The Year of the Professional …and Jennifer Tilly

Like every other World Series of Poker event that is setting a record, the ladies $1,000 no-limit hold'em championship had many more players than in past years. Last year, 201 ladies played, and this year, there were 601.

The crowd favorite won. She is both an actress (Seed of Chucky) and spends her spare time being the girlfriend of Phil Laak. Congrats to Jennifer Tilly for getting through the large field and winning the gold bracelet and more than $156,000 in the process.

These days, people talk about the fact that there are too many players and it is impossible to get through the continually growing fields. Even though this may be true to a point, there is still hope for the professionals, even though they are outnumbered. Every time I look, there are about 20 players left in an event and I recognize only a few names.

Here are the winners of the last few events, and note that they are recognizable name players:

Mark Seif won two bracelets in a week ($1,000 limit hold'em shootout and $1,500 no-limit hold'em).
Barry Greenstein and Josh Arieh won the pot-limit Omaha events.
Todd Brunson won his first bracelet ($2,500 Omaha eight-or-better).
Freddy Bonyadi won the $2,500 no-limit hold'em event.
T.J. Cloutier won the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event.

Professional players are still the best at knowing how to play the final tables – or maybe they are just lucky. If you read the last issue, you know that Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, and Doyle Brunson all had nine bracelets (World Series of Poker wins). Johnny decided to play in the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em event. As if it were just like another stroll in the park, he won and received his 10th bracelet. Good job on being the first to 10, Johnny.

So far, three people have cashed at least five times. Both Marco Traniello and Steve Zolotow have five cashes, and Tony Cousineau has six. Both Minh Nguyen and Allen Cunningham have been to three final tables.

Bellagio recently announced that it will host a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament on July 18. The event will accommodate 300 players plus alternates. All players will start with $20,000 in chips. You've got to love the amount of play that Bellagio gives you.