Which 9 players would be the toughest WSOP final table?

For the exception of myself, the following players are my choices:

1. - Tom "Durr" Dwan - This man needs no introduction a.k.a. "The Internet Monster". Perhaps the largest cash game player online. He has the tendency to play over 70% of his hands. Tom has proven to make the big bet bluff with absolutely nothing. Truly a force to be wreckin with on this table.
2. - David Williams - Runner up to Greg "Fossil Man" Raymer in the 2004 WSOP Main event and a member of the "The Crew". An over aggressive, high pressure player. Loves his late position, small ball play and utilizes it well.
3. - Gavin Griffin - This is my pick to be one of Tom "Dur" Dwan's 10 biggest nightmares. Yet anoher fearless young of players, his level/style of play reflects Dur's.
4. - Scott Fischman - another over aggressive player, member of the "The Crew" Former poker dealer ,he's seen players make moves on poker tables and utilizes his reading skill to do the same. Next to Tom Dwan, he's my prominent pick as hardest to read.
5. - Alex Jacob - I see this player as another reflection of Tom Dwan. Unfortunately he hasn't been seen as of lately on the big scene, however if you've seen his previous appearances, you wopuld justify my reason for his rank among these players.
6. - Bertrand " Elky " Grospellier - a high stakes online heads up player. This man has showed the world his incredible level of tournmamant play. HE can definitely run with the best on this planet. I personally would like to see a heads up cash game with him and Tommy Dwan.
7. - Annette " Annette15 " Obrestad - dubbed the next "Queen of Poker ", she is not doubt the youngest and most expierienced player in the world. Started playing inline @ the age of 15 under her brothers account. Annette has captured the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event title. I can't waqit to see her in Vegas WSOP.
8. - Jon " PearlJammer " Turner - a top ranked online tournament specialist, has a proven online track record. Usually multi screens high buy in tournys. His tight/agressive style builds to huge pots taken down by the man. More than likely the next big name in TV play.

This thread is open to all players of this forum. Not only do I request your player list, but please elaborate as to details for your choice.

Guys like Dwan either baffle or annoy me. I'm not sure.

He can play 70%+ of hands, push in huge bets with absurdly dumb hands, and people call it genius.

Anyone else does that and they call them "Donks".

Oh, and I wish he'd learn how to throw chips into a pot. Watched him on PAD a couple times and I felt bad for the dealer having to stretch to reach his chips because he'd just drop them like an inch from the rest of his stack when making a bet. ><

Durr has done nothing at any live tourneys...he is only good cash game player

That means he would be easy to play against?

No, just that he doesn't bother entering many - if he put his mind to it I'm sure he'd be a long way from easy to play against.

As for my list, if we're talking NLHE then my list would be:

Phil Hellmuth - one of the best NLHE donkament players in the world. Period. Plus he tries extra hard in WSOP events.

Chris Ferguson - exceptional tournament player, and nigh impossible to read to boot.

Phil Ivey - because if he's made it to the final table he's probably got half a million plus in side bets riding on the outcome and this year's proved that he's motivated as hell when that's the case.

Daniel Negreanu - for much the same reasons as Ivey really.

Justin Bonomo - talented, aggressive and hard to read.

Mike Matusow - on the proviso that he's on his game and properly medicated.

Michael Binger - because he's a tournament cashing machine.

David Singer - because nits are people too, and some of them do really well at tournaments.

Ivan Demidov - because he seems motivated right now.

Honourable mentions to Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Scott Fischman and ElkY. Different list if we're talking stud, LOLmaha, mixed games or heads up.

Phil Helmuth
Phil Ivey
Doyle Brunson
Daniel N
Chris Fergison
TJ
Joe Hatcham
Mike the mouth
Devilfish

Quite the contrary, you're wrong. " Dur " made a WPT final table in the past. My guess would be the tournament time frame consumes way too much time to earn $125,000.00 - $1,300,000.00 . He earns this much cash live in 2 days as oppose to getting ousted in the first day of the tourny.

