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Predicting consistent poker success is a daunting task, especially during the seven-week-long World Series of Poker. Sometimes players we've barely considered go on hot streaks and become players of the year (ahem, Ben Lamb in 2011) and most times, the players we know all too well get burned out and put up disappointing results for weeks at a time … or don't show up at all (ahem, Phil Ivey). So why, for the seventh consecutive year, did a group of 10 players and writers gather on a conference call to attempt to do the nearly impossible and create dominant fantasy lineups? It's all about bragging rights and the ability to combine two things we all love, fantasy and poker, to make the next few months even more entertaining.

In 2011, Dennis Phillips emerged victorious thanks to a dominating team that included Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Bertrand Grospellier. In 2012, Phillips did not participate and that means the rest of us actually have a chance this year. We were all pleased with the lack of a defending champion in this year's draft, and on Wednesday, the rules were set and the trash talking had begun.

The seventh annual ESPN.com fantasy poker draft features 10 teams and includes a new manager this year, Josh Brikis. Brikis has more than $1.4 million in career earnings and numerous appearances on ESPN's WSOP broadcasts. Brikis, along with Bernard Lee, made a WSOP final table in 2011. His expertise in fantasy poker has yet to be determined, but as he often does at the table, he talks a big game.

The rest of the owners have all participated in the past. This year's owners included professional poker players Daniel Negreanu, Dwyte Pilgrim, Eric Baldwin, Brikis and Bernard Lee; Gary Wise and myself from ESPN.com; Bluff editor-in-chief Lance Bradley; Chops from WickedChopsPoker; and PokerNews contributor and 2010 fantasy poker champion Chad Holloway. It's a group of people who follow the game's every step and it's no surprise that when the draft is done, we all feel like we have enough players left to go a few more rounds.

The teams are below, along with some analysis. We'll update the standings in future blogs, but feel free to weigh in the comments section and tell us who we got right and which players we've omitted. We know we're not going to make all the right picks, but that's part of the fun of it.

Best of luck to all the teams and all the players at the WSOP. Each team can make one add/drop as the WSOP progresses.

My thoughts: The first round showed a little bit more of the experience among this group than in the past. Knowing that the big buy-in and mixed-game players are the most valuable, the group collectively grabbed the best of the best who will be at the felt day in and day out. Negreanu may have acted a bit surprised going No. 1 overall, but I can't imagine that many would have any issue with Kid Poker at the top of the pack given his dedication to capturing WSOP gold.

Best value: Holloway -- Mercier. Mercier could've gone first overall. He could've gone second overall. The fact that Chad picked him up at third is a win for his team no matter what. This isn't saying that Negreanu or Ivey aren't going to produce, but for the past three years in Vegas, Mercier has two bracelets and 14 cashes, five of which have come in the double-points earning $10,000 buy-in events. If Holloway wins this competition, there's nothing left to say but "#whenwillitend."

Biggest stretch: Baldwin -- Billirakis. Not one player in this round should really be considered a stretch, but given that this is the format of the article, I'll go with Billirakis. At the fourth-overall pick, the two-time WSOP bracelet winner may have been a little overvalued. I said "may." He has one bracelet win, three final tables and eight WSOP cashes over the past two years. Excelling in all mixed games, he'll have more opportunities to go deep given the smaller field sizes and if he wasn't selected at No. 4, I couldn't imagine him dropping further than the early part of the second round.

My thoughts: The young, mixed-game talent continued to get swept up in this round. Led by newly endorsed Team PartyPoker Rettenmaier, this group will collectively play a ton this summer and those are the guys you want to take early on. ElkY, Alaei, Clements, Bonomo and Seiver are always ones to watch in the high buy-in events and the ever consistent Victor Ramdin just knows how to navigate through deep WSOP fields. He may not have the biggest scores, but he's often in the money in Vegas.

Best value: Bradley -- Kelly. From crushing online poker as "djk123" to winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2010, everything Dan Kelly has attempted in the poker world has been greeted with success. Earlier this year, Kelly finished third at the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic and made two final tables in huge-buy in events at the Aussie Millions. The bankroll is there and Kelly is poised to come through for Bradley's team.

Biggest stretch: Feldman -- Hellmuth. I was really torn with this pick. For those that are wondering how choosing the all-time leading WSOP bracelet holder, the man who had three runner-up finishes in 2011 and was the impetus for Phillips' team winning last year could've given me some troubles, hear me out. Not many expected Hellmuth to do what he did last year … at all. Not many ever thought that he could compete on that level again. By taking him here, I'm banking on the fact that Hellmuth still has more left in the tank. Nobody wants a bracelet more than him. No, not even you. If motivation is the true key to his game, I think I made the right decision. We'll see.

My thoughts: If you put these 10 players at a table in Vegas, spectators would think it would be one of the most talented lineups around. From "BoostedJ" to triple crown winner Cody, the collective third round has more than $15 million in WSOP tournament winnings and all but three of them (Lamb, Mizrachi and Cody) are looking for their first bracelet.

Best value: Pilgrim -- Deeb. Shaun Deeb offered poker players everywhere a clinic during the recently completed Spring Championship of Online Poker. After earning two previous WCOOP bracelets (2008, 2010), Deeb won an astounding four SCOOP events in May, giving him a record-setting five for his career. He has earned more than $3 million from online play, had six WSOP cashes in 2011 and is only missing one thing form his glowing résumé -- a bracelet. Pilgrim made a great all-around pick here in the third round.

Biggest stretch: Brikis -- Racener. Racener may have been the one pick during this round that I felt could slip a bit further in the draft. The 2010 WSOP main event runner-up made two final tables in 2011 and will definitely play in a ton of events, but when players like Matt Glantz and Alexander Kostritsyn are taken right behind him, it appears that Brikis could've waited for another round before making Racener his choice. That said, Racener is 14th on the WSOP all-time money list and has the mindset to play his best every day.

My thoughts: The owners made some interesting decisions during this round. A few players who had primarily had only no-limit hold 'em success were taken in Trickett, Somerville and Moorman and given the huge field sizes of those events, those players have strong tendencies to be booms or busts. That said, those three will also be at the tables a ton and have the ability to cash in big against the weaker no-limit hold 'em competition. On the up side of the round, Baker, Mizzi, Schulman, Lisandro and Chiu usually play everything. That leaves us Galfond, who I'll discuss below.

Best value: Negreanu -- Mizzi. $4.4 million in career live tournament earnings stemming from six straight years of six figures in tournament success has separated Mizzi from the rest of the poker world since 2007. Negreanu found great value here due to his propensity to be at the felt at all times, all summer. He has 19 lifetime WSOP cashes including five from and a 95th-place finish in the main event.

