What Country Will Win The 2006 WSOP?

The 2005 World Series of Poker saw an Aussie, Joe Hachem, win the $10,000 WSOP Main Event. This fete goes to show that WOSP is indeed the World Series when it comes to our favorite card game.

This year’s tournament will bring in more poker players from the different parts of the world. Mainly due to the many online satellites from Internet poker rooms offering free WSOP seats. Another reason is players from different countries are coming out to be part this growing poker phenomenon.

And like the FIFA World Cup, poker fans will be rooting for their countrymen to win that much-coveted WSOP bracelet. Remember the “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!” last year?

American poker players, for now, have the better odds at winning this year’s WSOP. Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Michael Mizrachi, Greg Raymer, Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Erik Lindgren, Annie Duke, Jen Harman, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, and many more we can’t mention anymore have equal chances of becoming the champion.

Then there are poker players who have made the US their home but born in other countries. Scotty Nguyen, Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen, Evelyn Ng, and Mihn Nguyen were all born in Vietnam. In fact many players of Vietnamese origin have made names in the tournament circuit.

John Juanda, 5th top poker money winner, was born in Indonesia. Texas Hold’em is fast catching in popularity among Indonesians, and it’ll be a great deal if this guy wins the WSOP.

We all know that Hachem is from Australia, so is Mel Judah. He won last year’s WPT LA Poker Classic in 7-card stud, and was 5th in No Limit Hold’em Shootout in the same event. Not to mention that he’s a poker legend in his own country.

Canada has poker’s Golden Boy, Daniel Negreanu as its top bet. But there’s also Gavin Smith, Eric Cloutier, Isabel Mercier, just to name a few.

Those Finnish players also pose big a threat on the felt. Patrik Antonius, WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic 2nd places last year. There’s Juha Helppi, who in 2006 has a total winnings of $1,020,000. He finished in the money of five WSOP events. And Jani Sointula, 2004 Monte Carlo Millions, and a final table regular at European Poker Tour (EPT) and WPT events.

And then there are the Swedes. Daniel Bergsdorf, Anders Berg, Erik Sagstrom, Ferit Gabriellson, Bjorn Isberg plus the online qualifiers from Sweden, where online poker is huge, will surely make their marks in Las Vegas.

Another European country with much promise to win the 2006 WSOP is Denmark. Gus Hansen aka “The Great Dane” will lead the quest along with his fellow Danish poker players Rehne Pedersen, Christer Johansson, and Jan Sorenson.

Juan Carlos Mortensen maybe the only Spanish poker player making noise today, but don’t believe for a second that his compatriots aren’t crowding the poker tables.

Finally the UK crop of poker players, pro or not, led by Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot, John Gale, Paul Maxfield, Andy Black, Surinder Sunar, Dave Colclough, and Chris Bjorin will be a force to watch on the poker tables.

So what do you think? From what country will the 2006 WSOP World Champion come from?

Next time: Who will win the 2006 WSOP, an amateur or a professional poker player?

[Bodog has another proposition: What will be the birthplace of the winner of the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event? Place your bets from wherever you are..]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Poker Event, Poker Players, Poker Tournament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.