You neglected to mention why the choice of players qualify. Remember this, the moderators are reading your posts. Make the most of each one. This will drastically improve your post count statistics. Thank you.

^Not this.....there's a difference between who you're calling "donks" and Dwan. Yes, he's uber-aggressive; that's not inherently donkish I don't want to get into a huge defend Durrrrr fanboy post however.

1. Daniel Negreanu- Plays a wide array of hands and plays them well post-flop. Hard to read
2. Chris Ferguson- Impossible to read, mostly because he maintains uniform betting and raising.
3. Andy Bloch- Very analytical player, engineering degree from MIT, just a brilliant player in all disciplines of the game.
4. Howard Lederer- Master of leverage, goes beyond the pot odds.
5. Ivan Demidov- Very aggressive and makes great reads against everyone but Peter Eastgate.
6. Peter Eastgate- If he can beat Ivan Demidov heads up, he deserves to be on this list.
7. Johnny Chan- Always seems to know where he is in a hand and when he's beat.
8. Mike Carroll- The best player most people have never heard of.
9. Gavin Smith- Really on his game since he cut back on his drinking.

Runner-up: Barry Greenstein

Hmm I'll go with...

Tom Dwan- Internet Phenom
Phil Helmuth- Amazing NLHE Tournament Player
Phil Ivey- Perhaps the best player in the world
Chris Ferguson- Fantastic Tournament Strategist
Ivan Demidov- Seems to be killing recently
Doyal Brunson- The Legend
Johnny Chan- Won the ME back to back
Barry Greenstein- Really impresses me everytime i see him

Peter Eastgate didn't actually beat Ivan Demidov, he out drew him in the final hand dealt. You may want to seriously reconsider your evaluation of Eastgate's WSOP 2008 Title. Watch the final table archives again.

The OP's list is more like who would make the toughest FTOPS final table.
They're almost all internet players.
I agree with most of the responses for toughest WSOP final table.

Peter Eastgate does not deserve to be in the top 9 list by any means :P

I assume we mean live/current players, since that's what everyone's answering with?

Better yet, I have it on my DVR. Here is how it went down:
Eastgate (120,425,000): Post SB (500k)
Demidov (16,450,000): Post BB (1m)

Dealt to Eastgate: Ad 5s
Dealt to Demidov: 4h 2h

Eastgate: calls 500k
Demidov: checks

flop: (2d Ks 3h)
Demidov: check
Eastgate: Bet 1.25m
Demidov: Calls 1.25m

Turn: (2d Ks 3h) 4c
Demidov: Check
Eastgate: Bet 2m
Demidov: Raise 4m to 6m
Eastgate: Calls 4m

River: (2d Ks 3h 4c) 7c
Demidov: All-in for 8.05m
Eastgate: Call

Eastgate wins with straight Ace to 5.

You make it sound like it was a big draw, but he was 38% to win after the flop and it was checked to him when he had 7x Demidov's stack. Demidov just flat called with bottom pair. I think Eastgate played extremely well. After Eastgate knocked out Dennis Phillips he had 83m against Demidov's 53m. If you've watched High Stakes Poker on GSN, you may agree that Eastgate has performed quite well against other established pros. I'm not saying Eastgate is the best, or even better than any of the other 8 I listed. But, as last year's Main Event winner, I think he at least deserves an invitation to this fictional table.

Don't forget Jerry Yang

Maybe throw a Jaime Gold in there for lulz

Posting a hand where Eastgate already had an 8:1 chip lead is kind of pointless. He was such a huge favorite at that point that Demidov was going to have to get lucky. Still Demidov getting 2nd and 3rd in both WSOP main events was amazing.

I'm really surprised that no one mentioned Kenny Tran, Tony G, or John Juanda. Tran has made some of the grossest reads/calls I have ever seen, Tony G plows through with Lithuanian "POWER!", and Juanda is underrated by the mainstream poker viewing community.