Biggest stretch: Lee -- Galfond. The question and debate about Galfond is simply how much he'll play at the WSOP this summer. Given that doubt and his tendency to spend his time at the cash games and away from tournament trail, this was a risky pick here. All that said, it might end up being the best pick of the round. There's little doubt from anyone that Galfond, who won his first bracelet in 2008, can be a dominating factor at the WSOP. The question is how much he'll play.

My thoughts: There are some great picks in this round and it shows which owners got creative in their tactics by looking for the true diamonds at this point of the draft that could've been considered earlier on. Rast, the only double bracelet winner from 2011, might be a real steal at 48 and there might not be a hotter player on the planet than Steve O'Dywer.

Best value: Wise -- Duhamel. While you may think Wise took Duhamel based on the fact that he's running over the felt in 2012, you also need to consider that Duhamel will be playing the $1 million buy-in event and that can provide him with points that many of the other players drafted won't even be considered for.

Biggest stretch: Holloway -- Gross. I don't think you can discount any pick from this round, but I'm going to go with Gross, as ridiculous as it might sound. How could I put "gboro" in this category? Well, compared to the rest of the group, he hasn't been putting in his time at the felt. Now, that might mean that he's more refreshed and ready to play, but that also could work against him.

My thoughts: Bracelet winners Kelly, Soulier, Lunkin, Kravchenko and Bari highlight a sixth round filled with talent. Almost all of these players are good for a four-five cash effort with final tables mixed in, but the real question might be my pick of Blom. How will the cash game legend known as "Isildur1" fare in his WSOP debut? If he plays as well as he did during SCOOP, I'll be extremely happy.

Best value: Brikis -- Bari. He's the best player in the world. Just ask him. After capturing his first bracelet in 2011, Bari cashed three more times, giving him a total of 14 over the past four years. Bari has all the experience in the world, discusses the game daily with other top minds and can say the right things to get players off their games. It's a winning combination that could pay dividends for Brikis' team this summer.

Biggest stretch: Lee -- Marchese. Everyone expected the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year to break out at the WSOP a year ago, but three cashes didn't quite match the hype. Can he do it this year? Marchese is a proven winner with $2.5 million in tournament earnings, but if his head gets out of it early on in the Series, it might lead to a repeat of 2011.

My thoughts: Whatever round Allen Kessler is selected is a good round. The owners focused on consistent performers in this round and nobody shouts consistency more than Kessler who has 23 lifetime WSOP cashes. He hasn't been able to capture the big one, but he'll get his fantasy owners a lot of points by making it into the money, which he did nine times in 2010.

Best value: Baldwin -- Kassela. How quick Kassela fell out of the hearts of these owners after his two-bracelet run in 2010. Kassela established himself as a mixed-game beast to the tournament world during his six-cash WSOP two years ago, but Vegas regulars already knew what type of results he could produce. Baldwin is sold on the 2010 output again and considering he's put in some time at the felt with him in the past, that's a solid recommendation.

Biggest stretch: Chops -- Lindgren. The biggest challenge in ranking Lindgren this year was to understand how much he's going to be playing this summer. The fact that Negreanu, one of his good friends, didn't take him early in the draft, may be a signal that "E-Dog" might not be around the Rio as much this year and in the past. That negativity put aside, Lindgren's ability might not be exceeded by any of the other players selected during this round and if he does put in the time, Chops made a great pick.

My thoughts: This was an impressive final round by the group. A few of these guys, like Smith and Dempsey, really just fly under the radar while putting up great numbers. Brikis and Pilgrim obviously had to take themselves for the confidence aspect of owning themselves. Hastings and Arieh are smart plays and Mortensen leads all in chip stacking design ability. Unfortunately, that does not count as a fantasy poker category. I still like my choice.

Best value: Lee -- Cunningham. Norman Chad is probably yelling somewhere that it took this long for Allen Cunningham to make his appearance in the draft order. He's Allen Cunningham! The five-time WSOP bracelet winner had a rough going over the past two years with only three cashes, but he's cashed twice already in May and still one of the most brilliant minds in the game.

Biggest stretch: Pilgrim -- Pilgrim, Brikis -- Brikis. No, you can't hate the fact that both of them went with the home team with their final picks, but you can argue that from a fantasy perspective, neither of these guys are going to be playing every $10,000 event during the WSOP. I know they're both ready to prove me wrong and for the fun of the competition, I'd love to see it happen.

There you go. Ten teams and 80 players down and so many more talented individuals not selected. It will interesting to see who the add/drops will be and what player not drafted will prove us all wrong. I'm sure the 2012 edition of Ben Lamb is just waiting to laugh at all of us as they make their way to final table after final table.

Here's the scoring system:

1 point for making the money
2 points for making the top 50
5 points for making the top 20
10 points for making the final table (up to a tournament with a field size of 100 players), then one additional point for each 100 players after that
then:
1 additional point for ninth
2 additional points for eighth
4 additional points for seventh
6 additional points for sixth
10 additional points for fifth
15 additional points for fourth
20 additional points for third
30 additional points for second
40 additional points for first

Double points will be awarded for all events with buy-ins of $10,000 or more. For every event that a player makes the money, additional points will be awarded based on the field size. One point will be awarded for every 100 players in the field. For example, if there are 300 players and a player makes the money, three additional points will be assigned.

Points are only awarded for in the money finishes. The final table is defined as top nine in hold 'em, eight in mixed, seven in lowball, six during shorthanded events (with the exception being the four-handed event), eight in heads-up (5-8th will be awarded fifth, etc.).

After 21 rather successful events on the Season 10 World Poker Tour schedule, all eyes focused on the poker tournament scene turned to Las Vegas on Saturday for the historic, iconic, annual celebration of the tour known as the WPT Championship. The $25,500 buy-in is the biggest main event on the schedule, and since the debut of the tour, this one single tournament has been proclaimed by many as the event outside of the WSOP main event whose winner demands immediate respect, recognition and international notoriety for their accomplishment. It often awards one of the largest first-place prizes on the calendar and features one of the toughest fields you'll find anywhere. It's the event a pro wants to win … well, maybe it was …

The hopes were high for the 2012 WPT Championship, but something drastic happened on the way to the registration cages in 2012; the players just weren't lining up. After a surprisingly pleasant turnout of 220 in 2011 (up 25 from 2010), only 135 players have turned up through two days of play. This year's edition is poised to be the lowest-attended WPT Championship since Alan Goehring's victory over a field of 111 in 2003. That said, registration is still open until midway through Day 3 and players who opt in at that last moment Monday will begin play with more than 62 big blinds. Whether you feel tournaments should have three-day late-registration is a completely separate debate.

So, what happened?

