Tao of Poker

WSOP Bracelet Picks

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

It's a known fact that I thrive on action, especially prop betting with degenerate in the poker media. Since most of my colleagues are constantly on the sidelines, we have to concoct prop bets to make things interesting especially over a seven week period.

So, who am I betting on to win a bracelet this year?

1. Erik Seidel - Seidel always flies under the radar, which makes him a dangerous opponent. Betting on Seidel to win a bracelet is sorta like betting chalk. He didn't win one last year (despite two final table appearances), which means he's due this year to win bracelet #9.

2. Elky - Also known as Bertrand Grospellier, the former video game legend from France has been running good since 2008. He's netted $1.5 million already this year including a victory at the $25K High Rollers Event at the PCA in the Bahamas at the beginning of the year. With $5.7 million in career live tournament earnings, Elky is number one on the All Time French Money List. He's also currently 34th on the All Time Money List. Quite an achievement. Perhaps this is the year that Elky wins himself some bling.

3. Matt Glantz - Glantz is a dark horse on the West Coast mainly because he hasn't played a high volume of WSOP events in the previous years. Glantz is primarily a mixed-game player and sits in the highest mixed cash game at the Borgata in Atlantic City. His last three cashes at the WSOP? 2nd place (3K NL), 3rd place (10K Mixed), and 4th place (50K HORSE). Glantz recently mentioned that he's going to be playing more events at this year's WSOP than in previous years.

4. Vivek Rajkumar - I fondly recall Vivek's first WSOP in 2007. "Ship it to Vivek!" his drunken friends screamed on the rail as he went deep in a limit event. Since then, the kid has been on my radar. He made me look like a genius at the Brogata Poker Open last September when I made him my #1 draft pick in the media pool. He promptly went all the way and won his first WPT event. A WSOP bracelet will be a nice addition to his already impressive poker resume.

5. Shaun Deeb - Deeb (no relation to Freddy) has been the subject of some hilarious 2+2 photoshopped images over the last year. And he's an exceptional player topping the PokerStars leader board for 2008. Usually clad in a NY Yankees hat, Deeb is one my short list to win a bracelet this year. Over his virtual poker career, he has played so many MMTs that the numbers would make your head spin. I dunno if any human has seen more hands in online MMTs than Shaun Deeb.


Photoshopped by Snoopy

Bubbling off my Top 5? Allen Cunningham, Soren Kongsgaard, and Kathy Liebert. I have smaller bets that they will each win a bracelet.

On a side note, I have a bet that Gobbo, Adam Junglen, Ludovic Lacay, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Shaniac, DonkeyBomber, and Alex Kravchenko will all make final tables this year. And yes, my outstanding wager that Brandon Schaefer will win a bracelet before Carl Olson is still live through December 21, 2012. So either Brandon wins a bracelet before the Mayan Calendar ends, or we're all doomed.


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