International Poker Affairs

In case you\’re just catching up … one of the big stories at this year\’s WSOP has been the apparent surge of non-American players on the bracelet stage … at least that\’s what I thought when I heard Hungary had won its second … and that the UK locked down a 5th. (The Brits got shut out in \’08, and won three gold bracelets in \’09.)

So far in 2010, through 41 (of 57) events, 14 bracelets have gone to foreign poker nationals … or 34 percent. I\’m not sure how that compares with the percentage of non-American players in the worldwide WSOPopulation … but my guess is the number could be disproportionate in one direction or the other.  (The WSOP says they\’ll eventually get that stat.)

Last year 15 out of 57 bracelets went to non-Americans, and in 2008, poker players not from the USA won 16 out of a possible 55. So we\’re actually kinda in the same ballpark this year, though foreigners are on track to exceed previous results.

Click here to follow the WSOP World Rankings on WSOP.com, which isn\’t too different from the WSOP World Standings you presumably began following on Pokerati in \’08 and \’09, except now they\’ve got cool little flags and we\’ve got a little note to self on making better friends with patent attorneys.

Country	Bracelets	Cashes	Earnings
United States	27	3,766	$56,122,111
Canada	4	311	$6,240,515
United Kingdom	5	151	$5,068,138
Russia	1	72	$2,971,461
Germany	0	70	$1,571,634
France	1	70	$1,215,580
Hungary	2	16	$871,022
New Zealand	1	2	$619,999
Sweden	0	31	$512,426
Ireland	0	20	$415,358