Posted by Andrew Feldman
The conference call gets better every year.
The 2009 poker fantasy draft consisted of 11 players ranging from some of the game's best players to some of the game's best bloggers. Scoring was based on players making deep runs in massive field events. Some drafters went for the young, online players, while others chose the proven live pros. In any case, the mix of players and writers made for an interesting draft room dynamic and set of rosters. Here's a look at the teams. For more analysis on the teams and the scoring system as well as other thoughts, check below the tables.
Thoughts and analysis:
Gavin Smith (professional poker player): Getting his picks in via e-mail was an interesting situation, but Smith was able to get some top players with, of course, first pick Daniel Negreanu. There's no doubt that Negreanu is ready to go and the WSOP is his time to shine. Smith then selected himself in the second round, then went with young, talented players from there. Shaun Deeb, Michael Mizrachi, Vivek Rajkumar, Jimmy Fricke, Chris Bell and Mike Leah all have the talent to put up big numbers, and each can win his first bracelet. Few players have been hotter than Rajkumar this year, and I think that picking him in the fifth round was great.
IMPDI for the WSOP
Daniel Negreanu was taken as the first overall pick by Gavin Smith.
Cheap Thieves (Daniel Negreanu, professional poker player): Negreanu, holding the second pick overall, selected Phil Ivey, the most widely respected player. With rumors that Ivey has many bracelet bets again this year, he'll be more determined than ever to put up a good showing, and Negreanu hopes to capitalize on this motivation. Negreanu's team is full of proven players and those who can dominate the $10,000 events, a key in this competition.
"My strategy was to go after guys that can do well in the $10,000 events and for the most part play all the games well," Negreanu said.
Here are Negreanu's other thoughts from an e-mail sent to the league.
"1. Ivey is pretty good at poker.
2. Jeff Lisandro almost won POY two short years ago.
3. David Chiu plays all the games and will be there every day.
4. Huck Seed is a lock to make every Razz final table. If he plays a lot, he could crush.
5. Danny Alaei is a pot-limit Omaha/no-limit hold 'em guy, but he's also really, really, good.
6. Jennifer is a good horse for the H.O.R.S.E. events and high buy-in mixed-game events.
7. Alexander Kostritsyn I couldn't resist because I also have Andrei Kostitsyn in my hockey pool. Plus I played with him last year, and he can play all the games.
8. Freddie Bonyadi is my Rodney Dangerfield pick. Gets no respect, he just wins a lot."
Wisehandpoker (Gary Wise, ESPN.com): The Wise one wanted Allen Cunningham and got him. One of the most consistent players during the past last few years, Cunningham should bring in some solid cashes and perhaps his fourth bracelet in five years. Wise took Alex Jacob early, but he might be worth it. Last year, Jacob had eight WSOP cashes, but he hasn't made an appearance in the money since October.
"I was woefully unprepared but geared my picks towards players who have cashed consistently over the last few years and who tend to play in a lot of non-hold 'em events," Wise said. "Cunningham is my No. 1 overall, so I was happy to get him. Alex Jacob is a guy I wanted on my team, but it was a panic pick. I should have waited to pick him in Round 4."
Win One For The Kids (Bernard Lee, ESPN.com): Although I don't love his selections, he can probably sum up his team better than I can. …
"1) Chris Ferguson: Winner of five bracelets, always seems to make a final table every year, and I hope 2009 WSOP is no exception.
2) Chau Giang: One of the best old-school players and also great at Omaha.
3) Tom Dwan: I may have taken him a round too early, but as long as he doesn't focus too much on the durr challenge, he should do some major damage at 2009 WSOP.
4) John Phan: 2009 POY and only winner of two WSOP bracelets in 2008. Enough said.
5) Kenny Tran: Great run in 2007 WSOP. He won his first WSOP bracelet in 2008, and I hope he brings the magic back in 2009.
6) Lee Markholt: When he gets hot, he is not only a cashing machine but gets deep. Let's see if he can capture a bracelet in 2009.