John Juanda isn't very good, actually. Oh wait, what were you saying about him?

2002 $1,500 Triple Draw Lowball Ace to Five-$49,620
2003 $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split-$130,200
2003 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha-$203,840
2008 WSOPE £10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event-$1,539,250


4 bracelets, 48 money finishes in the WSOP, live tournament winnings exceeding $9,600,000 (including the 3+ million from WSOP cashes), and he's "not very good"? I suggest you research a player before you are so quick and ignorant to criticize an accomplished poker professional.

I was joking with you

durr plays way too loose for tournament poker. His style you can only get away with in cash games. In a real tourney you have to be tight. Ofc real poker is only cash games though . No bluffs really in tourneys, except stealing blinds.

My nine person final table would be as follows

1.Howard Lederer There is not a better technician in the game

2. Phil Ivey The silent killer just love his stlye

3.Doyle Brunson The legend nuff said he should just go staight to every final table

4.Gus Hansen The wild card the guy can play 72os and make it seem like the thing to do

5.Chris Ferguson Can you spell discipline look it up his picture is there

6.Daniel Negreanu Sometimes I belive he knows what cards your holding before their dealt

7.Jon Juanda Just a good steady player with no weaknesses

8.Johhny Chan Anyone with that many bracelets has to be there

9.Phil Helmuth He is a cariacture of himself but he holds the most bracelets

^Lol thats a very interesting list ldo. like seriously? Scott Fischman? Alex Jacob?? Gavin Griffin?? lol the most hilarious one is David Williams ldo, that guy just continues to piss me off.

heres mine

Seat 1Tom Dwan just ask durrr bout the mirron dollar swing concept
Seat 2Phil Galfond hes cool plus hes sik good.
Seat 3KRANTZ lol its krantz, one of the best nl players obv.
Seat 4Scott Seiver (mastrblastr) proteges now elite obv just look at matrblastr
Seat 5Phil Ivey hes ivey and hes pretty sick
Seat 6Zach Hall blingblangblaow so obvious. hes a steady eddy on table ratings ship it.
Seat 7Ariel Schneller FWF is pretty awesome. he freestyle raps, he has his own tv commercial.
Seat 8aaron jones uh its aejones. helloooooooo
Seat 9Slam Dunkin Vitaly Lunkin who wouldve thought someone thats a loser at halfstacking 200nl online would be so sick. lol

^i dont care what any of you say, this would be the sickest final table ever. and i do have a lot of reasons

but yeah i dunno why all you people are choosing nits and stuff. like they'd prob just end up playing god awful and making "sick laydowns" lol.

seriously? thatd be a dream FT not a tough one

I borrowed some summaries and edited etc., here is my distillation:

Phil Hellmuth - one of the best NLHE donkament players in the world. Period.

Tom Dwan - Internet Phenom; crazier than Gus (plays 70% of hands??).

Chris Ferguson - exceptional tournament player, hard to read, solid.

Phil Ivey - Unreadable and unbeatable when on a roll.

Doyle Brunson - Can still push those kids around. Amazing bluff power, and a real intuitive (gut) player who can assess players and situations; he has seen them all..

Daniel Negreanu - Can read minds and see through cards while telling jokes.

Johnny Chan - I like the smell of oranges.

Barry Greenstein - Table needs a rock.

Dan Harrington - Put another rock behind.

lol cant get better than this classic tv poker list.

2, maybe 3 people on this list would be worthy of the "toughest" wsop final table....

Actually, answered wrong. Tuff playahs sure, but it is actually a Dream Table. I will drop Greenstein or Harrington, and put myself in Seat 3 with Dwan to my right and Ferguson left. He he he.

Nobody's mentioned Allen Cunningham, but I think he is really one of the best players in the world. He's been absolutely amazing every time I've seen him play, and I think he's underrated because he doesn't do many interviews/TV shows. Opinions?

