It should be no surprise that with only a few events still to be finalized in this year’s World Series of Poker, Jeff Lisandro holds on to the top spot for Player of the Year honors. He has won 3 bracelets this year after all. What more could he do?
Lisandro has 355 points in the race for POY. The next player, Ville Wahlbeck, remains surprisingly close, at 320 points. Phil Ivey is in 3rd with 242 points and Vitally Lunkin and Greg Mueller are tied for 4th and 5th with 240 points.
The only one with a real chance of taking over the lead for POY is Wahlbeck. Even that would be a difficult task to say the least. The only event remaining for the POY contenders is the Main Event, which begins Friday. In order for Wahlbeck to pass Lisandro, he would have to finish at least 8th in the Main Event. And even then he would only tie Lisandro if Jeff does not make the money. If Ville was able to do that it would be an incredible end to what has already been a great World Series.
Professional players have done very well during this year’s series. There have also been several players to win multiple bracelets, including Lisandro with 3, Phil Ivey with 2, Greg Mueller with 2, and John Brock Parker with 2. The biggest money winner thus far in the World Series is Vitaly Lunkin, who has taken in over $2.6 million so far, winning the $40k No-Limit Hold’em Event and cashing 3 other times, including two other final tables (2nd place and 4th). The “honor” of most cashes without a win so far in this year’s event is shared by two players, David Baker and Daniel Negreanu with 8 cashes.
However, the event that everyone is looking forward to is, of course, the Main Event. $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em, which is slated to start Friday at noon local time, and will continue to July 15th. Then, once the final table is set, the tournament will be delayed until November 7th to the 10th.
Last year’s Main Event drew 6,844 entrants, second only to the 2006 event, which drew 8,773. Organizers are very interested to see exactly how many enter this year’s Main Event. The Series started out very strong, breaking some records for attendance in some of the earliest events. Other events, though, such as the H.O.R.S.E. Championship Event, have seen a huge drop off in entries. No matter what, this is the event everyone wants to win. How many people sign up to play in the event will be answered in a matter of a few days. The answer to whether or not a pro can win the Main Event, however, will have to wait until November.