Poker News

ESPN released the latest edition of its “The Nuts” poker player rankings on Friday, using the recent results from the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP) as voting fodder.  As usual, there were both big movers and players who stayed in place, and like always, there is no shortage of debate.  But first, let’s explain how “The Nuts” works.
ESPN’s rankings aren’t governed by mathematical formulas like most some poker sites’.  Instead, it is just a basic poll of a panel of ten members of the poker media.  The panel attempts to rank the top ten poker players of the moment based on both tournament and cash game results, both live and online.  As such, there will no doubt be much debate over who is in and who is out, but we feel that just makes it more interesting.

The voting panel includes ESPN.com’s poker triplets of Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee, Bluff magazine editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and managing editor Jessica Welman, ESPNdeportes.com poker editor Nahuel Ponce, Poker Road’s Court Harrington, PokerNews.com editor-in-chief Matthew Parvis (managing editor Elaine Chaivarlis is subbing in this month) and the site’s tournament reporter Don Peters, and PocketFives.com’s Dan Cypra.

The top three players in “The Nuts” rankings – Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel, and John Juanda – remain unchanged from last month.  All had excellent runs at the World Series of Poker, so the panelists saw no reason to make any adjustments there.

The next two were the biggest risers of the month, and for good reason.  Ben “benba” Lamb made his debut in ESPN’s rankings in the fourth spot after his incredible World Series of Poker, a Series, for that matter, which is still going on for him.  The renowned Omaha player, particularly in online circles, has five cashes at the 2011 WSOP, including one win, a runner-up, an eighth place finish, a twelfth place finish, and, of course, he’s still waiting for November to roll around so he can resume the final table of the Main Event, where he currently sits in fifth position.

After Lamb comes “The Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth, who rose from eighth to fifth in the rankings.  He, too, had an amazing WSOP, even if he did come up a little short of the goal he set for himself.  For anyone else, though, three (THREE!) runner-up finishes in bracelet events would be a dream come true, but of course, Hellmuth wanted to extended his all-time bracelet record and win number twelve.  He also had two other top forty finishes.

Perhaps the most controversial selection on the list is Phil Ivey, who dropped one spot to seventh.  The controversy isn’t because some panelists don’t feel he’s a top player – they tend to agree that he’s the best in the world – it’s that he hasn’t played in any tournaments since May.  In fact, because of Black Friday and his lawsuit (since dropped) against Tiltware (Full Tilt Poker), many believe he hasn’t played any poker at all in that time.  So, if he hasn’t played, why is he in the top ten?  Because he’s still the best, even on hiatus.

Joining Lamb as a newcomer to “The Nuts” is England’s Jake Cody, who finds himself ranked ninth.  In winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship at the WSOP, he became the youngest player to win the “triple crown” of a WSOP bracelet, WPT title, and European Poker Tour title.

Falling from the rankings are Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Vanessa Selbst.

The complete “The Nuts” rankings are as follows:

1. Jason Mercier
2. Erik Seidel
3. John Juanda
4. Ben Lamb
5. Phil Hellmuth
6. Eugene Katchalov
7. Phil Ivey
8. Bertrand Grospellier
9. Jake Cody
10. Daniel Negreanu

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *