Chasing The Gold

News / Chris Edwards / 13 June 2008 / Leave a comment

The WSOP has already had some high caliber winners. There are also many pro's in the field who have not yet won their share of the gold and others who's gold is getting rusty, writes Chris Edwards.

Erick Lindgren burst onto the tournament scene in late 2002 winning his first WPT title. He went on to win another WPT title and do well in various other tournaments, but never really made an impact in the WSOP. With over $5m in tournament cashes he was officially crowned the 'best player to never in a bracelet' until recently when he wont the $5k Mixed Hold'em event. In an effort to really win a bracelet he was playing two events at once, moving from table to table until settling down at the 5k event which he described as being within his grasp.

Mike Matusow has ultimately become one of the stars of the WSOP with his infamous on screen tirades, including his needle to Greg Raymer and near punch up with Shawn Sheikhan. Before his recent win, Matusow held 2 bracelets with the last being in 2002. After a 6 year drought Matusow won the prestigious NL 2-7 Draw event. 'There might of been 3 people in this whole event that weren't well known pros' Said Matusow.

Daniel Negreanu is one of the other stars of the WSOP. He holds 3 bracelets, his first coming in 1998 playing Pot Limit Holdem and his last in 2004 playing Limit Holdem. He was also crowned the first ever WSOP player of the year in 2004, a year Barry Greenstein states that everyone was jealous of. However, after 3 close years at the WSOP with 5 final tables, Daniel is due to capture his third title. Comparing his game to when he won his first bracelet Daniel states :'Im ten times the player I was back then'.

Gus Hansen is one of the worlds most well known professionals, having appeared on nearly every popular poker TV show around as well as winning over $7m in tournaments. His wins include 3 WPT's, Aussie Millions 2007 and the first European Poker Masters. After all of this Gus has never done well at the WSOP, with only 3 cashes to date. He said before the series started 'Make no mistake about it: I am ready.' However, he has already been sidetracked by the cash games and started the $5k NLHE event on only 3 hours sleep.

Other notable pros who are currently without the gold are: Phil Gordon, Any Bloch, Patrik Antonius and David Benyamine. With more high buy-in events than ever, each of these pros have a great chance for bracelet number one.