Battle of the World Record Fields - PokerStars and Full Tilt go to war

PokerStars broke the world record on 28th Dec 2008, with a field of 35,000 players for a $11 buy-in event.  Stan34powa won that event.

Now things are really heating up with both PokerStars and Full Tilt looking to break that record.

On Sun July 19th at 15:05 ET Full Tilt have a $5 tourney which they have added $250K to.  This is an official world record attempt, and a part of their 5th year birthday celebrations.

Not to be outdone though, PokerStars have loaded up a $1 tourney on the same day (starting at 14:10 ET) to no doubt try to crush the Full tilt record attempt, not even letting Full Tilt hold it for any length of time by starting their tournament earlier.

In preparation for the attempt Pokerstars did a $1000 Freeroll on 16th July 2009, which got 61,259 entrants, and was won by azeitegalo. Things dont seem to bode well for Full Tilt’s successes.

Remember Sunday 19th July is the day, good luck

Poker Hall of Famers

Johnny Moss
Nick Dandolos (Nick the Greek)
Felton McCorquodale
Red Winn
Sid Wyman
James Butler Hickok
Edmond Hoyle
Blondie Forbes
Bill Boyd
Tom Abdo
Joe Bernstein
Murph Harrold
Red Hodges
Henry Green
Walter “Puggy” Pearson
Doyle Brunson
Jack Strauss
Fred Ferris
Benny Binion
David “Chip” Reese
Amarillo Slim Preston
Jack Keller
Julius Popwell
Roger Moore
Stu Ungar
Lyle Berman
Johnny Chan
Bobby Baldwin
Berry Johnston
Jack Binion
Crandell Addington
TJ Cloutier
Billy Baxter
Barbara Enright
Phil Hellmuth
Dewey Tomko
Henry Orenstein

2009 Nominees

Barry Greenstein
Dan Harrington
Tom McEvoy
Men Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Daniel Negreanu
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton
Phil Ivey
Tom Dwan

Tom Dwan obviously has no chance (too new), and Phil Ivey very little chance (too young). The favorite might possible be Erik Seidel due to his number of WSOP bracelets (8), the highest number of anyone not already in the Poker Hall of Fame. Scotty could also be up there as he’s won the Main Event and the 50K HORSE, but more likely rivals to Seidel are the older guys like McEvoy and Harrington who have been influencial on the poker scene for a very long time.

The 2009 WSOP has definately been the series of multiple bracelets

Phil Ivey got 2
Jeff Lisandro got 3!
Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller got 2
and
Brock ‘t soprano’ Parker got 2

Jeff Lisandro has quite rightly been awarded as player of the series with his bracelets in Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Razz, and even a deep run in the main event itself.

I think it is great testament to the fact that they are getting the structures correct. It isnt the lottery than some suggest, and the best players are getting through the fields to the final tables, and the bracelets. Obv a little luck helps, but essentially they’re hitting the nail on the head with the format