2009 WSOP Players to Watch

WSOP 2009 is nearly upon us, and it’s time to start speculating about which players are going to make all the headlines this year. There are so many famous players now it’s tough to call out a select few to emerge as the big winners. One can’t avoid mentioning the obvious names like Hellmuth, Brunson, and Chan; they’ve all earned that right. But besides the big three, who looks like they’re poised to play well at the right time this year?

Momentum is always a good thing to have going into the WSOP, and no one has more of that right now than Jason Mercier. Since the second week of February he has seven live tournament cashes, totaling over $230,000. He leads the Pro Rank leaderboard with 13655 points, over 5000 points more than second place Bertrand Grospellier. Grospellier has been on fire too, with five cashes worth close to $700K.

Women that are playing well right now include Kathy Liebert, Sandra Naujoks, and Vanessa Rousso. Liebert has won over $675K since January from three big cashes, and she is always a threat to win another bracelet. Sandra Naujoks recently won the EPT German Open for 917,000 EURO and currently holds down 12th place on the Pro Rank leaderboard. Vanessa Rousso finished in second place in the NBC Heads-Up Championship for $250K on March 6, and she picked up a seventh-place finish in the WPT Southern Poker Championship for $79K back in January.

Scotty Nguyen will most likely be the most-watched player this year. Not only is he the defending $50K H.O.R.S.E champion, but he also won the $10K WPT L.A. Poker Classic H.O.R.S.E. event back in February. If those aren’t enough reasons to watch Scotty, there’s more. He recently stated that he would retire from poker if he didn’t win four million dollars at the WSOP this year. That’s a tall order even for Scotty Nguyen, and like pro wrestling fans we’ll all be watching to see if this is the end of the legend.

An unknown player from Panama has been tearing up the Latin American Poker Tour of late. Bolivar Palacios has made two straight LAPT final tables and is consistently posting money finishes playing MTT’s online. He intends to play a busy schedule at the 2009 WSOP, and this year may be his coming-out party.

We also have to consider the big guns of poker. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, and Tom Dwan will all be looking to win bracelets. They’re the biggest cash-game players online and they have the bankroll to play as many events at the WSOP as they want. If you had to pick one from the group to win a bracelet it would probably be Ivey, who hasn’t won one since 2005.

Another good bet for a bracelet is Men “The Master” Nguyen. He has six bracelets, but none since 2003. He also plays a lot of events of all variations. It’s only a matter of time with Men the Master, who is responsible for teaching the game to many of today’s dominant young Asian players.

By the way, you still have time to participate in WSOP 2009 satellites, and who knows, maybe you will play at the world’s most prestigious poker championship!