World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions begins today

1 online poker qualifier; 1 WSOP Academy satellite winner; 3 former TOC champions; the reigning WSOP and WSOPE champions; and 20 of poker biggest stars voted on by the fans. This is the makeup for the 2010 Tournament of Champions at the World Series of Poker which kicks off at noon from the Rio in Las Vegas Nevada. Here’s a look at the 27 players who will compete in the 2010 TOC.

The Seven players with exemptions:

• 1. Online Qualifier - Andrew Barton
• 2. World Series of Poker Academy Qualifier - Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspieller
• 3. 2004 Tournament of Champions Winner - Annie Duke
• 4. 2005 Tournament of Champions Winner - Mike Sexton
• 5. 2006 Tournament of Champions Winner - Mike Matusow
• 6. 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion - Joe Cada
• 7. 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion - Barry Shulman

Top 20 Vote-Getters -any player with a WSOP bracelet was eligible for fan voting:

• 1. Phil Ivey 16,267
• 2. 2 DANIEL NEGREANU 16,239
• 3. DOYLE BRUNSON 13,796
• 4. PHIL HELLMUTH 12,673
• 5. CHRIS FERGUSON 11,585
• 6. ALLEN CUNNINGHAM 10,486
• 7. Johnny Chan 10,434
• 8. SCOTTY NGUYEN 9,834
• 9. BARRY GREENSTEIN 9,806
• 10. JOHN JUANDA 8,835
• 11. ERIK SEIDEL 8,802
• 12. JENNIFER HARMAN 8,206
• 13. HUCK SEED 8,180
• 14. DAN HARRINGTON 7,342
• 15. T.J. CLOUTIER 6,281
• 16. SAMMY FARHA 6,085
• 17. HOWARD LEDERER 5,596
• 18. GREG RAYMER 5,404
• 19. Joe Hachem 5,272
• 20. ANTONIO ESFANDIARI 5,129

With a new format, as well as the addition of a larger field and fan voting, Harrahs is looking to reinvent the Tournament of Champions after a 3-year hiatus. The $1 million free-roll is obviously a big chunk of change to put up, but the WSOP must feel the made for TV final table -which is inevitable given the world-class field-is well worth the price-tag.

I really dislike the addition of the online qualifier, but this seems to be par for the course in poker tournaments nowadays -I think the only format that has gotten it right is The PokerStars.net Big Game-and I was also a little dismayed at the WSOP Academy qualifier which gave a non-bracelet winner the chance to win a seat. I think a better Idea would have been to put the winner of the 2010 Players Championship through, which would have been Mike Mizrachi, who finished second in the WSOP Academy qualifier.

The tournament is a free-roll for everyone involved, and will be played as a 3-table freezeout with $1,000,000 on the line -1^st place is worth $500k.The schedule for the TOC is to play 4-levels on Saturday and Sunday, with the final table reconvening on July 4^th to crown a champion -the $1 million prize-pool will be divided up amongst the final 9 players.