2018 WSOP Fantasy poker league..

[MintTrav]

And these are all the poor sods / imaginative selections who were loved by just one person:

Abe Mosseri	Dan Kelly	John Hennigan	Nick Schulman
Andre Akkari	Darren Elias	Jonathan Duhamel	Ole Schemion
Andrey Zaichenko	David Bach	Jonathan Tamayo	Ryan Riess
Antonio Esfandiari	David Chiu	Koray Aldemir	Sam Grafton
Barry Greenstein	David Kitai	Lena Evans	Scott Seiver
Ben Lamb	Dzmitry Urbanovich	Liv Boeree	Shawn Buchanan
Ben Sulsky	Eddie Blumenthal	Marc MacDonnell	Stefan Schillhabel
Benjamin Pollak	Griffin Benger	Mark Radoja	Steve O'Dwyer
Brian Hastings	Igor Kurganov	Martin Jacobson	Steven Morris
Brock Parker	Igor Sharashkin	Matt Glantz	Thomas Marchese
Calvin Anderson	Isaac Haxton	Matthew Stout	Toby Lewis
Christopher Vitch	Jack Schindler	Maurice Hawkins	Tom Schneider
Cliff Josephy	Jason Somerville	Max Silver	Tommy Le
Connor Drinan	Jeff Lisandro	Michael Addams
Conor Beresford	Jesse Martin	Mike Matusow
Dan Heimiller	Joe Cada	Natasha Mercier

[MintTrav]

Who has seen the most growth in their selections?

Negreanu was already top of the list, so it is a surprise that he has shown the most increase. There are only ten teams that he doesn't feature on.

Ben Yu and Chris Ferguson had minute support last year, but have been rewarded for super performances as, indeed, have most of these. I'm a bit surprised that last year's Player of the Year didn't get even more picks.

Player	2018	2017	Increase
Daniel Negreanu	45	19	26
Ben Yu	23	2	21
James Obst	26	7	19
Mike Leah	26	8	18
John Monnette	23	5	18
Stephen Chidwick	29	12	17
Chris Ferguson	17	1	16
Phil Hellmuth	19	7	12
Shaun Deeb	15	4	11
John Racener	14	3	11
Adam Owen	13	3	10

[MintTrav]

Zero to Hero. The players no-one wanted last year, who have come roaring onto the charts this time. Ivey and Zinno were previous favourites we turned our backs on, who are now finding favour once again.

Player	2018	2017	Increase
Phil Ivey	8	0	8
Anthony Zinno	7	0	7
Dario Sammartino	6	0	6
Joe McKeehen	5	0	5
Jason Koon	3	0	3
Joseph Cheong	3	0	3
Valentin Vornicu	3	0	3

[MintTrav]

The biggest losers. The previous favourites we have lost confidence in.

2018	2018	2017	Increase
Dan Kelly	1	8	-7
George Danzer	0	7	-7
Fedor Holz	2	8	-6
Max Pescatori	0	6	-6
Paul Volpe	6	11	-5
David Vamplew	0	4	-4
Max Silver	1	4	-3
Michael Mizrachi	4	7	-3
Eli Elezra	0	3	-3

[MintTrav]

The 2018 WSOP has begun. Some likely talking points:

The quality of the cards has been an issue at some recent WSOPs. Will it come up again as a problem?

There are more low buy-in events and more high-rollers. Ho hum.

The Player of the Year formula has been changed quite a lot to make it fairer. Chris Ferguson was declared the winner in 2017 but applying the new formula to last year's tournaments shows that the winner would have been......Chris Ferguson. So that was worth all the trouble.

The Main Event is no longer the final tournament. At least it gives people a reason to stay around when the Main FT is on.

One of the silly tag teams events has been canned. The sooner the other one goes, the better, in my opinion. Two bounty events have been introduced, one of them a turbo. Again, I think that these are silly gimmick events that should be scrapped. Do you agree?

And finally, the most controversial change; the one you are mainly interested in - the age cut-off for the Super Seniors has been lowered from 65 to 60!

[MintTrav]

Event 1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em

Winner	Jordan Hufty
Runners	566
Paid	85
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
-	-	-

Selector	Points
-	-

Probably the only memorable thing was this tweet:
Milko
@DegenOnTour
Got the life slowrolled out of me. If you're looking for me, I'm trashing my hotel room.


Moving on......

[fandango]

Fantastic stats John as always..
Looks like people have really done their homework.
I see the trend of loading teams with HR players.. could be down to players who score high in the lower buy ins that make all the difference this year.