SCOOP: The 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker has stolen the spotlight and will go down in history as the biggest online tournament series ever with more than $65 million in prize pools through 40 events. More than half a million tournament entries attributed to its success and with some of the game's top players like Shaun Deeb, Dan Kelly, Martin Stazko, Viktor Blom and Kevin MacPhee dominating the virtual tables, why would they return to the United States to play in this event? Which leads me to the point where I should've started this list …

Black Friday: It's no surprise that Black Friday will be listed in just about every single "What happened?"-type item from here on out when dealing with the rise and fall of the poker industry. Since April 15, 2011, the impact of the inability of poker players to play online in the United States will always weigh heavily on these sorts of discussions. The 2012 SCOOP has been such a great success despite the lack of U.S. participation, and as we've rehashed numerous times on ESPN.com, players have left the country to play online elsewhere.

The environment has changed. It's not easy anymore to bust online and come down to the tournament area. It's simply a choice of which tournament to play, as hoping you can catch a last-minute flight isn't the most reliable plan if you want to maximize your efforts. The 517 players who entered the SCOOP $10,300 main event stayed at their new homes, wherever that may be, and competed for a $982,300 top prize, part of a $5.1 million prize pool. Those who came to the WPT Championship are hoping that last-minute entrants will push the prize pool over $3.5 million. With no additional travel, potentially a weaker field (very debatable) and a smaller buy-in (which is significant given what kicks off in Vegas next week), some players we would've expected to be at the Bellagio opted out to grind online. Can you really blame them? Some may show up Monday after they busted from the main event, but I can't imagine that the final attendance number would rise dramatically as a result. I'd be happy to be wrong about that.

The Bellagio: "Bellagio may have turned into the WORST WPT venue," said Matt Waxman on his Twitter account.

It is a surprise that the Bellagio isn't doing more to keep the prestige of this event up in any way, shape or form. While most tournaments are held far away from the noise of the slot machines and smoky nature of the casinos, the WPT Championship isn't provided the same comforts. For $25,000, the Bellagio should be doing more for the players. I'm not saying the WSOP does it perfectly, but you know that when you go to the Rio, you're there for the poker and only the poker. You're surrounded by the right environment.

"Jack McClelland is simply behind the times and hasn't adjusted to today's climate at all," said Vinny Pahuja to ESPN.com via Twitter. Dan Fleyshman echoed his thoughts, saying, "We all love the Bellagio as a setting, it's their decisions [like eight days for a tournament] that are frustrating."

The player pool: Getting back to the Black Friday discussion, there simply aren't as many live tournament players in the United States at these high levels as there were a year ago. The idea of the "semi-pro" is dwindling, and with fewer players in general there are fewer satellite entries, and with fewer satellite entries there are fewer main event seats up for grabs.

The WSOP: Finally, the massive elephant in the room … or, more appropriately, right down the road. The 61-event 2012 World Series of Poker kicks off Sunday, and summing up everything else on this list is the challenge of bankroll management. The WSOP is expected to receive another strong turnout and players are saving their money for a few events during the WSOP rather than putting $25,000 in one basket at the WPT Championship.

A year ago, the WPT championship ended May 20 and the WSOP started May 31. While 11 days isn't a significant amount of time to rebuild a bankroll, it perhaps did allow a larger cushion for those to secure backing for the WSOP. This year, players won't make the money until perhaps Wednesday, giving them just a couple of days to get their finances in order. Having an additional $35,000 can dramatically change one's approach to the biggest tournament series in the world. Maybe players wanted to be a little more prepared or rested?

It's not hard to understand why the attendance this year is down, but perhaps the severity is the more troubling bit. The World Poker Tour has always been great at adapting their offerings to maximize value, but it seems this year's Championship faces a number of challenges that appear to be out of their control. If a final total of only 150 players show up, 21 of whom earned automatic bids from the WPT's previous events this season (including the ClubWPT.com qualifier), it might be time to re-evaluate and figure out how they can get the love back into the event that I feel is a major that should stand out above all the rest. The Championship should've been the culmination of a great season, but instead we'll look back on this year's edition with a magnifying glass and expect better in the future.

As for the action at the WPT Championship, Michael Mizrachi leads the remaining 95 players in the main event and is looking for his third WPT title. Seven of the top 11 players in the leaderboard have already won WPT titles during their careers.

Small blinds: Shaun Deeb is the king of the 2012 SCOOP. He won four titles this year, five now in his career, and has cashed 25 times during the series. … Entering the main event, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom led all players with $438,669 in prize money. Blom won two events this SCOOP. … Phil Hellmuth, Faraz Jaka and Jason Mercier all mentioned on Twitter they will be registering for the WPT Championship on Monday. … The WSOP debuted the look of the 2012 bracelet last week. What do you think? … The WPT announced the first half of their Season 11 schedule and it includes a new televised stop at the Parx Casino. … 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year Eric Baldwin won two preliminary events at the Bellagio, plus cashed in three others for a total of $31,150. … Cliff Josephy won the $5,000 no-limit hold 'em event at the Bellagio to win $165,240, his largest live tournament score since a final table in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event at the WSOP in 2009. … The final WSOP Circuit main event of the season has reached its final day. The WSOPC stop in New Orleans attracted a field of 694 and Anthony Vidmer leads the final table with hopes of claiming the top prize of $204,748. … The White House officially responded to the online poker petition submitted months ago as part of the "We The People" process. … What's it like to win your way into the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop? Ask Ottawa's Carlos Nahas, who competed in a 55-player event and earned his seat. … Marvin Rettenmaier signed an endorsement deal with Party Poker.

The World Poker Tour crowned its second champion over the past three weeks, as Shawn Cunix put forth an incredible effort to win the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open title. Cunix earned $400,600 for the victory, which took five days of endurance as he played with a broken collarbone that he suffered while saving his son's life during an ATV accident.

"It's been one of the most humbling experiences in my life," said Cunix. "I'm just so happy that my son is OK and he got to see me at a time where he's seen his father down, laying in bed for two weeks and still to come back out of that bed and fight and say, 'I'll never quit,' means more to me that I can ever describe."

Cunix entered the final table as the chip leader but had five tough tournament regulars with significant experience under the WPT lights standing between him and the title. According to the World Poker Tour, Cunix's stack swelled early as he separated himself from the pack after taking a big pot off WPT Legends main event champion Will Failla. As was seen on the live stream of the final table on the World Poker Tour website, Cunix extended his lead by opening with a wide range of hands and keeping the pressure on his shorter-stacked opponents preflop.

Failla fell first at the final table, finishing in sixth to earn $54,704. This was Failla's fourth cash and second WPT final table of the season. He'll take the WPT Player of the Year lead into the WPT Championship, which begins May 19. Failla, who was eliminated by Cunix, has $1,108,540 in lifetime WPT earnings.

