Celebrities Battle it out at WSOP
Each year the WSOP sees celebrities including actors and sport professionals taking on pro poker players, this year the 2013 edition of the world series of poker is no different.
The battlefield is the $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold ‘em main event of the WSOP which started last Saturday and runs through until the 15th July when the final nine players remain.
The final nine players will then once again compete for the prestigious 44th WSOP bracelet with the winner taking home $8.4 million in November when ESPN will cover the final table live.
Entries into the 2013 WSOP main event were slightly lower than prior years with 6352 entrants from 83 countries which included 5% women, all competing for the title.
Celebrities seem to be attracted to the allure of the World Series of poker, perhaps many of them just like the air time and notoriety of playing the biggest poker event of the year and of course sponsors and marketers thrive at being given the chance to display their logos on celebs who will most likely be given some airtime on TV.
The full ESPN WSOP 2013 TV schedule can be found here and the WSOP 2013 live streaming feed allows you to catch all the action as it unfolds.
Celebrities already out of the Word Series of Poker this year include actor James Wood, “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett, “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, Jennifer Tilly of “Liar Liar also a poker pro, UFC Mixed Martial Arts champion Georges St. Pierre.
While some celebs may be there just for financial gain from their sponsors many take the game more seriously and can prove tough competition for the seasoned pros as they tend to play unpredictably, and there is inadequate time to learn their individual playing style in a live tournament environment.
WSOP 2013 Celebs and Pros
Celebrities still in the running heading into day 2 of the WSOP 2013 include comedian Kevin Pollak, Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo, sitcom star Ray Romano, FC Barcelona soccer star Gerard Pique, Aussie cricket player Shane Warne and NHL goaltender Roberto Luongo.
Most top poker pros are still in so far including the likes of last year’s winner Greg Merson, Germany’s Pius Heinz the 2011 winner and Canadian Jonathan.
Well known pros including Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, Joe Hachem, Allen Cunningham, Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu are still in the hunt all looking to add to their bracelet counts.
Among the poker pros who failed to advance to day 2 were Phil Laak, Vanessa Rousso, Tom Schneider, Brandon Cantu, Eric Buchman, Shaun Deeb, Jennifer Tilly, Jeff Madsen, Loni Harwood, Jonathan Duhamel 2010 WSOP champ and 1996 winner Huck Seed.
While Gus Hansen and Tom Dwan have yet to show up despite entering Day 1c, their stacks are currently being blinded off heading into day 2.