7) Max Pescatori: Always somewhat under the radar screen, but you can't deny this two time WSOP bracelet winner (2006 and 2008).
8) David Williams: Best known for his runner-up finish five years ago to Greg Raymer, he has won a WSOP bracelet (2006 in stud) and has had 15 cashes."
Betfair/AFP/Getty Images
Team Pokerati is hoping for impressive results from their No. 1 pick Phil Hellmuth.
Team Pokerati (Dan Michalski, Pokerati.com): Drafting for the first time, Michalski asked his readers on Pokerati for some advice. Apparently, it was good advice, as he selected WSOP bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, 53-time WSOP casher Humberto Brenes and one of the most-talked-about rookies, Isaac Baron. There are some questionable selections in Evdakov and Pilgrim, though, so he'll likely need his big names to carry him through.
"[Howard Lederer's selection of] Chris Bjorn in the eighth round was probably the best pick overall," Michalski said. "If you look at combined WSOP Player of the Year results over the past two years, he is No. 1. [Robert Mizrachi was No. 2, Tom Schneider No. 3.] I'm most proud of my Isaac Baron pick, because I just learned who he was about 20 minutes before draft time.
"My worst pick was Men the Master. Anyone want to trade? I'm looking for the bottom of my draft to carry my team. Hellmuth better not let me down."
Team Glue Factory (Howard Lederer, professional poker player): "The Professor" came into the draft well aware of what it would take to build a championship roster. I was planning on taking Barry Greenstein with my first pick had he not gone to Lederer. Greenstein is a clear top choice. The rest of his team could go deep in all world championship events, and Lederer should be content with his first ESPN fantasy draft.
"I love that I got BG in the 6-spot," Lederer said. "There are four clear top fantasy picks because they are top-20 all-around players, and they are crazy for bracelets and play every event they can, including two in a day if necessary. They are Daniel [Negreanu], Chris [Ferguson], E-Dog [Lindgren] and Barry. You can make an argument for Ivey due to his amazing talent, but he can't be counted on to play every day like these four.
"You could argue that Allen [Cunningham] was a mistake because he is liable to take a week off if he starts to feel tired. Taking Hellmuth ahead of E-Dog or Barry is lunacy. E-Dog going 16th was amazing. I'm very happy with Juanda 17th, he seems hungry these days, but I would have preferred E-Dog."
Lederer then had some choice words for Seif.
"Seif taking the parlay of Hansen, Benyamine and Antonius is pure folly," Lederer said. "Hansen and Antonius figure to play about five events each. I know they are good, but not good enough to overcome such a light schedule. Benyamine may play mostly cash games now that he has a bracelet. It must be that they are European, because these guys don't care about winning bracelets like the comparable Americans.
"Strangely, the one guy I'm concerned about on my team is [Nick] Schulman. He is a great all-around player, but he could get distracted by cash games. I am always cautious with younger players. They seem to not feel the same pressure to win bracelets like older players. I guess when you're 25, you feel like you have plenty of time left to win your share."
Three bracelets, please (Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com): After finishing at the bottom of the standings last year, I felt I needed to employ a different strategy this time around. My first pick was rather bold in Grospellier. He has been crushing during the past year, and given his recent dedication to playing a ton of events, I felt this was a safer pick. However, my second pick was my favorite in Lindgren. After his player of the year efforts in 2008, he was a great pick in the second round, as many in the league believed he should've went much earlier. The rest of the roster is full of players who will be active in the majority of events. Justin Bonomo, Jonathan Little and Hevad Khan are ready for their first bracelets, Mark Seif promised me he'd cash once or twice and I have a good feeling about Gavin Griffin and Nam Le.
Team Iwannapress (Mark Seif, professional poker player): Seif employed a very similar strategy to his championship run last year. In fact, he has almost the exact same term. Seif went out on a limb taking Antonius (as many are unsure how many tournaments he'll play), but he remains extremely confident that he'll go back-to-back and win his second fantasy poker title.
