While the saying, ‘let the chips fall where they may’ might hold true in day to day life, the same cannot be said for the world of professional poker. There, players who have studied those 52 cards for decades – not to mention those subtle inferences that flash across even the most impassive player’s face when he is heading towards a big win (or, of course, loss) – wake up each and every day refusing to allow the chips to fall anywhere but on their side of the table, unless they have no other choice.
The result is a fascinating and compelling competitive sport – both for those who partake, and those who prefer to position themselves on the side-lines and merely observe the action as it unfolds. It has drawn in countless fans and players for nigh-on two hundred years, and is only continuing to demonstrate quite how much of a draw it represents in the increasingly overlapping worlds of gaming and sports.
The WSOP, or the World Series of Poker, represents an annual culmination of the decades these top performing players have spent honing their craft. Once reserved for the casino halls of Vegas, and now a hotly anticipated IRL and online event boasting an enviable, international line-up of the world’s biggest poker faces, this event is returning in 2021 with a grand schedule spanning from the hallowed halls of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino to the incorporeal digital realm.
Whether you follow the tournaments every year, or are just now hearing about the event today, here are some of the names to keep an eye out for during the World Series of Poker 2021.
Daniel Negreanu
Poker champion and resident team member at GGPoker.co.uk – which, as it happens, is working in tandem with the World Series of Poker for their Super Circuit Online Series, which began in early May this year – alongside such names as Dan Bilzerian and ElkY, Negreanu has already got six WSOP bracelets under his belt (or, more aptly, on his wrist).
Not only that, but he was also named the player of the year at two previous events, and the winner of a World Series of poker ring – as well as nigh-on $20,000,000 in earnings.
It’s safe to say that this Canadian-born poker powerhouse is preparing to make another splash at the 2021 circuit this summer.
Phil Hellmuth
Hellmuth holds the enviable position at the very top of the World Series of Poker’s rankings for bracelet winners – although he remains fourth on the list when it comes to earnings alone.
With a staggering fifteen bracelets gathered from the WSOP – along with sixty four final tables, and an induction into the Poker Hall of Fame, Hellmuth’s influence over the world of professional poker cannot be overstated.
While his game is, indisputably, No Hold ’em, Hellmuth has also earned bracelets in Seven-Card Razz – and a strong reputation garnered through bracelet wins in four consecutive decades.
Antonio Esfandiari
At the end of the day, the world of professional poker is, of course, fueled by the incredibly high-stakes – and the potential for even higher monetary winnings. While the World Series of Poker bracelet is, without a doubt, the most coveted non-monetary prize any player of fan of the WSOP can imagine, one of the things that makes the event (and all others like it) so compelling is the amount of money that passes across the table.
This is never felt more keenly than it is by Antonio Esfandiari, who currently stands at number one on the WSOP rankings for high earners. With more than $22 million dollars in earnings, he maintains a distance of almost $3 million from Negreanu, who holds second place.
