World Series of Poker 2010 Tournament of Champions Field Set
The Tournament of Champions will be played out as part of the 2010 World Series of Poker on Sunday, June 27.
For the first time in WSOP Tournament of Champions history, poker fans voted on which players deserved the sole 20 slots in this exclusive freeroll and at the top of the list was, predictably, Phil Ivey of Team FullTilt, widely considered poker’s finest pro. Ivey garnered over 1,600 votes. Right behind him, literally–by only 28 votes–also with over 16,000 votes is Kid Poker, Daniel Negreanu of Team PokerStars. Rounding out the top 5 are Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Chris Ferguson.
Beyond the 20 players voted in by fans, 7 additional slots were already filled by players automatically seeded into the event, namely: 2004 Tournament of Champions winner Annie Duke, 2005 ToC winner Mike Matusow, 2006 ToC winner Mike Sexton, 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada, 2009 WSOPE (WSOP Europe) winner Berry Shulman, WSOP Academy Playoff winner Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and WSOP UK Online Quaifier Andrew Barton.
In all, there were over 355,000 votes cast for the exclusive field competing for a $1 million prize purse. Fan voting whittled down the starting field of over 500 WSOP bracelet holders. The Tournament of Champions will be held at the site of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Play will continue on Monday, June 28 with the players who don’t bust out or finish 4 one-hour levels. Then, after 4 more levels, play will cease, resuming on July 4 with the final table.