With five players remaining, Cunix had more than half the chips in play and seemed poised to make this a quick final table. Darren Elias, making his second WPT final table of the season, eliminated WPT co-host Tony Dunst in fifth place. Dunst earned $66,532 in his second cash of the season. Elias dealing the knockout blow allowed Cunix to do more damage to the rest of the table with his dominating stack. As four-handed play began, Cunix's lead over his next closest competitor, James Calderaro, was almost 80 big blinds.

Calderaro eliminated Daniel Buzgon in fourth place as A-J held against Buzgon's K-Q. Buzgon was part of the same final table as Elias earlier this season at the Borgata and earned $94,624 for his efforts. Despite his lack of a victory in this event, Buzgon has found his way into the money a lot in 2012 with 15 cashes to date. This was his third cash during Season X of the WPT.

Cunix lost the lead for the first time at the final table shortly after Buzgon's elimination when Elias seized control after turning an eight-high flush. After dropping nearly 1.75 million in chips in the hand, Cunix had unexpectedly become the short stack. By capturing a few sizeable three-way pots, Calderaro took his turn at the top with Elias in second and Cunix a distant third. Despite the difference between the top and bottom stack of 66 big blinds, Cunix still had plenty of play left, but he committed his chips in a tough spot holding only J-9 against the A-Q of Elias. Cunix, down to his final card, rivered a flush and was a contender once again.

Two hands later, Elias was eliminated in third when he lost a race with A-K to Calderaro's 10-10. Earning $147,850, Elias captured his biggest cash of the year.

For 45 hands, Cunix and Calderaro went to battle, and it seemed that every major pot went Cunix's way. On the final hand, Calderaro, down nearly 8-to-1, called all-in holding J-10. Cunix showed 3-3, flopped a three and earned his place as the newest WPT champion. Calderaro, perhaps known best for his 13th-place finish in the 2009 WSOP main event, won $236,560. This was his second tournament cash of 2012.

"It means a lot," said Cunix. "One of the big things I preach is that if you put passion into anything, you're capable of unbelievable stuff. I tell that to my employees every day. I hope they're watching. It just goes to show that if you put your passion and heart into something, you can achieve anything, and I've always said that."

Here are the final table results from the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open:

1. Shawn Cunix ($400,600)
2. James Calderaro ($236,560)
3. Darren Elias ($147,850)
4. Daniel Buzgon ($94,624)
5. Tony Dunst ($66,532)
6. Will Failla ($54,704)

EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo

The EPT Grand Final was the "richest" poker tournament series ever held in Europe, awarding more than 19 million euros over nine days. The biggest winner was Justin Bonomo, who won the 100,000 Super High Roller event for 1.6 million euros and finished fourth in the High Roller for 266,000 euros. Bonomo now sits atop the 2012 money list with $2.5 million in earnings this year.

Mohsin Charania, earning his way into the event on a $33 satellite, won the 1.3 million euro top prize in the main event, defeating a field of 665. Igor Kurganov defeated Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win the 25,000 High Roller event for 1 million euros. Kurganov has cashed in four high-roller events over the past EPT season. Negreanu, who finished sixth in the Super High Roller and second in the High Roller, earned nearly $1.2 million.

While others earned more cash for their wins, Daniel Smith won three 5,000 euro events during the festival for a total of 530,150 euros.

Small blinds: Congrats to my colleague Bernard Lee on five years of the "Bernard Lee Poker Show." … PocketFives continues to be innovative and has launched Local Communities as a way for local poker players to interact and find the latest games near them. … A 9-year-old poker prodigy? … PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker gets underway this weekend. The 40-event series will conclude with a $10,300 main event May 20. … A.P. Phahurat won the 2012 Chad Brown Challenge to win $116,449. … Naz Alkhatib won the latest Heartland Poker Tour stop in Canterbury Park, Minn., to win $118,482. … Sam Trickett has left his post as an endorser for Titan Poker. … Card Player has announced that the Card Player Poker Tour will debut at the Choctaw Casino in July. There will a $1,080 re-entry four-day main event. … Phil Ivey cashed in the EPT High Roller event but missed the final table, finishing in ninth. He earned $96,643 in his first cash since his $2 million score at the Aussie Millions in January.

The Nuts is a monthly feature that takes a look at the best poker players in the world. This feature aims to produce a list of the best players at the moment. Our panel of 10 is comprised of ESPN.com's trio of poker contributors (Gary Wise, Bernard Lee and myself), ESPNdeportes.com poker editor Nahuel Ponce, Bluff magazine editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and managing editor Jessica Welman, PokerNews editor-in-chief Elaine Chaivarlis and tournament reporter Don Peters, Pocketfives' Dan Cypra and Poker Road's Court Harrington.

What a month! April was filled with highs and lows on the cash game felt, massive tournament buy-ins and familiar faces holding up trophies and huge bricks of cash. It was a month that highlighted the variety and depth of Europe's poker scene while maintaining that the United States tournament circuit is far from struggling one year after Black Friday changed the industry forever.

A few major events stole the show in April, but perhaps the Party Poker Premier League topped them all. The innovative concept featured 16 players putting up $125,000 and resulted in a big $500,000 score by Scott Seiver. Sam Trickett was able to maintain his spot on this list with an eighth-place finish in that event. The action headed to EPT Berlin and a massive turnout that witnessed Davidi Kitai capture a $930,816 first-place prize and spark debate about whether or not he earned poker's Triple Crown with the victory. Kitai has $2.7 million in tournament earnings for his career, but failed to make the list this month.

The EPT Grand Final then took center stage and a 100,000 euro buy-in attracted the top players in the world, including many on the list below. Justin Bonomo earned more than $2 million for his victory while Tobias Reinkemeier, Bertrand Grospellier, Patrik Antonius, Masa Kagawa and Daniel Negreanu all turned their expensive buy-ins into something greater. The rich got richer as Bonomo and Negreanu were joined by Phil Ivey in the final nine of the 25,000 euro high roller event there as well. (At the time of this posting, the results of that final table were not included in April's rankings).

There were a number of players that really stood out in April, but perhaps nobody more than Grospellier. The French owner of the Triple Crown continued to dominate the high roller felt and, in addition to his third-place finish in the 100,000 Super High Roller, he also won the 10,000 euro re-entry event at EPT Berlin for $301,992. Grospellier has earned $1.2 million on the year and the panel recognized his run with a move from seventh to fourth this month. At his victory in Berlin, Grospellier defeated Chris Moorman heads-up for the title. Moorman also moved up one spot, to fifth, this month.