From an e-mail Seif sent to the league:
"This team is a lock unless:
1. Howard takes a dive to win $10,000 from me. :))
2. Gus Hansen does not show up for the series because he is winning too much online.
3. David Benyamine does not show up for the series because he is losing too much online.
4. Patrik Antonius -- not sure, but there was a comment made I did not hear regarding his (hope he's OK) being a bad pick.
5. Tony G. fails to fix the events by virtue of his 10,000 reporters/spies on hand.
6. Ivey wins 3 events.
7. Chris Bjorn cashes in 10 events.
8. Eli Elezra wins an event.
9. Hellmuth wins two bracelets in the $1,000 buy-ins.
10. Cunningham wins the main event
11. I win an event, Lindgren comes in second, Hevad Khan comes in third and Justin Bonomo comes in fourth."
BluffMagazine.com's Final Table Mafia (Lance Bradley, Bluff): Lance is very happy with his team, and quite honestly, he has good reason. Erik Seidel's eight WSOP bracelets rank him fifth overall, and his $3.9 million in 53 WSOP cashes make him a valuable asset to any team. Mike Matusow and Amnon Filippi are solid selections, but perhaps his best one was Brett Richey, who absolutely crushed the PokerStars SCOOP tournament earlier this year and earned the title of most valuable player. Bradley's last pick of Matt Brady received the largest reaction, as many were holding out on this potential sleeper.
"I had 88 players ranked 1-88 for the draft, and my first five picks were in my top 21, so I'm pretty happy," Bradley said. "My final two picks, Brett Richey and Matt Brady, are steals in my opinion. I contemplated taking Richey much higher but held on, hoping he'd fall to me in the seventh round. Matusow, Seidel, [Jeff] Madsen and Amnon all play mixed games well, and [Scott] Clements and [Marty] Smyth are consistent performers."
Wicked Chops Poker/RawVegas.tv (Chops Preiss, look at his team name): As always, Chops is welcome in any fantasy poker draft, as his priorities are often confused. Picking his favorite players based on his posts on Wicked Chops Poker might not have been the best strategy, but he still ended up with an impressive roster of WSOP veterans.
AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta
Doyle Brunson was eliminated during the third level of Day 1B.
"I went with the WCP All-Stars," Chops said. "I was bummed that our new Official Pick to Win It went off the board so early, but the rest of the team is filled with guys whose names we obsess over [like J.C. Tran], red-headed players and women. I have no thoughts on anyone else's team, as I was barely paying attention to the draft."
Fordman (Dennis Phillips, professional poker player): The jokes started before the draft even began when Joe McGowan showed up to make Phillips' picks. You might remember how McGowan was Phillips' poker coach, and now it seems that Phillips will trust McGowan to do just about anything. That said, he gave McGowan only a short notice that he'd be drafting. The team turned out pretty well, but there are some question marks heading into action. I love the first-round pick of Michael Binger, who has dominated the past two years. He's hungry for a WSOP bracelet and probably will play every event possible until he gets there. Scotty Nguyen's $4 million bet also will heavily stress that Scotty is here to play in 2009. After those two, Bill Edler has had only one cash since 2007, Brandon Cantu is hit-or-miss and Doyle Brunson doesn't play all the events. (I'm not knocking the legend, just the schedule.) I liked Dario Minieri with his last pick, as well as Carlos Mortensen and Nenad Medic, but all in all, there are still too many holes at this point to see Phillips' team winning.
The tournament begins on Wednesday, and I'll update the standings as the action progresses.
Scoring system:
1 point for making the money
2 points for making the top 50
5 points for making the top 20
10 points for the final table, then:
1 additional point for ninth
2 additional points for eighth
4 additional points for seventh
6 additional points for sixth
10 additional points for fifth
15 additional points for fourth
20 additional points for third
30 additional points for second
40 additional points for first
Double points will be awarded for all events with buy-ins of $10,000 or more.
Poker
