Through 11 events, there\’s only one battle that seems particularly ferocious: California vs. Nevada.
Californians, of course, are pissed, because last year they had the Pre-eminent Poker Powerhouse title — and claims to being the Poker Capitol of the World — all wrapped up until the Nevadans made a strong showing at WSOP Europe and the Californians choked in the November Nine. This year, it\’s shaping up to be as tight a battle as ever, with Cali holding a slight but at this point meaningless edge.
The Euros finally arrived once PLO came into play. So far it\’s been a disappointing series for the EU, at least compared to last year, when they won 19 of 59 WSOP bracelet events. This year, a Russian took down the big prize in event #2, but since then … very little from the Europeans.
NOTE: A Finnish player won Event #12 (the $10k Mix event) though this event has not yet been added to the standings.
Pauly insists this will be the Year of the Russians. I\’m not so sure … it\’s clear they are the only country right now that can come close challenging the likes of Caifornia and Nevada, but take away Vitaly Lunkin\’s $2million bracelet, and what have they done for me lately, yo?
Some interesting newcomers to the cash-out leaderboard:
Lichtenstein*
Dominican Republic
South Korea
Cayman Islands
Turkey
Virgin Islands
* Is that a country? I thought it was a beer.
You\’ll also notice that we\’ve added non-American continental regions …
Europe 1 13 118 $3,820,049
Asia-Pacific 0 0 11 $213,967
Latin America 0 0 7 $59,577
Africa / Mideast 0 0 3 $17,428
