WSOP One Drop announces More Players for this Summers $1 Million Event
This summer sees the return of the $1,000,000 buy in WSOP One Drop that saw Antonio Esfandiari pickup $18,346,673 back in 2012. Antonio will be back, and he was the top name on the list of who the first 20 seats in this year’s event now belonged to.
The usual suspects, such as guy Laliberté, Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, Phil Gruissem and Sam Tricket were all present and correct on the list issued in March, but today saw the addition of nine new names (and one anonymous businessman) to the mix.
The players added today are:
Vanessa Selbst,
Jean-Robert Bellande,
Anthony Greg,
Fabian Quoss,
Max Altergott,
Tobias Reinkemeier,
Igor Kurganov,
Christoph Vogelsang,
Niklas Heinecker,
and an anonymous Asian Businessman to be named later.
Vanessa Selbst
The biggest name to jump out of the list is obviously Vanessa Selbst. She is still the all time leading female money winner according to The Hendon Mob, and is considered by many to be one of the best live tournament pros on the planet. Selbst already has 2 WSOP bracelets, and will be looking to add the platinum One Drop bracelet to her collection. For some reason, Selbst is currently 66/1 to win the event, which in my opinion is a really good price to take a shot with right now. Phil Ivey and Antonio are both around 18/1 to win, but I’d say Selbst is probably the better bet in this event. She has kept up to date with the current cutting edge strategies, and is probably a better No Limit Hold’em tournament player than anyone I’ve seen signed up so far. This doesn’t mean she’s guaranteed to win, poker does involve some luck after all, but I’d say she’s my pick of the players confirmed so far.
Another names that stuck out of the list for me was Jean-Robert Bellande. Also from New York, this social media hero of a poker player is known more for the losses he posts on his twitter feed as @ BrokeLivingJRB than for any recent success on the felt. With tournament winnings just over $1.3 Million, Bellande may be out of his depth in this event, even with the addition of Macau Businessmen to soften the field. He is certainly showing his trademark confidence in entering the event outright, paying the $1 Million entry fee rather than trying to satellite in. It’s rumoured that Bellande paid his entry to this event with a large amount of cash in a gym bag, and that fits perfectly with his social media image.
The large German contingent in the field should surprise exactly no-one. The high stakes German poker community has been keeping all the Super High roller titles to themselves for a while now, with a few exceptions such as Dan Colman winning the Super High Roller in Monte Carlo last month.
With at least six top quality Germans in the field (and Ole Schemion still to buy in), if you are offered a bet on the nationality of the winner, German is probably the way to go.
Paul Newey at EPT Monte Carlo
Other names confirmed that are worthy of note include Bill Perkins and Paul Newey. Both technically “amateur” players, they have a large bankroll behind them from their business acumen which combined with their experience playing high takes cash games and Super High Rollers could make them dangerous. They don’t have the raw skill and talent of some of the other players, but they do have confidence, and won’t be overly concerned if they lose their buy in to the event. They are part of a contingent of six non professional players already confirmed for the event. The perception of these players being weak is a relative one. If the anonymous players are who we expect, all six play regularly in high stakes cash games, and several played in the recent €100k EPT Super high Roller in Monte Carlo.
Today also saw several satellite packages confirmed for this 56 seat capped event. The Rio Casino will be holding a $25,300 satellite on the 28th of June, which will have seven mega-satellites feeding into it, with prices rangeing from $200 to $3,750. These mega-satellites will happen on the two days before the main $25,300 satellite runs.
Two other satellites will be running at the Aria and the Bellagio, but details on these have not yet been confirmed.
The reason behind this massive event is to support the One Drop Charity set up by Guy Laliberté. The aim of the organisation is to strive to ensure that everyone on the planet has access to clean fresh water. This very laudable goal is going to receive $111,111 from each of the 56 players expected to turn up. The poker community has a history of support charity events at the WSOP, with the One Drop running back to 2012, and the Ante Up for Africa events before that.
The main goal of the Big One for One Drop is to raise awareness for the cause, and with the event being covered by ESPN, it’s going to be hard to miss the biggest poker event of the year supporting such a worthwhile charity.
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