Phil Hellmuth the favorite to win WSOP Champions Invitational

• Author: Qid
• Filed under: High Stakes News, Jamie Gold, Peter Eastgate, Phil Hellmuth, Poker, Uncategorized, WSOP
• Date: May 25,2009

A total of 34 players have won the WSOP Main Event, but some of them have already passed away, including three-time winners Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar. Only living champion who has indicated that he will not play the event is 1978 champ Bobby Baldwin.

Poker Brat is the favorite of the tournament of champions.

Hellmuth has smallest odds for winning the tournament, 9:1. A strong group of former champions all have 23:2 odds. The 2005 champ Joe Hachem, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 1998 world champion and reigning HORSE champion Scotty Nguyen, 1996 Main Event champion and 2009 Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 1995 WSOP Main Event victor Dan Harrington and 10-time bracelet winners Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.

Reigning champion Peter Eastgate has 13:1 odds, even though he feels like he should be the favorite:

“I should be one of the strongest [players] as I have emerged from the second biggest field,” he said. “However, you can’t disregard the champions like Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and Phil Hellmuth, who have proven to stay on top ever since they won their championships.”

The winner of the biggest ever WSOP Main Event, Jamie Gold, who has 15:1 odds for winning the tournament, is also excited about the tournament:

“There is a 40-year history of excitement and prestige surrounding the WSOP,” he said. “This event will celebrate all of it and give us a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete with each other. We’re going to have a great time.”

The least favorite of bettors with 65:1 odds is Russ Hamilton, the 1994 Main Event Champion and the main suspect of the super user cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet. Though, it is fairly easy to predict that Hamilton will not participate in the tournament, as he has lost pretty much all the respect of the poker community.

The winner of the tournament will not win money or a bracelet, but he will take home a commemorative trophy named in honor of the Series-founding Binion family as well as a restored 1970 Corvette.

Sources: pokernewsdaily, pokerlistings