So wow, look at that California vs. Nevada battle … tight tight tight! And for real, where is the Poker Capitol of the World? So much taxable difference between Daniel Alaei and Daniel Negreanu.
California is the only region, btw, with someone to cash in every single event so far. Nevada players (mostly Las Vegans) have cashed in every tournament but one — the $1,500 7cs that Jeff Lisandro won (representing Italy).
\”Europe\” has cashed in every single event.
One of the biggest surprise shifts has taken place at the bottom of the table — could you theoretically have relegation in poker? — where the Latin Americans have come on strong to surpass the Asia-Pacifickers in bringing home the most skrilla. Most of this comes on the backs of Mexicans, specifically Angel Guillen\’s $318k 2nd place score in $2,500 NLH, which a dozen Aussie ITM finishers and a Korean have not been able to match.
Click here to view the complete Pokerati\’s complete 2009 WSOP World Standings.
Perhaps in the future the WSOP could take a note from Facebook, allowing players to enter both a current city and a hometown … so say a guy like Daniel Negreanu were to win, he would be tallied for both Canada and the USA, and would have a choice over what anthem he wants to play at his bracelet ceremony. Lots of potential \”fun\” controversy in that … and we\’d finally get to see how good all those California-centric (but US-scattered) Vietnamese really are.
Some newcomers to the 2009 WSOP money:
Both Slovenia and Slovakia booked a cash.
Also … Rhode Island
Nebraska
Washington DC
Puerto Rico
Delaware
The UK is making a charge to challenge the Russians.
And where\’s Denmark, who were certainly more than just Peter Eastgate last year? The Scandis would be doing little if it were not for a few Finns this year.
Texas is the top money-winner without a bracelet.
Mad props to the Hawaiians, who thanks to Lisa Hamilton\’s bracelet in the Ladies event, silenced the Alaskans who briefly looked like they were gonna stake a claim to extra-continental American poker supremacy.
With just a few hundred dollars of separation, Maine and Spain are also in a kinda tight race money-wise. They rhyme.