The World Poker Tour was busy in April with Morten Christensen winning the WPT Vienna stop and Tommy Vedes winning his second World Poker Tour title at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. November Niner Phil Collins won the Heartland Poker Tour event at the Palms in Las Vegas and Tripp Kirk won the record-setting WSOP Circuit main event title in St. Louis.

Despite all the successes, the top two players, Jason Mercier and Jonathan Duhamel, failed to earn some of their own. Both Duhamel and Mercier played in the biggest events in Europe this month, but came away empty-handed. They maintained their spots at the top of this list given their recent performances while Erik Seidel continues to slide down the rankings albeit earning a cash in the EPT Grand Final main event.

Who should be ranked higher? Who should be completely off the list? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!

Here's a look at April's top 10:

On the bubble

The bubble boy this month was Steve O'Dwyer. Since August, O'Dwyer has made 13 final tables and has earned more than $1.2 million. We often wonder what feat could put a player into the top 10 and, really, O'Dwyer has accomplished them all. It is only a matter of time that O'Dwyer is finally off this bubble list. … Daniel Negreanu finished sixth in the 100,000 euro Super High Roller in Monte Carlo and earned $409,279 and also cashed in the High Roller event just days later. Justin Bonomo won the Super High Roller and also cashed in the High Roller. Both received good support for their performances in April and are likely to move into the top 10 next month. … Tommy Vedes and Will Failla also earned some love for the panel for their recent WPT accomplishments. … Others receiving substantial consideration include Patrik Antonius, David Sands, Joe Serock, Phil Hellmuth, Viktor Blom, Ben Lamb, Mickey Petersen, Isaac Haxton and Faraz Jaka.

Final thoughts

Bradley: Steve O'Dwyer belongs on this list. Without question. He has breezed through Europe over the past few months and has done everything you'd expect of a top-level poker player.

This list is meant to reflect who the best players on the planet are right now. If O'Dwyer's not a top-10 player right now, with five final tables since February, then how do Buchanan and Seidel -- with two cashes between them in 2012 -- make the list? I'm baffled.

Feldman: April was filled with a lot of events and provided every member of the panel with plenty of opportunities to evaluate the talent on this list. While I think we hit it on the head perfectly with Grospellier moving up and the top three staying the same, I think the bottom of these rankings are extremely questionable.

Just as Lance mentioned, O'Dwyer needs to be on this list after what he has done this year. Last month in this space, I called for O'Dwyer and Haxton to find a spot, but neither found their way on to the list. I think the entire group missed out on Scott Seiver, and it's hard not to recognize the feats of Tommy Vedes, Justin Bonomo and Davidi Kitai with a little more support. Negreanu has been a player with an insane amount of support in the past, but a sixth-place finish in the Super High Roller wasn't enough to move him up? The bottom of this list needs an overhaul and I hope that next month, we'll see some new faces hoping to earn their way up.

The great thing about our next rankings is that the WSOP will be underway and there's no better time to explicitly the define the best players in the world than watching them day in and day out. The WSOP is the best time of the year for poker players and fans, and I'm extremely excited for what's in store for Las Vegas this summer.

Tommy Vedes really likes tournaments that are held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. In fact, he's done so well there that he probably prefers that all major events take place at that venue. All kidding aside, when it comes to the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, Vedes is definitely the man to beat.

After finishing sixth in the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown main event in 2011, Vedes entered the six-handed final table of the 2012 edition as the short stack. Given the uphill battled he faced, many expected that he would finish in that spot once again. Vedes had different plans and made an incredible comeback to win the event and his second World Poker Tour title.

"I came in thinking that if I took sixth, I'd be okay with it because I knew the table was super hard and I had no chips," said Vedes. "Once I doubled the first time, I realized this was going to be different. I set myself up for success."

Vedes earned $779,520 for the victory in the $10,000 main event, a substantial pay day, but far from the career-best $1,218,225 he earned after he won the $15,000 buy-in Festa Al Lago main event in 2009. Vedes has earned $2.7 million on the tournament felt since 2005.

Earning this second title wasn't easy. According to the World Poker Tour, Vedes entered the final table with less than 20 big blinds and trailed chip leader Joe Serock by more than 80 big blinds when play began under the WPT lights. Vedes' comeback began as he won a race with A-K against the 10-10 of Kyle Bowker. The hand left Bowker with just a few chips and he was eliminated by Serock a few orbits later in sixth place. This was Bowker's first WPT final table appearance and it his six-day run was worth $122,496 which raised his career total to $1.5 million in tournament earnings.

Two months after his first World Poker Tour final table, Sharon Levin found his way back and was hoping to improve on her fourth-place finish at the WPT Lucky Hearts. Vedes denied him the opportunity and knocked out Levin in fifth on the 50th hand of the night when his pocket sixes held against Levin's A-3. Vedes moved into second place after the hand and Levin earned $158,688, his largest career cash.

Four-handed and sitting on a 20 big blind stack, Craig Bergeron found a cooler as he moved all-in from under the gun with sixes and was called by Vedes' pocket queens. The board provided no help and Bergeron earned $212,976 for his fourth-place effort. This was his second career World Poker Tour cash.

The final three each had their share of success in the tournament poker world. Serock's biggest score came with a runner-up finish in a WSOP six-handed event. He also finished third at the previous WPT stop in the U.S., the Bay 101 Shooting Star. John Dolan put himself on the map with a sixth-place finish in the 2010 WSOP main event and earlier this year, captured the title at the 2012 Southern Poker Million Dollar Heater main event worth $336,105. As for Vedes, his previous WPT title landed him in the spotlight just months after finishing 19th at the 2009 WSOP main event.

Serock held the lead as three-handed play began, but each seized the chip lead at one point or another during the 32 hands of three-way action. Dolan was the big winner during this time and after he caught a huge break and eliminated Serock, he had nearly a 2.5:1 chip lead over Vedes. Serock earned $306,240 for third place, just slightly short of the money earned from Bay 101 and is currently in the top 30 on the 2012 money list.

Dolan extended his lead to nearly 4:1 when Vedes began his comeback. Vedes' first double up came as he flopped a flush and got Dolan to commit with top pair. The second double up, J-7 against 7-4 (all in postflop on a 7-5-3 board), put Vedes ahead for good. On the final hand, the two were all-in preflop with Vedes holding Ad-10d against Dolan's Kd-6d. The flop was a beauty for Dolan as he flopped two pair (K-J-6), but a river queen gave Vedes the straight and the title. Dolan earned $459,360 for second place.

"Number three is coming," said Vedes to the World Poker Tour after the tournament.

The next chance Vedes will get to try earn his third title is the WPT stop is in Jacksonville beginning on April 27.

