The Advantage of being Unknown at the WSOP

The advantages of being a poker superstar are obvious: you get huge sponsorships deals from poker rooms and industry-related companies, you get recognized everywhere you go by the fans, and you make unbelievable amounts of cash even when you’re away from the poker table.  However, there is an obvious downside to being a famous poker player too – especially at the WSOP!

When you’re famous, other players like to gun for you at the tables meaning they’ll challenge better players a greater percentage of the time than they would challenge fellow unknowns.  And when an unknown knocks out a poker superstar, it’s almost a feeling of, “Yeah!!  I knocked this major pro out and everyone saw it!!”  At some points, there are players who care less about their overall tournament finish rather than about the pro they just knocked out.

And, in regards to the Main Event, it doesn’t help the fact that there are only about 250 players who are considered top pros playing against a field of around 6,300 non-top pros.  Considering the sheer numbers disadvantage, it seems highly unlikely that we’ll see a top pro win the Main Event for quite some time.

This also brings up the argument of what exactly is a top pro.  As defined by the media, top pros are people who’ve been playing for a while, and have become household names like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth.  Really though, there skill level is not that much higher than many of the online grinders who’ve been jumping in live tournaments as well to practice up for the WSOP.  Last year’s WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate definitely showed what an online grinder can do.

As we sit now with two days down at the Main event, Ivey is 6th in chips while Hellmuth has a decent-sized stack as well showing that some top pros still have a chance.  However, we’ll have to see where they stand when everything is said and done.