Jonathan Gray — $534,506
4. Justin Liberto — $400,408
5. Dan Kelly — $302,104
6. Chris Hunichen — $229,575
7. Upeshka Desilva — $175,714
8. Robert McVeigh — $135,467
9. Theron Eichenberger — $105,154

Matt Waxman bests Eric Baldwin for First WSOP bracelet

Event #7 at the 2013 WSOP was a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem tournament that attracted 1,837 entrants; no small feat considering it was pitted against the Millionaire Maker event. The final table will likely go down as the battle of the Young Guns, considering five of the top young players in the game were amongst the final 10 players in the tournament, including eventual winner Matt Waxman, 2009 POY Eric Baldwin, Amit Makhija, 2012 bracelet winner Brent Hanks, and Jason Koon, one of Bluff Magazines Young Guns.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Matt Waxman — $305,952
2. Eric Baldwin — $189,200
3. Jess Dioquino — $130,825
4. Amit Makhija — $94,353
5. Brent Hanks — $68,975
6. Jacob Jung — $51,086
7. Robert Dreyfuss — $38,340
8. Tuu Ho — $29,147
9. Jason Koon — $22,435
10. Scott Yelton — $17,491

Michael Malm victorious in Mixed Game Tournament

Event #8, the $2,500 8-Game Mix tournament, saw the third bracelet event of the day awarded, this time to Michael Malm, who bested a final table that included two-time WSOP bracelet winner Greg Mueller, Dario Alioto, Mike Wattel, and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Michael Malm — $225,104
2. Steven Wolansky — $139,034
3. Greg Mueller — $89,673
4. Eric Crain — $64,975
5. Michael Hurey — $47,771
6. Dario Alioto — $35,634
7. Mike Wattel — $26,966
8. Marco Johnson — $20,699

*Resources: www.wsop.com

It appears that perennial “Best Father and Son Tandem in Poker” Doyle and Todd Brunson seem to have some competition now that Anthony Hachem, son of 2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem, has made his mark on the poker world, winning the 2013 PokerStars ANZPT Melbourne Main Event. While the Hachem’s have a long way to go to duplicate the success of the Brunsons, their achievements are pretty impressive considering poker is not a game known for producing family legacies.

Anthony Hachem, not to be confused with Joe’s brother Tony who is an accomplished player in his own right, picked-up the biggest score of his career with his recent victory, trumping a near-$40,000 score back in February where he won a $600 preliminary tournament at the 2013 Aussie Millions.

So, while the Hachems will probably never come close to the Brunsons, it’s pretty safe to say that along with the Mizrachis the Hachems are the most skilled family of poker players in the game right now.

The ANZPT Melbourne wasn’t simply some rinky-dink local tournament either, sporting a $1,500 buy-in and 844 entries. Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Anthony Hachem — $181,460
2. Iori Yogo — $126,600
3. Michel Bouskila — $74,700
4. Fabian Craib — $56,970
5. Michael Kanaan — $43,050
6. Daniel Neilson — $33,760
7. Tony Kondevski — $27,430
8. Dean Francis — $21,100
9. Ian Thomson — $16,880

Anthony Hachem’s father is one of the most accomplished tournament poker players in the game, and one of the catalysts of the poker boom that occurred in Australia following his WSOP win. Joe Hachem is not only the 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion, he has also padded his resume with other big wins and big scores including a victory in the 2006 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic, a 3^rd place showing in the 2012 Aussie Millions $100k Super-High-Roller tournament, and a runner-up finish in the 2011 Big Event in Los Angeles. For his career Joe has earned nearly $12 million in poker tournaments.

Of course, Twitter was full of congratulations for the youngest poker playing Hachem, as he received thanks from his dad as well as his uncle Tony:

@JosephHachem

We have a champion! http://instagram.com/p/aF1O5krifB/

Thanks for all the well wishes,you guys are amazing and we are still buzzing I think Anthony took it the best though #anotherdayintheoffice

@Hash72

Congrats to my god son , nephew & a great Kid on winning the ANZPT Melbourne on my Birthday!!! pic.twitter.com/1kCHdqPbCd

*Resources: www.pokerstarsblog.com, www.thehendonmob.com

While the Millionaire Maker tournament was setting records and causing logistical nightmares throughout the Rio the WSOP staff was also busy with several other tournaments that were in action, including two that crowned the first open-event champions of the 2013 World Series of Poker. In Event #2 it was poker pro Trevor Pope who picked-up the first open WSOP bracelet, and in Event #3 it was the unknown Charles Sylvestre who did the honors, giving Canada its first bracelet of 2013.

Event #2: $5k 8-Max NLHE

Trevor Pope took one of the largest chip-leads I’ve ever seen into Saturday’s final table of Event #2, the $5,000 buy-in 8-Max NLHE tournament, and continued his domination throughout the final table, dispatching players left and right and never in any real jeopardy, and began his heads-up match with Brit David Vamplew holding 6.6 million chips, with Vamplew sitting on a mere 500,000 chips.

With the win Pope earned his first WSOP bracelet and the largest cash of his career. Here is a look at the final table payouts from Event #2:

1. Trevor Pope – $553,906
2. David Vamplew – $342,450
3. Darryll Fish – $215,286
4. Jared Hamby – $154,518
5. Jamie Armstrong – $112,695
6. Dan Kelly – $83,582
7. Brandon Meyers – $62,915
8. David Peters – $48,130

Event #3: $1k NLHE with Reentry

Charles Sylvestre may not be a known commodity in the poker world at large but according to 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel, “The guy’s a legend in Montreal… He’s a beast. He’s really intelligent, aggressive and a good player. So he really deserves this.”

