2010 World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions Voting Announced
After months of hype and anticipation, the first-ever fan-voted World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions field is set. Over 350,000 ballots were submitted, and the voting was led by none other than Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu, who were separated by less than 30 votes.
Also in the top ten are Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Johnny Chan Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein and John Juanda. Voting has been open since March 15, and the 20 players voted in today to play in the million-dollar freeroll will join Joe Cada, Annie Duke, Mike Sexton, Mike Matusow and Barry Shulman who were the five automatic bids, in addition to Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Andrew Barton, who are both sponsor exemptions.
“We’re very pleased with the response to this new format,” said WSOP vice president Ty Stewart. “The selections show that poker has a mass fan base that is knowledgeable about the history of the World Series of Poker.”
The tournament of champions gets underway at 12 p.m. on June 27 and will play down to a final table on June 28. The final table will get underway on July 4, and fans can watch it all play out when it's televised on ESPN at 8 p.m. EST, on August 3.
Here is a complete list of those who were voted in and the number of votes they received.
1. Phil Ivey - 16,267
2. Daniel Negreanu - 16,239
3. Doyle Brunson - 13,796
4. Phil Hellmuth - 12,673
5. Chris Ferguson - 11,585
6. Allen Cunningham - 10,486
7. Johnny Chan - 10,434
8. Scotty Nguyen - 9,834
9. Barry Greenstein - 9,806
10. John Juanda - 8,835
11. Erik Seidel - 8,802
12. Jennifer Harman - 8,206
13. Huck Seed - 8,180
14. Dan Harrington - 7,342
15. T.J. Cloutier - 6,281
16. Sammy Farha - 6,085
17. Howard Lederer - 5,596
18. Greg Raymer - 5,404
19. Joe Hachem - 5,272
20. Antonio Esfandiari - 5,129
If reading about it isn't enough, Lynn Gilmartin announces the 20 nominated players:
PokerNews will be on hand for the Tournament of Champions, bringing you live updates, chip counts, videos and photos directly from the floor. Be sure to check it out in our WSOP live reporting pages.
