WSOP: Top Poker Pros in $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball World Championship Final
June 11th, 2010
The rail of the 2-7 Draw World Championship is packed with poker fans.
Event #22 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship, may have drawn one of the smaller fields of any event held so far with just 101 entries, but there’s some serious railbird action going on thanks to the quality of the participants at the two tables that remain as Day 3 begins here at the Rio.
Some big-name poker pros remain in contention, though most of them are at the bottom of the chip counts. Andy Bloch (146,000), Daniel Negreanu (223,000) and John Juanda (225,000) are bringing up the rear of the 10-man pack. Bloch is seeking his first career bracelet after several second-place finishes, most notably to Chip Reese in the 2006 $50,000 HORSE, while Negreanu and Juanda are both seeking their fifth career WSOP wins. If Juanda can advance to the last seven, he will be making his third final table appearance this year already.
Meanwhile Erik Seidel (280,000) sits squarely in the middle of the pack as he chases his ninth career World Series of Poker bracelet, which would tie him with poker legend Johnny Moss for fourth place all-time. Seidel’s fourth career bracelet came in deuce-to-seven way back in 1998, when he defeated a field of just 26 players to claim the $132,750 top prize. He also won his eighth bracelet and $538,835 in the Deuce-to-Seven World Championship back in the 2007 WSOP, and cashed in this year’s Event #14, $1,500 Deuce-to Seven Draw Lowball.
All of these top pros will have a tough road ahead of them as the players occupying the top spots aren’t exactly slouches. Chip leader David Baker is appearing at his second final table of this WSOP, seeking to improve on his 6th-place finish in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. Online pro and EPT regular George Danzer, who has scored big cashes in the last year playing shorthanded Pot-Limit Omaha and Badugi, will be looking to win Germany’s first bracelet of 2010. And former pro hockey player Eric Cloutier is guaranteed his highest-ever finish in a WSOP event, and if he can finish in 6th place or higher his cash will be the single largest of his five-year poker career.
With blinds starting at 4,000/8,000 and antes of 2,000 there is a fair bit of play for the shortest stacks, so this event could go for a while. But with a no-limit betting structure, it could also end on hte early side. One thing is for sure – there are no soft spots in the lineup, so whoever claims the bracelet at the end of the night will be a deserving winner.