Chances are Sylvestre added to his legendary status in Montreal after winning Canada’s first WSOP bracelet of 2013 in Event #3, and probably put himself on the global poker map with his impressive WSOP win.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from Event #3:

1. Charles Sylvestre– $491,360
2. Seth Berger – $303,952
3. William Guerrero — $215,107
4. Michael Cooper — $155,706
5. Binh Ta — $114,017
6. Ryan Olisar — $84,459
7. Darren Rabinowitz – $63,273
8. Ruben Ybarra – $47,925
9. Ping Liu — $36,705

Today’s Action

Besides the continuation of the $1,500 Millionaire Maker tournament, several WSOP bracelets are likely to be won on Sunday:

• Event #4, a $1,500 buy-in 6-Max NLHE tournament is down to just seven players, including 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Cada.
• Event #5, a $2,500 buy-in Omaha-8/Stud-8 Mixed tournament is down to 19 runners with Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, and David “Bakes” Baker headlining the field.

Sunday will also see yet another large field event commence as Event #7, a $1,000 buy-in NLHE tournament, will kick-off.

*Resources: www.wsop.com, www.thehendonmob.com

The Casino Employee tournament has been a staple at the World Series of Poker since it first landed on the World Series of Poker schedule in 2000, and has opened the WSOP every year with the exception of 2008 when the tournament was moved to the backend of the WSOP schedule for some reason. As the opening event at the WSOP a lot of people look to the Casino Employee tournament as a barometer of sorts, to see what type of attendance numbers it draws and the overall buzz around the tournament.

Since 2009 the Casino Employee tournament has seen attendance ebb and flow in a completely random fashion, and the tournament has done little to signify what other WSOP tournaments can expect in the way of attendance. Still, when the WSOP has had good years the attendance for the Casino Employee tournament has been up, so this year’s turnout of 860 entrants is an excellent sign for the WSOP moving forward.

By the end of the Day the tournament (which uses a faster structure than most WSOP events) was down to just 55 players. One of the remaining players, sitting in third-place on the leader-board, is PokerNews.com’s Chad Holloway.

Here is a look at the WSOP Casino Employee Tournament’s attendance over the years:

• 2012 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 732 entrants
• 2011 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 850 entrants
• 2010 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 721 entrants
• 2009 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 866 entrants
• 2008 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 930 entrants (last event of the WSOP)
• 2007 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 1,039 entrants
• 2006 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 1,232 entrants
• 2005 WSOP Casino Employee Tournament: 662 entrants

Event #2: $5,000 8-Max NLHE

Event #2 is one of the new tournaments on the WSOP schedule, and the event started with a bang as 481 players registered for the $5,000 buy-in tournament. By the end of the night the field was basically cut in half, with 232 players moving on to Day 2. Leading the way is 2010 Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Tom Marchese who bagged-up just over 150k chips, with Doc Sands and Antonio Esfandiari also landing in the Top 10 by the end of the night.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

1. Tom Marchese — 153,975
2. Scott Baumstein — 111,100
3. David Sands — 110,825
4. Stephen Bokor — 95,325
5. Darryll Fish — 93,000
6. Jamie Armstrong — 87,850
7. Bryan Piccioli — 85,900
8. Takashi Ogura — 81,650
9. Antonio Esfandiari — 80,650
10. John Riordan — 78,275

Here is a look at the final table payouts for the tournament, which produced a $2.2 million prize-pool:

• 1^st place: $553,906
• 2^nd place: $342,450
• 3^rd place: $215,286
• 4^th place: $154,518
• 5^th place: $112,695
• 6^th place: $83,532
• 7^th place: $62,915
• 8^th place: $48,130

*Resources: www.wsop.com, www.wikipedia.org

It’s that time of year again, and with the Casino Employee tournament set to kick-off just a few hours from now, I’ve decided to get my last minute predictions for the 2013 World Series of Poker up.

Phil Hellmuth will make two final tables but wins ZERO bracelets

This was a tough one to write because I have Phil on my fantasy team, but I have a feeling he will still be sitting on 13 bracelets at the end of the WSOP, although I do expect him to have a strong series. If you’re looking for a well-known player who will win a bracelet might I suggest Phil Ivey, who was snake-bit at final tables last year.

Germany will win at least three bracelets

There are simply too many talented young German players for this not to happen. From heavy-hitters like Marvin Rettenmaier, Tobias Reinkemeier, Pius Heinz, and Phillip Gruissem, to the lesser-known but still talented Benny Spindler, Dominik Nitsche, Ole Scemion, Max Altergott, Fabian Quoss, and Martin Finger, there is a strong chance that Germany leaves Las Vegas with a lot of gold.

Two open bracelets will be won by women

Last year we finally got an indication of what women are capable of achieving in the poker world, and it looks like the WSOP hex that had been cast over the ladies has finally been lifted.  While I feel confident that women will perform well in the preliminary events, what I really want to see is a known female player make the WSOP Main Event final table.

A recent (2003-now) WSOP Main Event Champion will win a bracelet

I’m surprised this hasn’t happened yet, but doing a little research WSOP Main Event are batting .000 in WSOP tournaments after their win. Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Joe Cada, Jonathan Duhamel, Pius Heinz, and Greg Merson are all capable to good players so there has to be a bracelet waiting to be one by someone from that group.

The WSOP Main Event attendance will be…

6,022. While I’ve seen the over/under line set at about 6,466 I see this as being a down year for the WSOP Main Event. The reality of the situation is that the WSOP has been bucking the trend for too many years as it is, and at some point something has to give. After last year’s anonymous final table, and the relative dispassionate response the media had for the tournament I’m expecting a smaller turnout for the WSOP Main Event in 2013.