Let's be honest, there are WSOP officials on their knees every morning praying that at least one BIG name player makes it to the November final table. Nevermind what they say in public, ESPN programmers are burning incense and killing chickens hoping that someone everyone knows makes it to the final nine.
I heard a veteran poker writer say the other day that if a big name pro gets as close as Scotty Nguyen did last year, they would drag him away from the table so he can't donk off his chips and miss the monster TV event.
So who is still around to fulfill this fantasy?
Dag Martin Mikkelsen 931000
Alexander Kostritsyn 887000
Matt Matros 822500
Jon Turner 726500
Shawn Sheikhan 724000
Brandon Cantu 710000
Jeff Kimber 632500
Phil Hellmuth 475000
Victor Ramdin 471000
Mark Vos 468000
Hoyt Corkins 439500
Mike Matusow 438500
Evelyn Ng 414500
Thayer Rasmussen 394000
Allen Cunningham 386500
Gus Hansen 355000
Jeff Madsen 349000
Hevad Khan 338500
Alex Outhred 326000
Hasan Habib 326000
Chip Jett 318500
Thomas Keller 294000
Johnny Chan 252000
Kido Pham 228500
Ben Roberts 200450
Bertrand Grospellier 181500
Thierry van den Berg 170500
Kirill Gerasimov 146500
Dave Colclough 140000
Robert Mizrachi 138000
Jean-Robert Bellande 124500
Steve Billirakis 124000
Jason Lester 100000
Mike Wattel 89000
Cliff Josephy 59000
OK, I skipped a couple of potential "stars" and I gave Hevad Khan a bold he may not deserve. But you know that the prayers all begin with: "Please Lord, Phil or Mikey or Gus..."
