by Dan Michalski, Jun 7, 2009 | 7:51 am

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

Click here for complete WSOP World Standings.