Now that the World Series of Poker 2012 is complete and everyone is eagerly awaiting the November 9 final table it is a great opportunity to take the time and look back at the biggest and coolest events of this year's WSOP.
The biggest Event
This year's WSOP saw the biggest poker event ever - which was held for a good cause. The Big One for One Drop was created by Cirque du Soleil founder. A total of 48 players put the insane buy-in of one million dollars on the table in support of the charity organization One Drop and in the hope of winning the biggest poker cash prize in history. Esfandiari, Unicorn, Hellmuth, Yong, Trickett and Baldwin reached the final table of the mega event. The heads-up took place between Sam Trickett and Antonio Esfandiari and was probably the most exciting duel by far in this year’s WSOP. In the end, Esfandiari triumphed, winning more than 18 million dollars - a sum that catapulted him to the forefront of all leaderboards. Sam Trickett won a staggering $ 10 million - but his joy didn’t last. On the evening of the tournament, he was attacked outside a club by several unknown attackers and badly beaten. He is now better and we all hope to meet him again at the poker table.
The biggest winner
The new player of the year is Greg Merson. The online poker player had never won more than $ 22,000 in a live poker tournament up to this year's WSOP (and even then only once). He is now at the forefront of this year's World Series of Poker. You could meet him at the final table of event 28, where he won $ 1,136,197 and in Event 57 where he won a bracelet, and now he is positioned third at the Main Event final table chip count. He came as a nobody and is now player of the year. The main event will bring him a minimum of 2 million dollars and a max of $ 7.7 million if he wins the November 9 final table.
The big losers
With the exception of Phil Hellmuth, who has done it again and expanded his bracelets record to a staggering 12, the biggest names in poker haven’t been showered with glory and honor in this year’s WSOP. There are no real famous players sitting at the final table of this year’s main Event, and the majority of the bracelets of the other events also went home with unknown players. Ups and Downs are a known fact in every game, but the absence of big names in the winners' list of this year’s tournament is amazing. On the other hand, we also witness the rise of new heroes and top poker players - the names of Esfandiari and Merson will certainly emerge frequently in the poker scene, even long after the World Series ends.
