National Heads-Up Poker Championship Players Set

[New2NL]

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15th on the all time womens money list. 580k in winnings, final tabled the WCOOP HORSE event. I can't wait til I have an awful two years!

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It appears she's played a ton of tournaments starting in late 2004. 580k, once you subtract buyins over that time period, isn't that much. I would guess she only made in the 10s of thousands, and wouldn't be surprised if she broke even/lost money.

15th on all time women's list is just a testament to how few good/successful female tournament players there are. Wow, final tabled WCOOP horse event!!!!!

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It takes an estimated 400K to play 1 year on the tour. She has played more than 2 full years. Her results are not good. She is a losing player in tournaments. She doesn't play well enough to deserve free buy ins and everything she has.

[olivert]

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15th on the all time womens money list. 580k in winnings, final tabled the WCOOP HORSE event. I can't wait til I have an awful two years!

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It appears she's played a ton of tournaments starting in late 2004. 580k, once you subtract buyins over that time period, isn't that much. I would guess she only made in the 10s of thousands, and wouldn't be surprised if she broke even/lost money.

15th on all time women's list is just a testament to how few good/successful female tournament players there are. Wow, final tabled WCOOP horse event!!!!!

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It takes an estimated 400K to play 1 year on the tour. She has played more than 2 full years. Her results are not good. She is a losing player in tournaments. She doesn't play well enough to deserve free buy ins and everything she has.

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Mercier does NOT play the full tour.

She plays a handful of WPT, WSOP, and EPT events.

PokerStars used her to market in French-speaking Canada and France.

With France now cracking down HARD on offshore online gaming including online poker (in order to protect state-run online gaming monopolies), Mercier's value to PokerStars has obviously diminished.

Going forward, look for sites to sign players to target specific emerging poker markets.

The two hot emerging poker markets for 2007 will be Italy and Spain.

That means the likes of Luca Pagano and Juan Carlos Mortensen are much more valuable to online poker entities than the likes of "sbrugby" or "shaniac".

[freekobe]

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Rene Angelil
Don Cheadle
Shannon Elizabeth
Clonie Gowen
Tuan Le
Isabelle Mercier
Vanessa Russo
Shawn Sheikhan
Jennifer Tilly


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This is why this is in no way shape or form a national championship. This field is lamer than the celebrity pro/am equalizer.

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Is it the caliber of the players or the way they got there that bothers you?

[GeniusToad]

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Rene Angelil
Don Cheadle
Shannon Elizabeth
Clonie Gowen
Tuan Le
Isabelle Mercier
Vanessa Russo
Shawn Sheikhan
Jennifer Tilly


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This is why this is in no way shape or form a national championship. This field is lamer than the celebrity pro/am equalizer.

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Is it the caliber of the players or the way they got there that bothers you?

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both?

i'd pass on russo and elizabeth before mercier. she's hotter and plays better. hell, if they can justify some of the above names, why not jennicide too?

[J.C. Gloves]

This thing is always a debate to who should/shouldn't be invited. Why don't they blow the thing up to 128 players so any "name" who wants to plop down the 20 grand can literally prove it.

@ least w/ 128 they can make first place $1 million. Still can't believe this thing is only 500k for first. Hmm, maybe there can be more satellite qualifiers or (dare i say) even more "celebs" in the field.

Toss this 1 around.

[ActionFreak]

you guys act like NBC doesn't have to worry about ratings. of course they are not trying to pick the 64 best HU NLHE players in the world to compete in this thing. there would be no celebrities, no women, a handfull of known pros, and the rest would be online guys that nobody has ever heard of

[stereoman]

As much as it's a made-for-TV tournament, one assumes once the 'prestige' sets in after a few years and the organisers are more confident that more poker players get higher public profiles, it'll probably become less of a World Cup and more of a truly 'Best of the Best'/meritocratic type of event.

We'll probably see something like that when the event becomes live (HA! That'll be fun!).

OT: Was listening to Rounders on Sunday and I'm wondering...do the celebrities have to pony up the $20k!? One assumes they don't.

[Daniel Negreanu]

I'd actually like to see it go to 128 also. There would still be questionable entrants and disses, but there would be fewer. Lots of great, accomplished players get snubbed for the NBC event. For example, Freddie Bonyadi, just to name one, is a player that regularly plays heads up online and cash, has three bracelelts, and has final tabled several WPT events. It doesn't look like he was even considered, but obviously I don't know that for sure.

As for some of the better online players... they'll get their chance. It's difficult to come up with 64 players for such an event, especially if they have no knowledge of, or have never seem some of these guys play.

If they do well in a live tournament setting, though, that would increase the chances of them getting in, a la Nam Le, Tuan Le.

[Bet-and-win88]

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Isabelle Mercier

Am I the only one who doesnt get why this girl is pokerstars rep, gets into every event, she hasnt earned any of it. there are so many better players more deserving of less than this girl gets. She is terrible

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If you think Mercier is the only bad poker"star":
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/play...=r&n=59007

[grdred944]

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Rene Angelil
Don Cheadle
Shannon Elizabeth
Clonie Gowen
Tuan Le
Isabelle Mercier
Vanessa Russo
Shawn Sheikhan
Jennifer Tilly


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This is why this is in no way shape or form a national championship. This field is lamer than the celebrity pro/am equalizer.

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Is it the caliber of the players or the way they got there that bothers you?

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Good question. I have no problem with made for TV events. I've worked in media and fully appreciate how both star power and connections alter events. My problem with this event is how the poker media treats it like it is somehow a major tournament. If it is truly a national championship then do more than just have a tournament at Caesars to fill one token slot. Have qualifiers at other Harrah's properties (same time as circuit events?) and make it a true championship. As it stands now, a producer, Harrah's and FT decide who gets to play. That is fine for a made for TV event but not for something that the media claims is a national championship.