^Agreed. He's easy to forget, unfortunately.

Sounds like OP is packing some heat for durrr. His list includes his idol Tom Dwan and then everyone else is on the list cause they are either a reflection of Tom Dwan, almost as good as Tom Dwan, is going to be the next Tom Dwan, or could hopefully give Tom Dwan a run for his money. Tom Dwan

Have I said his name enough. And yes I do agrre he is an awesome player, but I think a final table would be tougher with a mix of players. I think it would be harder to play on a table with only 2 or 3 Dwan clones and not 8.

1, Allen Cunningham- This player should be on everyone's list! He has the ability to read into your soul.

2, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson- His ability to adapt to whatever comes gives him a huge advantage over any player.

3, Daniel Negreanu- I hate to put him on the list because he on everyone else's list but, there's a reason why he's on everyone's list...his overall game is Trump tight.

4, Scotty "the prince of poker" Nguyen- My favorite player period! He can push you off hands with amazing bluffs, can read you like a book given ample time and can really play "hollywood" to throw you off your reads. Plus, he is just damn entertaining to watch.

5, Phil Gordon- Phil has the ability to go under the radar which allows him to move up the pay ladder and amass huge stacks. He picks his spots very well only risking a sizeable bulk of his chips when the situation calls for it or if he has the "nuts". This allows him to steal the blinds whenever he wants. By the time you notice he's there...it's too late!

6, "Action" Dan Harrington- Quite simply, you need the "nuts" to send him home. I like him because his game is very similar to mine. He's a serious grinder who has the patience to wait out the grim reaper!

7, Paul Wasicka- A great solid player who can come at you from any angle with great success.

8, Huck Seed- Next to Allen Cunningham, these two players scare the crap out of me. Like Negreanu, Seed has the ability to disarm you at times when you really shouldn't. He then is able to read you with great accuracy and exploit your weaknesses. You might be able to beat him in a cash game before he gets a chance to read you but, in a tournment...you are a dead man.

9, Phil Hellmuth- Forget his annoying personality, what a second...YOU CAN'T. In addition to his overall game and record his personality really does give him a bit of an edge. Players are scared to play against him for numerous reasons. He will totally demean you in front of everyone, get you so pissed that you'll go on tilt or leave the table, distract you from the table by annoying someone else or play mind games by making everyone think he's on tilt by talking about how bad he's playing. All of these reason will cause one thing to happen which will help him win...alter your game. There's a reason why he holds the most WSOP wins!

1. Gus Hansen: makes it very hard for ANYONE at the FT, especially if you are out of position vs. him...

2. Barry Greenstein: probably THE best poker player on the planet, lol @ anyone calling him a "rock"

3. Eric Seidel: a fking ANIMAL who might have invented LAAAAGG

4. Phil Ivey: universally recognized as one (if not THE) best...

5. Johnny Chan: seems to know when to trap, when to bluff, when.. everything... excellent record vs. both amateurs and pros.

6. Antonio Esfandiari: laugh all u want @ this pick, but I will claim that he is far better of a hand reader than everyone's fav calling station DN [not on anyone's list yet?!?]... very spooky

7. ME. I'm a monster... you have no idea.... really, you have NO idea...

8. Todd Brunson: how anyone can pick his dad over him is inconceivable to me. He is a monster, capable of playing rock tight or uber looose, depending on the situation.

9. random internet donk: dangerous because of his AWESOME luck

Think Ivey, Hellmuth, Chan and Brunson are shoe-ins.

I'd add Devilfish, Scotty, Fossilman, Juanda, Demidov and Negreanu for my 10 .

Argument for Durr, Annette, Pearljammer etc to be there, but not quite proven in live tournaments imho..

Close runs for me would include many of those listed above, but also Kravchenko, De Wolfe and Mercier.

If a limit or mixed game, then Greenstein, Seidel, Men Nguyen, Giang and Chiu have to be considered.

Who could deny Lisandro a place based on current form?

^^