Small blinds: Tripp Kirk won the WSOP Circuit main event stop in St. Louis. He defeated the field of 625 entries to win $190,961 and a seat in the National Championship. … During the WSOPC stop in St. Louis, both Kyle Cartwright and Kurt Jewell earned their fourth WSOPC victories. Nik Stone earned the best all-around player award and earned his seat into the National Championship. … The 100,000 euro buy-in Super High Roller in Monte Carlo attracted a field of 45 entries. The winner will take home a top prize of 1.6 million euros. … Davidi Kitai earned the EPT Berlin main event title worth $930,816. While some have stated that he is now the fifth player to earn poker's triple crown, his WPT victory was a charity invitational event. Although it is recognized as a WPT championship, I'm hesitant to award him the crown. Shouldn't the triple crown be given to those that win three open events? Share your thoughts on this in the comments section. … Jia Liu won the Borgata Spring Poker Open title and earned $312,483. … Bertrand Grospellier won the EPT Berlin High Roller event, defeating Chris Moorman heads-up for the victory. Grospellier earned $301,992, his largest cash since his WSOP bracelet victory last June. … Annette Obrestad has signed an endorsement deal with Lock Poker. … Want to play poker with Tiger Woods? Put up the $10,000. … Steen Ronlov turned $360 into $270,905 as he won the Heartland Poker Tour stop in Black Hawk, Colorado. … Allan Le won the first "Manila Millions" event. The one million HKD buy-in attracted a field of 31.

It's been a tumultuous year for Full Tilt to say the least. After the Black Friday indictments, the company had its license revoked, was named a "Ponzi scheme" by the Department of Justice, faced two class action lawsuits and had some of its biggest representatives suffer severe and irreversible brand damage. The company has also experienced a lengthy period of negotiations that has only left those interested in the company's status with a bitter taste in their mouth. There have been no formal press releases, no widespread media interviews and minimal outreach in communication. Quite simply, the company has done its best to remain in the dark as they appear to take a step in a new direction.

Through recent filings in Ireland and Malta, the company has finally revealed its new course and it appears to be under the guidance of Laurent Tapie and Prosper Jeremy Masquelier, the named directors of New Full Tilt Limited. Additionally, Orinic Limited, a subsidiary of Full Tilt, has applied for a Category 2 License with the Alderney Gaming Control Commission to offer online gambling. The license hearing will take place on May 3 in Alderney and will be open to the public. Even if the hearing goes smoothly, the license will not be awarded that day. The company is also hiring with start dates at the end of April.

A representative for Full Tilt declined to comment at this time.

There is still one more element that needs to be cleared up before the site is up and running again. After being vocal during the seizure and indictment process, the Department of Justice, which was an integral part in negotiating a deal between Group Bernard Tapie and Full Tilt, hasn't said a word. On Friday, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said they have "no guidance" on the sale of the company or any upcoming re-launch.

So where does Full Tilt go from here? More importantly will happens to the money that was frozen on April 15, 2011? The waiting unfortunately continues ….

Small blinds: The World Poker Tour stop at the Seminole Hard Rock was down 143 players year-over-year. For the second year in a row, Alexander Condon was the last 18-20 year-old standing. The event is open to players 18 and up. The winner of the event will earn $779,520. … Jia Liu won the Borgata Spring Poker Open $2,700 main event, defeating the field of 520 entries to win $312,483. The final table also included Chad Batista (sixth) and Cliff Josephy (seventh). … The 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) begins on May 6 and will feature 40 events. … A state representative in Massachusettes has offered a proposal to regulate intrastate online poker. It would require each company paying a $10 million license fee and a 25 percent tax on gaming proceeds. … Member of the 2011 WSOP main event final table, Phil Collins, won the Las Vegas stop of the Heartland Poker Tour. Collins earned $71,556 as he defeated a final table that included Matt Marafioti, Steve Gross, Leo Wolpert, Dan O'Brien and Terry Presley. While the final table was filled with amazing talents, it was one of the smaller HPT events this season. … The Department of Justice confirmed on Friday that on Wednesday, a judge has accepted the plea deal of John Campos, one of the named in the Black Friday indictments. … There hasn't been any news regarding the status of the Epic Poker League, but a representative of the Prevent Cancer Foundation confirmed that the charity did recieive the money raised during the Epic charity event held in 2011. … According to Forbes, Wynn Gaming is in discussions with Zynga regarding an online gambling partnership. … Sorel Mizzi is back in the winner's seat after defeating the field of 26 at the WPT Viennea High Roller. Mizzi earned 114,070 euros for the win. Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Steve O'Dwyer finished second and third, respectively.

The PartyPoker-sponsored Premier League is one of the most unique made-for-TV events on the poker calendar. The first round includes 16 players, broken up into two groups of eight. Each player bought in for $125,000 and participated in four group matches where the top three earned spots at the final table. Players who finished fourth and fifth in each group then played heads-up for their shot at the final table. Scott Seiver finished third in his group, then defeated the star-studded final table to earn the title, $500,000 and a $25,500 buy-in to the WPT Championship next month.

According to PartyPoker, Seiver, who won the WPT Championship in 2011, defeated Daniel "Jungleman" Cates heads-up for the victory. The final encounter took less than a half hour of play as Seiver won a race with K-Q against Cates' 7-7 to finish off his opponent. Cates earned $300,000 for his runner-up performance. It was his largest single tournament cash of his career.

The starting chip counts at the final table were determined based on the points they accumulated throughout the group stage. Mathew Frankland, who qualified through a satellite for the event, won his group and held the chip lead, 400,000, at the start of the final table. Seiver started the final table sixth in chips (300,000) and played tentative at the start resulting in a very similar chip stack after nearly two hours of play when the first elimination was recorded.

Cates eliminated Sam Trickett in eighth place and after initial play with seven players to go, Seiver was in last with 163,000 in chips. At the top of the counts, it was Patrik Antonius and Cates separated by less than 10 big blinds, but Cates moved into the lead after he knocked out Frankland in seventh.

Seiver was able to get back into contention as he eliminated Tom Dwan in sixth. He still trailed the dominating Cates, but with five players left and the blinds increasing quickly, he gave himself a chance to win by taking a flip for his tournament life with 9-9 against the A-Q of Antonius. The board ran clean and Seiver was right on Cates' heels, trailing only by five big blinds after Cates eliminated Tony Guoga in fifth place.

Phil Laak eliminated Antonius in fourth and, minutes later, Seiver moved into the chip lead after taking a pot from Cates where he turned trips and got paid off by Cates' top two pair. Shortly after, Cates rivered Laak to take most of his stack and after Seiver finished the job, the two would begin heads-up play with essentially even stacks. Despite a clear edge in heads-up experience, the online-bred Cates couldn't overcome the WPT and WSOP champion and will have to wait for his first significant live victory.

