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Top-10 players to watch in the WSOP Poker Player's Championship

24 May 2010

The 2010 World Series of Poker starts this Friday with the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em event, and the much anticipated $50,000 Poker Player's Championship.

The first four days of the $50,000 event will be played in an eight-game format (Limit Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Low, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Low, No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw), and on the fifth day for the final table, the format will switch to just No Limit Hold'em.

Previously the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, this tournament will surely bring out some out some of the top names in poker. If you're looking to make a friendly wager on who will succeed in this format, look no further. Here are the top-10 players to watch at the Poker Player's Championship.

10. Doyle Brunson
"Texas Dolly" — who will turn 77 this summer — has been showing his age a bit of late. He had his first losing session in the six-season history of "High Stakes Poker" earlier this year, and his only cash of 2010 was a fifth-place finish on the made-for-TV NBC National Heads-Up Championship. That said, this is the first tournament of the WSOP, so he should be well rested. And he's a master of all eight games, giving him a great advantage over players who may have weaknesses in a few of the games.

9. Daniel Negreanu
Negreanu has admitted that he is one of those players who has a weakness in one of the games (at least against the field that is expected to turn out for this event). Negreanu has been working on his No Limit Hold'em game, saying that the best in the world at that game have passed him by. And while he may give up a little bit to the field in No Limit Hold'em, Negreanu is better than 95 percent of the field at the rest of the games. Look for him to make a deep run this year.

8. Huck Seed
Seed is one of just four players to have made the final table in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event twice, finishing seventh and fifth in the last two years. He also finished fifth at last year's $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, which had the same eight games as the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship. The 1996 Main Event Champion will look to go a step further and claim the title in poker's most prestigious tournament this year.

7. Erik Seidel
Seidel owns eight WSOP bracelets and has won more than $4.2 million at the World Series of Poker over the last 22 years. He's won two bracelets in 2-7 Lowball, No Limit Hold'em and Limit Hold'em, and he's also won bracelets in Pot Limit Omaha and Limit Omaha Hi-Low, so it's safe to say he knows the games. The one chink in his armor may be his stud game, though he did finish fifth in the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud event in 2008.

6. Mike Matusow
Matusow is fun to watch for a number of reasons, but most important of all, he's a great mixed game player. He owns bracelets in 2-7 Lowball, Omaha Hi-Low, and No Limit Hold'em, and if he's at the same table as Phil Hellmuth (a real possibility with a tournament field that likely won't exceed 200 players), it will be the most entertaining table of the entire World Series.

5. Barry Greenstein
A two-time final table finisher in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event (seventh in 2007, sixth in 2008), Greenstein owns bracelets in Pot Limit Omaha, 2-7 Lowball and Razz, covering all three types of games (flop, draw and stud).

4. Jennifer Harman
This year has been called the "Year of the Woman" by many in the poker community, following Annie Duke's win at the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, Vanessa Selbst's NAPT title at Mohegan Sun, and Liv Boeree's victory at the EPT San Remo. Harman is likely the best bet for a woman to take the Poker Player's Championship title. She has titles in Limit Hold'em and 2-7 Lowball, and was second in the H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2007 WSOP Europe. She also has WSOP final tables in Stud Hi-Low, Seven Card Stud, and Pot Limit Hold'em.

3. Ville Wahlbeck
Wahlbeck may not be a household name, but he should be. He finished sixth at last year's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event after winning that $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event. He finished second to Jeffrey Lisandro in the WSOP Player of the Year standings after cashing in six events. The Helsinki, Finland resident has proven he can play any game that the WSOP spreads, and should be a force again this year.

2. Phil Ivey
Ivey owns seven WSOP bracelets in six different games. He arguably had the best WSOP of any player last year, winning two bracelets and finishing seventh in the Main Event. He finished third in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event in 2006, and it wouldn't surprise anyone to see him go home with the title this year.

1. David Singer
Anyone who has seen Singer play Stud live knows why he's at the top of this list. Singer, who made the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. final table in 2006 and 2007, is one of the most solid all-around poker players you'll find at the WSOP. While he makes most of his living on cash games, he is a contender in any tournament he plays. He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2008 in Pot Limit Hold'em, and he cashed in two H.O.R.S.E. events last year. Singer has a chance to become the first person to make the final table in a $50,000 event at the WSOP for the third time, and he will be looking to take full advantage of that opportunity.
Aaron Todd

Home-game hotshot Aaron Todd was an editor/writer at Casino City for nearly eight years, and is currently the Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications and Marketing at St. Lawrence University, his alma mater. While he is happy to play Texas Hold'em, he'd rather mix it up and play Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, and Badugi.

Aaron Todd

Home-game hotshot Aaron Todd was an editor/writer at Casino City for nearly eight years, and is currently the Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications and Marketing at St. Lawrence University, his alma mater. While he is happy to play Texas Hold'em, he'd rather mix it up and play Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, and Badugi.