[fandango]

So this year we have 40 players generating a £550 prizepool and we will be paying out top four.

Four places..
£220 for first with APAT seat and gold medal
£165 for runner up and silver medal
£110 for third and bronze medal
£55 for fourth and a pat on the back

Last place finisher get the wooden spoon of rubdown designed by yours truly

Also closest guess without going over of final winning team score gets the small poker bundle prize.

Thanks all that have entered and good luck may all your players run like Bonomo 🍀🍀

[MintTrav]

Event 2: $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty

Winner	Elio Fox
Runners	243
Paid	37
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Paul Volpe	3	15
Alex Foxen	6	8
Joe Cada	9	2
Bryn Kenney	10	1
John Racener	16	1
Kenny Hallaert	19	1
Marc MacDonnell	22	1

Selector	Points
Craig 1	16
Luca 1	16
Carl 2	15
Paul	15
Stephen 2	15
Richard	9
Simon B	8
Suzanne	8
Irish Tom 1	2
Jon	2
Adam	1
Barrie 1	1
Chris H 1	1
Debbie	1
Del	1
English Tom 1	1
Glenn 1	1
Glenn 2	1
Jake	1
Jo 1	1
Tommy	1

243 entries for a $10k! I think a one-day turbo bounty with an average of 25 BBs HU is exactly what the WSOP doesn't need, but it's hard to argue with how popular this experiment was. I guess players saw it as a chance to notch a result or move on without wasting too much time either way. The number of entrants will encourage them to do more of this, but flip-for-your-life lotteries ain't the way to dish out prestigious WSOP bracelets in my view.

Former WSOPE Champion Elio Fox won it against a loaded final table, which included Main Event winner Joe Cada. Volpe and Foxen scored points for their supporters. Volpe had the lead for much of the final table, but had to settle for bronze.

[MintTrav]

Event 3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout

Winner	Joe Cada
Runners	363
Paid	50
Final Table	10

Player	Position	Points
Joe Cada	1	25
Joe McKeehen	3	15
Matthew Stout	14	1
Chris Moorman	17	1
Ismael Bojang	18	1
Phil Hellmuth	21	1
Kenny Hallaert	31	1
Adam Owen	46	1

Selector	Points	Selector	Points	Selector	Points
English Tom 1	17	Tommy	2	Jo 1	1
Jon	16	Adam	1	Jo 2	1
Derek	15	Carl 1	1	Joe	1
Nic 2	15	Chris B	1	John 1	1
Aneurin	2	Chris H 1	1	John 2	1
Barrie 2	2	Craig 2	1	Jordan	1
Brian	2	Del	1	Luca 2	1
Carl 2	2	English Tom 2	1	Paxo 2	1
Debbie	2	Glenn 1	1	Richard	1
Gareth	2	Glenn 2	1	Rob	1
James 1	2	Irish Tom 1	1	Simon B	1
Nic 1	2	Irish Tom 2	1	Simon L	1
Paul	2	Jake	1	Stephen 1	1
Stephen 2	2	James 2	1	Vince 2	1

Taylor Paur, who finished 10th in this event last year (and 22nd in another shootout), won his first table, as did all our players listed above. Two of them, both Main Event winners, also won their second table to reach the final.

The final table was dominated by Joe McKeehen, who played a terrifically aggressive game from beginning to end, and led for almost all of it. With three players left, he held 2.5m chips against Joe Cada's 1.4m and Sam Phillips' 1.5m. There then followed some odd hands (and questionable play). First, with BB at 60k, Cada and Phillips got all-in pre-flop, holding 55 and AJ, respectively. Cada won the flip and Phillips was left with 100k. He quickly trebled up and then doubled up again to 700k. A few hands later, McKeehen four-bet all-in with 66 against Cada's KK and suddenly he was gone, having led for most of the day. Phillips fought back to even stacks and then, with BB at 80k, Cada raised to 180k, Phillips shoved for 2.75m and Cada called for 2.6m, holding 66. Phillips had A4, the 66 held and the tournament finished the next hand. Cada said afterwards that he knew it was a call. I'm not so sure.

Points for Tom F, Jon, Derek and Nic, who all have McKeehen. No-one picked him last year, and he won another bracelet, so it's not surprising that a few people have chosen him this time. What is surprising is that Cada wasn't selected at all, apart from a late addition as a substitute by Debbie. I predict that he gets a few picks next year.

