The Twenty Players Most Likely To Win The Main Event

This exercise is growing more and more pointless each year as no limit tournament experts continue to emerge. There are hundreds of players now playing the game at an elite level. Still, this is one of my favorite posts to write each year, if for no reason other than monitoring who's hot.

20. Daniel Negreanu
Ice cold until a deep run in the 25k 6-max.

19. Eric Baldwin
A master of pace and tournament strategy.

18. Dwyte Pilgrim
One of the best weak-field players in the game.

17. Phil Hellmuth
Six WSOP Main Event cashes since 1995.

16. Elky Grospellier
Seven live six-figure scores over the last thirty months including four over $400k, plus back-to-back main event cashes.

15. Erick Lindgren
Nothing to add here; I am playing day 1c on Wednesday.

14. Jason Somerville
Quietly piecing together a monster year, piling up six-figure scores.

13. Thomas Marchese
The sort of guy that could make it into the money without turning over a hand.

12. Faraz Jaka
Could easily be higher on this list, but may be too wild for an eight day event.

11. Chris Moore
The most consistent big buy-in player in the game today.

10. Brandon Cantu
Perhaps the best big stack player in the game.

9. Dan Kelly
SamENole said he was rooting for djk to win the 25k six-max, "so he wouldn't play online poker anymore."

8. Jason Mercier
Nine six-figure scores in the last 27 months.

7. Shawn Buchanan
Always seems to be there at the end. Eight WSOP cashes this year.

6. John Juanda
The original preflop master.

5. Scotty Nguyen
The best tight player in the game.

4. J.C. Tran
No longer grinding live tournaments 24/7, but still one of the best.

3. Gus Hansen
Another guy who isn't traveling the circuit like he used to, but his results speak for themselves.

2. Carlos Mortensen
Always one step ahead, Carlos knows what you are thinking before you think it.

1. Phil Ivey
Now undisputed as the best.