The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions voting has been open for one month, and has two months to go before it officially closes.
But if voting were to end today, here are the 20 players who have secured the most votes thus far:
(Names are in alphabetical order and do not reflect any ranking order)
Doyle Brunson
Johnny Chan
T.J. Cloutier
Allen Cunningham
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Joe Hachem
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Howard Lederer
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Greg Raymer
Huck Seed
Erik Seidel
These 20 players would then take to the felt on June 27, 2010 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas under the glaring lights of the ESPN spotlight alongside automatic qualifiers Joe Cada, Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton and Barry Shulman, who will be joined by two sponsor exemptions.
The 27-player field will be competing in this freeroll All-Star Event with $1,000,000 on the line, including half a million bucks to the winner.
The final nine players will return on July 4, 2010 to play the final table and crown the champion of the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions.
Poker has never seen an All-Star Event such as this, as 25 of the players are among the exclusive club of WSOP bracelet-holders and some of the most notable and decorated players in the game.
More than 250,000 votes have been cast thus far, and with the voting not closing until June 15th at midnight ET, there is still plenty of time for this list of Top 20 to change.
“The poker community has rallied behind this event and judging by the results thus far, hosting a tournament with a field such as this would be a tremendous event,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart. “Saying that, the voting is so tight and close, and with two months of voting to go, we can see this list changing dramatically between now and June 15.”
Remember, the public is really the executive producer of this event. They determine who plays and who doesn’t. Fans can vote by going here.
On the WSOP.com website fans can also see which players are currently in the Top 50 vote-getters thus far. You can view those results here.
For all the latest on the WSOP Tournament of Champions, make sure to check for up-to-date news and information on the official website of the World Series of Poker, WSOP.com or follow the official WSOP twitter feed (@WSOP) here.