Now that the WSOP is over, I thought it would be fun to look back and see how our picks panned out. (In case you don’t remember, a few weeks ago, right before the start of the 2012 WSOP, I put together a piece about who we thought would do well at this year’s event.).
A picture of the WSOP hall of fame, featuring some of the most successful WSOP players over the years.
Let’s start with the “big name pros”. We named Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negraneu, and Doyle Brunson. My pick in this group was none other than Phil Ivey and I have to say this pick was easy and proved me to be a genius. As it stands Ivey will win the WSOP player of the year. He put on an outstanding performance, making 5 final tables. Even though he could never finish the deal, making that many final tables is quite an accomplishment. He did finish runner-up in the 10K Pot Limit Hold ‘Em event for over $275,559 and totaled almost $500,000 in winnings this year.
Had it not been for Ivey’s great run, Phil Hellmuth would be the one we’re talking about right now. Hellmuth would finish 3rd on the WSOP player of the year list, but he actually had a lot more in winnings. He only made 3 Finals (I say only like it’s no big deal right), but one of his finals would be in the Big One which earned him over $2.6 million. The one notable difference in the twos results would be Hellmuths new jewelry. He would add to his already record 11 bracelets by winning the $2,500 Razz event.
The one shocker in this group was the complete absence of Doyle Brunson. In fact I’m not even sure if he played any events this year. I didn’t follow this year’s series as much as I would have liked but the only news regarding Brunson was that he would kick off the Main Event by saying the famous “Shuffle Up and Deal”. He hasn’t done much of anything as far as tournaments go and his last cash was back in 2011 at the EPT almost 2 years ago.
The Internet Pros
This was one of the tougher groups to analyze since most of the top internet MTT players haven’t played much since the results of “Black Friday”.
The reality was that few of them did all that well. Some had little success, but none stood out. Isildur did have his first cash at the WSOP and totaled over $100,000 in winnings this year, but only 2 cashes doesn’t make for a big story.
My pick was Shaun Deeb and again I am a genius. He had a great year on Poker Stars having won back to back SCOOP Events and he looked like the best pick. Deeb would make 1 final table and cashed a total of 4 times including in the Main Event. If you count his $1 million “One Drop” satellite win than you could say he had a good year.
The Females
The females were not much of a force this year with the exception of one player. Vanessa Selbst had a great year, not just “for a woman”, but overall. She would make 3 finals and won her 2nd bracelet in the 10 game event. She is currently 8th on the WSOP player of the year list and 5th on the Bluffs 2012 POY list.
Harmon would have little success but did cash a couple times. The others on my list were almost nonexistent this year. And if you’re keeping score at home I’m 3 for 3 up to this point.
Past Main Event Winners
This group was also tough to sort through being as they are all young and still have yet to solidify their place in poker. I did say that Duhamel would be the one in this group to stand out due to his recent successes at the WPT and PCA. He would have 4 total cashes, but no real big scores. Joe Cada would be the one in this group as he would cash 3 times and place 2nd in Event #31 for over $400K. Had it not been for that nice score, he wouldn’t have done much.
Both Eastgate and Heinz would cash but only Eastgate would have a nice payday. He would make 1 final in his only cash but added $200,000 to his already big bankroll.
Our Mixed Bag
This was another crap shoot as some were cash game pros and others were all or nothing type players. Hansen did manage to win his way in to the Big One, but would have no cashes. He would beat Shaun Deeb in the satellite, but it looks like Deeb made out the real winner in that one. While Hansen got the buy in, Deeb got the cash.
I was really expecting Dwan to have a great year, but I was afraid to pick him as he was one of those all or nothing players. He had some success in the past 2 years at the WSOP and it looked as though he was starting to take MTT’s more seriously, but I’m not even sure if he played many events. I am sure that he did wipe up at the side games however.
Erik Seidel and Justin Bonomo had solid showings both making 5 and 6 cashes respectively. None managed a score worth noting however. My pick was Jason Mercier as he was, in my opinion the best MTT player in the group. He would have the best showing of the group making 1 final table and 7 total cashes. He also managed to cash in the Main Event, granted it was a min cash, but weeding through 4,000 players is a feat in itself.
My Favorites
This grouping consisted of Tony G, Mike Matusow, Daniel Alei and David Chiu. Tony G’s mouth was no where to be heard, but the other “Mouth” Matusow, would make a little noise. He would make 2 finals but finish 8th in both. He would total 4 cashes and almost $100K in winnings this year.
My pick was David Chiu and he wouldn’t disappoint. He would have only 2 cashes, but one was for 2nd and worth over $160,000. You could argue that Matusow had a better year making 2 finals and 4 cashes, but for the sake of my ego, were going with Chiu because he won more money. Money talks in this world and $160,000 is more than almost $100,000.
All in all I think we hit the nail on the head with our picks. There were other players who had some outstanding results and were not even mentioned in our original piece. David ODB Baker is currently 4th on the POY list. He would cash 9 times, make 4 finals and win 1 bracelet. Jon Monnette would also have a great year as he stands 2nd on the POY list. He would make 3 final tables and also win a bracelet.
Congratulations to all who had success this year at the 2012 WSOP. We look forward to the “October Nine” and to finding out who will win this year’s Main Event. It’s been a great series and we can’t wait until next year. For those who are still keeping score, I went 4 for 5.
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