Here are the results from the Premier League V final table:

1. Scott Seiver ($500,000)
2. Daniel Cates ($300,000)
3. Phil Laak ($175,000)
4. Patrik Antonius ($125,000)
5. Tony Guoga ($100,000)
6. Tom Dwan ($60,000)
7. Mathew Frankland ($65,000)
8. Sam Trickett ($55,000)

Small blinds: Belgian Kevin Vandersmissen won the Irish Poker Open for 420,000 euros. His previous best accomplishment was a runner-up finish at the European Poker Tour Snowfest stop in 2011. Andy Black finished in eighth. … The WSOP announced that there will be satellites for the $1 million One Drop event at more than 15 locations across the country. The $25,000 mega-satellite for the event will be held on June 30 at the Rio in Las Vegas. … The Asian Poker Tour announced its first "Manila Millions" Super High Roller event. The one million HKD buy-in event (approximately $129,000) will take place on April 20 at Resorts World Manila's Genting Club. Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan have already confirmed their participation. … On the one year anniversary of Black Friday, the Poker Players Alliance is launching a new campaign called "The Players Will Never Fold." The PPA's John Pappas will join ESPN's Poker Edge podcast to discuss the latest update on legalization in the United States. … Georges St-Pierre has signed an endorsement deal with 888Poker. He will be playing the 2012 WSOP main event. … Wicked Chops has confirmed that the alias "RaiseOnce" on PokerStars belongs to Phil Ivey. Ivey has six figures in online profit so far in 2012. … The Bluff Mid-States Poker Tour has announced a new stop at the Downstream Casino Resort in Oklahoma. … James Dempsey won the first iSeriesLIVE event in Dublin. The event was streamed online and thousands watched as Dempsey earned 100,000 euros for the victory. … Steve O'Dwyer continued his impressive run in 2012 with a second-place finish in the 10,300 euro High Roller event held at EPT Campione. Govert Metaal earned the win in that event worth 110,000 euros. … Jannick Wrang defeated Olivier Busquey to win the EPT Campione main event title. … After two consecutive losses, Viktor Blom defeated Isaac Haxton heads-up in the latest $500,000 SuperStar Showdown. … The online poker bill proposed in New Jersey would allow players from all jurisdictions where the activity is legal to participate. … According to the bankruptcy papers posted on CardPlayer, the Epic Poker League had nearly $8 million in debt at the time of their filing.

The Nuts is a monthly feature that takes a look at the best poker players in the world. This feature aims to produce a list of the best players at the moment. Our panel of 10 is comprised of ESPN.com's trio of poker contributors (Gary Wise, Bernard Lee and myself), ESPNdeportes.com poker editor Nahuel Ponce, Bluff magazine editor-in-chief Lance Bradley and managing editor Jessica Welman, PokerNews editor-in-chief Elaine Chaivarlis and tournament reporter Don Peters, Pocketfives' Dan Cypra and Poker Road's Court Harrington.

It's not often that we look at a month of the poker calendar and think that there's a lack of events that truly can make headlines. Since the poker boom began, there's been a constant increase of tournaments around the world, but so few of them have stuck as the major events that attract the best players in the world and can truly create a buzz. March really only offered the industry three superior events, the WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Star, EPT Madrid and EPT Campion. There were numerous events on smaller tours, like the WSOP Circuit, Heartland Poker Tour, France Poker Series, Latin American Poker Tour and the Asian Pacific Poker Tour, but the biggest money was found at only a few locations.

At Bay 101, the final table included two WSOP bracelet winners and four players who had final table experience, but it was amateur Moon Kim who earned the top prize of $960,900. An impressive 477 players attended EPT Madrid and while Mike "Timex" McDonald hoped to become the first two-time EPT champion, he finished in ninth as Frederik Jensen won $649,368 for first. EPT Campione wasn't finished at the time these rankings were posted, but Fabrice Soulier and Olivier Busquet survived the field of 570 to make the final table.

Will Failla may have been the next biggest story during the month, winning his first Heartland Poker Tour title. Failla, who won his first WPT title last August, defeated the field of 328 to win $119,064. Failla's victory almost pushed him onto the No. 10 spot on this list, but instead he became one of the bubble boys. Failla already has seven cashes in 2012. On the WSOP Circuit, Ryan Eriquezzo earned $191,194 for his victory in Atlantic City and Joseph Kuether denied Freddy Deeb his second WSOP Circuit main event title this season with his victory at Harrah's Rincon. Deeb finished fourth.

The biggest mover in the rankings was Jonathan Duhamel who has made his way to No. 2. Duhamel nearly made the Bay 101 Shooting Star final table but finished in 13th. The cash was Duhamel's seventh of the year and the 2010 WSOP main event champion is sixth on the 2012 money list. The man who leads that list, Phil Ivey, is ranked third this month.

For the first time in a while, no player dropped off the list this month, but with limited results it was a difficult task for the panel to find reasons to dramatically adjust its rankings. As April rolls around and the pre-WSOP action heats up, we can expect many changes in next month's rankings if some of those at the bottom of the list don't come through with some substantial success.

Here's a look at March's top 10:

On the bubble

The bubble boy this month was once again Daniel Negreanu. "Kid Poker" may be gaining more love from the poker community with his weekly rants, but no cashes this month still left him just off the list. Negreanu still remains in the top 60 players on the earnings list in 2012. … As mentioned above, Failla also found the bubble this month despite being on it in February and also winning another major title at the Heartland Poker Tour. Before 2011, many may not have even considered Failla to be a top-10-caliber player, but he's quieted all critics with his eight-month run. … Steve O'Dwyer is simply crushing the European poker scene and as Jess Welman stated, "If he was in the U.S., it would be a totally different story." Since Black Friday, O'Dwyer has traveled Europe and has earned more than $1.2 million. His latest victory came at the WPT National Series in Denmark, where he defeated a field of 289 to win $213,796. … Dan Kelly made the L.A. Poker Classic final table in February then won the $1,000 event and finished 10th in the $2,000 event at the Wynn Classic in March. He has $692,876 in earnings in 2012. … Others receiving substantial consideration include David Sands, Phil Hellmuth, Jake Cody, Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan, Ben Lamb, Mickey Petersen, Isaac Haxton and Faraz Jaka.

Final thoughts

Bradley: The top three is a bit of a logjam with Mercier, Duhamel and Ivey. Duhamel continues to defy the Main Event "Champion Jinx" while Ivey is back crushing online -- provided "RaiseOnce" is Ivey, and our sources have confirmed it is. Mercier recorded a small cash at Bay 101 and with two tournaments in his home state of Florida coming up, he could be poised to strike again. The biggest omission in my mind is the online cash game scene where players like Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen have been crushing this year.

