Fans Vote for TOC WSOP Players; Tao of Poker Picks

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


The Tournament of Champions returns to the WSOP. The suits at Harrah's decided to put a little spin on this year's event and opened up voting to you, the people. Just like an all star game for the NBA or MLB, you will determine the last 20 spots. Only living WSOP bracelet winners are eligible, which means that anyone who won a bracelet has a shot at winning... provided that the masses vote them in. That includes both Eskimo Clark and everyone's favorite villain Russ Hamilton.

Allow me to begin my campaign... VOTE ESKIMO!

Voting is open from now through June 15th. Vote early. Vote often. Vote ESKIMO!

Five spots are already reserved for previous TOC champions (Annie Duke, Mike Sexton, and Mike Matusow) and the current Main Event winners Joe Cada (WSOP) and Barry Shulman (WSOPE). There will be two sponsor exemptions, which is a nice way of saying that they gotta pay the bills somehow and let the sponsors pick a couple of players.

Click here to see who is currently in the Top 50 in voting.

Anyway, I know that the general public knows a fraction of the actual players out there, so that's why you turn to the Tao of Poker to get the low down on who you should vote for. With that said, here's my guide on TOC Voting...

Top 10 Asians:
1. David "The Dragon" Pham
2. Johnny Chan
3. Kenny Tran
4. JC Tran
4. An "The Boss" Tran
5. Bill Chen
6. John Phan
7. Willie Tan
8. Chau Giang
9. Scotty Nguyen
10. Barry Greenstein

I'm Gonna Drop Acid and Vote for These 10:
1. Jerry Yang
2. Jen Tilly
3. Robert Varkonyi
4. Russ Hamilton
5. Eskimo Clark
6. Devilfish
7. Dutch Boyd
8. Jamie Gold
9. David Sklansky
10. Capt. Tom Franklin

Top 5 Overlooked:
1. Allen Cunningham
2. Scott Clements
3. Freddy Deeb
4. John Juanda
5. DonkeyBomber

Top 5 Old Vegas:
1. Doyle Brunson
2. Billy Baxter
3. Bobby Baldwin
4. Amarillo Slim
5. Mickey Appleman

Top 5 Party People:
1. Layne Flack
2. Gank
3. Mike Matsuow
4. Huck Seed
5. Chau Giang

Top 5 Latin Players:
1. Humberto Brenes
2. Max Stern
3. Alex Gomes
4. Angel Guillen
5. Johnny "World" Hennigan

Top 5 Young Guns:
1. Brock Parker
2. Brandon Cantu
3. Matt Graham
4. Jason Mercier
5. Phil Galfond

Top 5 Random Scandis:
1. Jesper Hougaard
2. Thor Hansen
3. Annette Obrestad
4. Yani Vilmunen
5. Peter Eastgate

Top 5 Euros With Funny Nicknames:
1. Dario "ScarfBoy" Mineri
2. Max "Italian Pirate" Pescatori
3. Alex "KGB" Kravchenko
4. Roland "Hungry Like" De Wolfe
5. David "Dinner Bell" Benyamine

Top 5 Guys I'd Vote for if they were still alive:
1. Stu Ungar
2. Chip Reese
3. Tuna Lund
4. Amir Vahedi
5. Johnny Moss

Top 5 Online Nicknames:
1. mig.com
2. dandruff
3. mrsmokey1
4. tsoprano
5. basebaldy

That's it for now. You can vote here.