World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event. Wins in this event do not count as official WSOP bracelets, but the winner receives a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo. In 2010, the WSOP Tournament of Champions returned with a new format more akin to a typical sports league All-Star Event format. 27 players vied for $1 million, with 20 of those players selected by the fans via online vote at the WSOP's website.

2004

The first event took place on 1 September 2004 with invitations only being extended to ten of the most well-known names on the poker tournament circuit. The winner took home a $2,000,000 prize. No other participants received prize money.

Position Competitor
1st Annie Duke
2nd Phil Hellmuth
3rd Howard Lederer
4th Johnny Chan
5th Greg Raymer
6th Doyle Brunson
7th Daniel Negreanu
8th Phil Ivey
9th T. J. Cloutier
10th David "Chip" Reese

2005

The 2005 event took place between November 6 and November 8 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Prior to the event, Harrah's advertised that to qualify a player would need to win any World Series of Poker circuit events or by reaching the final table of the 2005 WSOP $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em championship event. Controversy erupted however when Pepsi, the event's sponsor, insisted that Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan be granted Sponsor Exemptions. Despite public protests from other players that they were lied to as the event was billed as one that one had to qualify for, ESPN and Harrah's newly hired Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Jeffrey Pollack allowed the three to participate. Hellmuth finished third, while Chan and Brunson missed the final table, coming in 13th and 10th, respectively. From 2006 onward, Harrah's reserved the right to let in up to six players via sponsor's exemptions.

Position Competitor Prize
1st Mike Matusow $1,000,000
2nd Hoyt Corkins $325,000
3rd Phil Hellmuth $250,000
4th Tony Bloom $150,000
5th Steve Dannenmann $100,000
6th Grant Lang $75,000
7th David Levi $50,000
8th Keith Sexton $25,000
9th Brandon Adams $25,000

2006

The 2006 field of twenty-seven players included the 9 players who made the final table of the 2005 WSOP main event, the winners of the 11 WSOP Circuit events in the preceding calendar year, and some sponsor exemptions.

Final table

Position Competitor Prize
1st Mike Sexton $1,000,000
2nd Daniel Negreanu $325,000
3rd Mike Matusow $250,000
4th Chris Reslock $150,000
5th Andy Black $100,000
6th Darrell Dicken $75,000
7th Chris Ferguson $50,000
8th Thang Pham $25,000
9th Daniel Bergsdorf $25,000

Other qualifiers and invitees

2005 WSOP Main Event Final Table Players

WSOP Circuit Event Winners

2007

Harrah's put the Tournament of Champions on hold indefinitely.

2010

On March 15, 2010, Harrah's and the World Series of Poker announced that the WSOP Tournament of Champions would return on June 27, 2010 when 27 players competed in a freeroll for $1 million in prize money. The new format is an All-Star Event format, where the public decided which players participated in the event from a list of 521 current, living WSOP bracelet-holders.

The public decided the 20 players via an online vote at www.WSOP.com/TOC. Voting was open from March 15, 2010 until midnight ET on June 15, 2010. Voted in were: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Dan Harrington, T.J. Cloutier, Sammy Farha, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Antonio Esfandiari.[1]

Five of the seats were automatically awarded. The reigning WSOP Champion Joe Cada, the reigning WSOP Europe Champion Barry Shulman and the three previous TOC winners: Annie Duke, Mike Matusow and Mike Sexton.[1]

The remaining two seats were awarded as sponsor exemptions by Harrah's, to Andrew Barton and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.[1]

On June 27, the 27 players began play in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The final nine players returned to play the final table on July 4, 2010 in the same location.

Final table

Position Competitor Prize
1st Huck Seed $500,000
2nd Howard Lederer $250,000
3rd Johnny Chan $100,000
4th Joe Hachem $25,000
5th Barry Greenstein $25,000
6th Daniel Negreanu $25,000
7th Jennifer Harman $25,000
8th Annie Duke $25,000
9th T. J. Cloutier $25,000

References

  1. 1 2 3 "TOP 20 VOTE-GETTERS FOR WSOP TOC REVEALED". WSOP.com. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/30/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.