2006 WSOP Preview and Schedule

June 29th, 2006

Over $100 million in prize money mixed with celebrities and the best poker players in the world

By Jake Gosselin
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

The WSOP's heady mix of media, money, celebrity and poker makes it a circus worth watching. Bodog Poker players are pumped and ready to tear it up this year as the money has never been bigger. The world is turning its eye to Vegas as the celebrities and pros take their seats and the action starts to heat up.

Celebrities

Each year dozens of celebrities take a shot at the WSOP. Some of them skilled and some them are just throwing their money away. Either way, it adds to the publicity of the whole event and adds a little extra excitement for viewers and players. The possibility that someone like Michael Mizrachi could be knocked out by someone like Ben Affleck makes things a little more exciting. While this isn’t too likely to occur it is the WSOP and anything can happen.

Wil Wheaton, formerly of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a pretty decent poker player who will almost definitely be there. Toby Maguire cashed in one event at last year’s WSOP. Ben Affleck, despite what some people may think of him, has proven himself to be a very solid player by winning the California State Championships. Gabe Kaplan, “Mr. Kotter,” is an accomplished poker player who made a final table at last year’s WSOP. Lately, Jennifer Tilly spends more time playing poker than she does acting, mainly because she’s really good at it. Cindy Margolis was once the most downloaded woman on the Internet and is now an avid poker player. Leonardo DiCaprio is a regular at high-stakes tables in Vegas. Matt Damon is also a decent player, as is Lou Diamond Philips, Edward Norton, James Woods and Larry Flynt.

Poker Pros

While the celebrity players are fine and yes they can play pretty well, most are still generally considered dead money. With the Main Event field looking to be well in excess of 7,000 players this year, it is anyone’s game, but let’s face it, the pros have the edge.

About the only thing that could keep a pro from the WSOP would have to be something on par with Flesh-eating Disease. So unless there’s a sudden outbreak of leprosy you can expect all of these players to be there.

Phil Ivey is considered by many to be this year’s favorite to win. He won his fifth bracelet last year in the Pot-Limit Omaha event and then went on to go deep in the main event.

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi has been tearing it up this year with back to back runner-up and winning performances in World Poker Tour events and with making a half-dozen final tables so far in 2006 and cashing in on several more. Mizrachi is a consistent threat with an excellent chance at taking the $10 million this year.

In 2000 Chris “Jesus” Ferguson won the WSOP. So he has what it takes and he knows how to do it. He also recently took second place at the 2006 Heads-Up Championship for a second year in a row as well as having won a WSOP Circuit event last year. Will Ferguson walk on water and repeat his victory?

T.J. Cloutier is an outstanding tournament player who has six bracelets and although he’s never won the WSOP championship he has placed second twice; he might be due this year.

Daniel Negreanu stunk it up at last year’s WSOP but he’s also one of the best players out there. Negreanu could be considered both a favorite and a wildcard.

Online Players

With online poker rooms like Bodog awarding hundreds of WSOP seats through online qualifiers, the field is going to be filled with online players. Having proven themselves repeatedly, the online players have as good a chance anyone.

Bodog alone has hundreds of players competing in preliminaries and the Main Event this year. With so many of them being professional online players it’s quite possible that we will see a Team Bodog member at the Final Table.

Check out https://www.bodog.com/poker/ for the complete Bodog.com Poker experience.

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