[MintTrav]

Event 4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8/b

Winner	Julien Martini
Runners	911
Paid	137
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Chris Bjorin	17	1
Mike Leah	30	1
Shaun Deeb	44	1
Benny Glaser	63	1
John Monnette	67	1
John Racener	86	1
Robert Mizrachi	90	1
Maria Ho	111	1
Ryan Laplante	133	1

Selector	Points	Selector	Points	Selector	Points
Adam	4	Paxo 1	2	Chris B	1
Chris H 1	4	Paxo 2	3	Craig 1	1
Chris H 2	4	Vince 2	3	English Tom 2	1
Jo 2	4	Carl 1	2	Gareth	1
Barrie 1	3	Craig 2	2	Glenn 2	1
Barrie 2	3	Debbie	2	Joe	1
Chris K	3	Derek	2	John 2	1
Del	3	Glenn 1	2	John 3	1
English Tom 1	3	John 1	2	Luca 2	1
Jake	3	Jon	2	Nic 1	1
James 1	3	Luca 1	2	Rob	1
James 2	3	Richard	2	Simon B	1
Jo 1	3	Stephen 1	2	Simon L	1
Jordan	3	Tommy	2	Stephen 2	1
Nathan	3	Vince 1	2	Suzanne	1
Paul	3	Carl 2	1

Not that many points for us as we didn't get anyone onto the final table. There are poker specialists and then there is Kate Hoang, who reached a final table for the third year in a row and finished runner-up for the second time. It was her seventh WSOP cash in total, starting in 2015, and her Hendonmob only shows three other cashes away from the Series. And every one of those ten cashes came in Omaha Hi-Lo. She is known for being immaculately dressed, but stepped it up another level for the final session.

[MintTrav]

Event 5: $100,000 No Limit Hold'em High Roller

Winner	Nick Petrangelo
Runners	105
Paid	16
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Nick Petrangelo	1	25
Bryn Kenney	5	10
Stephen Chidwick	6	8
Jason Koon	7	6
Adrian Mateos	8	4
Fedor Holz	9	2
Jason Mercier	14	1
Paul Volpe	15	1

Selector	Points	Selector	Points	Selector	Points
Justin	31	Craig 1	9	English Tom 1	8
Stuart	26	Dave	9	Glenn 1	8
Glenn 2	16	Derek	9	Jake	8
Brian	14	Gareth	9	Jordan	8
Jon	14	James 1	9	Karen	8
Nathan	14	James 2	9	Suzanne	4
Richard	13	Joe	9	Barrie 1	1
Vince 1	13	Luca 1	9	Carl 1	1
Aneurin	12	Paul	9	Carl 2	1
Chris B	12	Rob	9	Debbie	1
Nic 2	12	Simon B	9	Irish Tom 2	1
Vince 2	11	Stephen 1	9	Nic 1	1
Stephen 2	10	Craig 2	8	Paxo 1	1
Chris H 1	9	Del	8

Another heavily-loaded tournament, with five bracelet-holders on the final table.

We are five tournaments in and Elio Fox is unlucky not to have won two of them. He should have won this to add to his victory in #2. He started heads-up 40m-13m behind, but dominated the one-on-one, winning ten and chopping one of the next fifteen pots to take a 37m-16m lead and looked like he would win by continuing to crush. It wasn't to be, though, as Petrangelo then sucked out for full stacks two hands in a row to snatch the win, first getting all-in pre-flop in desperation with J3 and then calling a raise on an AA2 flop with Q8 to land a bigger two pair than Fox already had. Fox just needed his pair to hold in the J3 hand to ake a second bracelet, but he is already dominating the Player of the Year table. Just a pity none of us have him.

Justin and Stuart led the way for points, with both fielding Nick 'Lucky' Petrangelo. Justin boosted his points by having three players on the FT, and the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief that Mateos and Holz didn't reach the podium too, which would have given him a big lead at this stage.


Chidwick extends his record for being in the most bracelet photos in WSOP history

[MintTrav]

Event 8: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball

Winner	Johannes Becker
Runners	321
Paid	49
Final Table	6

Player	Position	Points
Scott Seiver	2	18
Christopher Vitch	4	12
Mike Leah	9	1
Brian Hastings	14	1
John Monnette	21	1
John Hennigan	28	1
Shaun Deeb	37	1
Randy Ohel	38	1
Ismael Bojang	47	1
Chris Ferguson	48	1

Selector	Points	Selector	Points	Selector	Points
Chris K	20	Barrie 2	2	Vince 2	2
Paxo 2	13	Chris H 1	2	Carl 1	1
Jake	4	Craig 1	2	Chris B	1
Jo 1	4	Craig 2	2	Debbie	1
Jo 2	4	Derek	2	Gareth	1
Jordan	4	English Tom 2	2	Glenn 2	1
Adam	3	James 1	2	Irish Tom 1	1
Barrie 1	3	John 1	2	Irish Tom 2	1
Carl 2	3	John 2	2	Joe	1
Chris H 2	3	Nic 1	2	Jon	1
Del	3	Paul	2	Luca 1	1
English Tom 1	3	Paxo 1	2	Richard	1
James 2	3	Simon B	2	Rob	1
Luca 2	3	Simon L	2	Stuart	1
Nathan	3	Tommy	2
Stephen 1	3	Vince 1	2

Johannes Becker has won a mixed-game bracelet. That's no surprise if you're familiar with his online play but it might be a huge surprise to some of those who disparaged his play last year when he lucked and sucked to a second place in the Players Championship.

http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php/topic,20051.msg255389.html#msg255389

He may have been lucky then, but coming back to win here shows that his game must have improved. And his heads-up was against Scott Seiver, one of his main tormentors last year, who will have been keen to avenge his multiple suck-out losses to Becker that time. Seiver held a 2.8m - 800k - 400k lead three-way, with Becker on the 400k, but it all went Becker's way from there on and he ran out the winner without too many dramas.

Chris and Paxo are the only ones with Seiver and Vitch, and took most of the points.

[MintTrav]

Event 10: $365 WSOP.com Online No Limit Hold'em

Winner	William Reymond
Runners	2972
Paid	333
Final Table	9

Player	Position	Points
Ryan Riess	13	1
Chris Klodnicki	103	1
Matthew Stout	107	1
Ben Yu	213	1
Chris Ferguson	228	1
Ryan Laplante	249	1

Selector	Points	Selector	Points	Selector	Points
Barrie 1	2	Adam	1	Jo 2	1
Barrie 2	2	Aneurin	1	Joe	1
Chris H 2	2	Brian	1	Jordan	1
English Tom 1	2	Chris B	1	Karen	1
Glenn 1	2	Chris H 1	1	Luca 2	1
Jake	2	Craig 1	1	Paul	1
Jo 1	2	Del	1	Paxo 2	1
John 1	2	English Tom 2	1	Rob	1
John 2	2	Glenn 2	1	Simon B	1
Nic 1	2	Irish Tom 1	1	Stephen 1	1
Paxo 1	2	Irish Tom 2	1	Stuart	1
Simon L	2	James 1	1	Suzanne	1
Tommy	2	James 2	1	Vince 1	1

Not many points from the first of four online tournaments. It's hard to get more than one point when there are almost 3,000 entrants. This is one aspect of our scoring that I think we should review. Ryan Reiss finished 13th out of 2,972 and gets the same reward as Ryan Laplante, who was 249th.

[MintTrav]

Wow! I've got to hand it to you lot. This year's selections have been outstanding. Day 2 of #7 The Colossus commenced with 'only' 539 players remaining from the 13,070 who tried their luck through all the Day 1s. They are now down to 176 players and we have three of the top six! Vornicu, Foxen and Racener are all showing their class, with Bach and Cada right there in 11th and 25th places. At some point, I will have to work through the 1,754 players who made the cash, God help me. On the bright side, Safiya Umerova is going strong in 50th place. Last year I was remiss in not posting a picture of Safiya until halfway through the Series, an error I don't intend to repeat.

That's not all. #12 resumed with John Hennigan in the lead, where he remains, and he has been joined in the top five by Klodnicki and Lisandro. Leah, Yu, Monnette and Vitch are also well-placed.

And there's more. #9 $10k O8 is playing down from 22 to 6 today. There are twelve left at this stage and we have three of them - Volpe, Robert Mizrachi and Matusow. Yes, Matusow. He managed to hold himself together through last year's Series and he has done well again so far, as he invariably seems to whenever he is on the straight and narrow. Bjorin, Gorodinsky, Zinno and Rutter also cashed but were eliminated.

#14 2-7 NL started today and guess what, your picks are doing well here too, with Reiss, Greenstein, Glaser and Akkari in the top eight. Bach seems to also be playing this somehow.

Another experimental event, the eagerly awaited #13 the Big Blind Antes is up-and-running. There may be downsides to this format, but let's see how it goes. Farrell is currently sitting in 3rd place.

Outstanding picking guys. Millions of points on the way.


Safiya