Feldman: The fact that two players, O'Dwyer and Haxton, aren't getting more consideration is starting to bug me. O'Dwyer has become a dominant force on the European poker scene and it seems that he goes deep in every tournament he enters. He has four final tables and a win in 2012 and I'm not sure what else he needs to do to gain some traction on this list. Haxton's case is even clearer. If many in the world consider Viktor "Isildur1" Blom one of the best cash game players around, where do we rank the guy who consistently beats him? Add to all his incredible online success three third-place finishes since December for nearly $1 million and it's astounding he's not even on the bubble.

I think this month was a very tough month for the rankers and I can understand any frustration out there for those that criticize the list that has numerous players, who we rank in the top 10, with no recent successes. The list will change shortly, and I'm assuming pretty dramatically.

My last note is on the second-ranked Duhamel. It's hard to believe that in December the biggest story on Duhamel was the robbery of his WSOP bracelet. Since that time, the only thing he's wanted to focus on was his poker game, and his newfound determination is what has led him to a spot I believe he truly deserves.

The Bay 101 Casino hosts an annual event that adds a little something special to the live tournament poker scene: the Bay 101 Shooting Star. In every tournament, amateurs hope for the stars to bust, in order to make their paths to the final table just a little bit easier. At Bay 101, busting the stars isn't just another step toward the final table, but a profitable venture. As each of the designated "shooting stars" is eliminated, the player that deals the final blow earns $5,000. Bust just two out of the 47 bounties and the $10,000 buy-in event just became a freeroll. The format adds a different element into the signature World Poker Tour stop and in 2013, you'll find Moon Kim at the tables with a bounty on his head after his victory over the field of 364.

According to the World Poker Tour, Kim turned his $1,000 satellite victory into a first-place prize of $960,900. The local pro was supported by dozens during the final table and defeated his friend Ubaid Habib to win the title. He also eliminated Nam Le on Day 2 to collect an additional $5,000.

There were no remaining "Shooting Stars" at the final table, but out of the final six, two were previous WSOP champions, four had WSOP final table experience and two appeared to be poised for poker greatness despite their lack of big tournament results.

Eric Cajelais, the runner-up at the WPT Turks and Caicos event in 2007, entered the final table with the chip lead. After some positioning for the first 29 hands, Kim earned the win in the first major confrontation, earning a pot off Cajelais to move into the chip lead. For the next 80 hands, the six players traded pots with conservative approaches appearing to be the game plan for all.

In a rare occurrence on the WPT, it took 113 hands to eliminate the first player at the televised final table. WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Badecker eliminated Joseph Elpayaa in sixth, but still remained the short stack. As Badecker chipped up for the next few orbits to put himself back in contention, Kim maintained his lead and greatly extended it after he eliminated Badecker in fifth by hitting his gutshot straight draw on the turn.

Kim was the only player with more than 25 big blinds as four-handed play began, and as he pressured the other three players in pot after pot, he held more than half the chips in play. Blinds escalated quickly and Cajelais was down to less than six big blinds before moving all-in. His effort to double up almost became a triple up as he was called by both Kim and Habib, but the two checked down the action through the river and with second-pair, Habib took the pot. Kim then took care of Serock, winning a race with K-Q against Serock's 9-9. This was Serock's third career six-figure score, which includes two runner-up WSOP finishes.

Kim had slightly more than a 3-to-2 advantage at the start of heads-up play. Habib momentarily stole the lead, but Kim brought the two back to the heads-up starting stacks shortly after. On the 218th hand of the final table, Kim opened to 240,000 (blinds 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante) and Habib called. The flop came 9d-4c-2d and within minutes, all the chips were in the center of the table (Habib checked, Kim bet 300,000, Habib raised to 9000,000, Kim moved all-in and Habib called). Habib showed Q-9 for top pair and the best hand at the time. Kim showed Jd-7d for the flush draw and his aggression was rewarded as a diamond hit the river.

The next World Poker Tour stop will take place at the Montesino in Vienna.

Here are the complete results from the 2012 LA Poker Classic final table:

1. Moon Kim ($960,900)
2. Ubaid Habib ($570,200)
3. Joe Serock ($320,400)
4. Erik Cajelais ($256,300)
5. Andrew Badecker ($192,300)
6. Joseph Elpayaa ($128,200)

Small blinds:

The Players Poker Championship will take place May 3-7 at the Westin Resort and Casino in Aruba. The championship event will have a $3,300 buy-in. … Only 67 out of the 125 players who began Day 1A at EPT Madrid made it through, with Sergiy Baranov earning the chip lead. … The WSOP Circuit main event at Caesars Atlantic City attracted a field of 641 entries. The previous WSOP Circuit main event in Atlantic City was held in December and attracted a field of 617. … The online poker bill in Mississippi has been stopped before moving out of committee. … Even though he finished in seventh, "toode" was the biggest winner in the $6 million guaranteed Sunday Million. The Finnish player earned $590,482 while champion "slyfox151" earned $480,761. … If you're interested in the Epic Poker bankruptcy filings, Wicked Chops has everything you'll want to read. … The $5,000 Wynn Classic main event began on Monday. Tim West defeated Annette Obrestad to claim the title in 2011. … Will Failla earned $119,064 for his victory at the Heartland Poker Tour stop in St. Louis.

After its far from star-studded debut in 2011, the WSOP went back to the drawing board with hopes of making the WSOP National Championship one of the highlights of the poker calendar. Their solution: bring in the best. In addition to all of the qualifiers from the WSOP Circuit, the field in the 2012 National Championship will have some added talent.

Similar to 2011, the top 100 players from the WSOP Circuit (more specifically, 34 automatic qualifiers and 66 at-large bids) still earn a freeroll entry into the $1 million guaranteed event. The difference is that this year, those players may be joined by members of the top 100 players on the WSOP World Rankings who, if they decide to put up the $10,000 buy-in, will also get a shot at the glory.

"This marks the first time we will take the best of the best from all our events to compete against one another to determine a true WSOP National Champion," said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart.

The top 100 players in the WSOP World Rankings were determined using a formula that calculates points from playing in the 2010 WSOP and WSOPE and the 2011 WSOP and WSOPE. The players with the most points were Michael Mizrachi and Ben Lamb.

Now that they have the offer to play, will the pros show up? I believe the majority of the top 100 will play for a number of quite obvious reasons:

• The event is taking place at the WSOP, and it's a safe assumption that most of the players will be in town with no other event to play.

• Pros always look for additional value and this tournament offers a ton. Money added aside, there aren't going to be many $10,000 tournaments, besides the WSOP main event, where a significant portion of the seats are occupied by amateurs who have never played in an event with a $1 million prize pool.

• It's a televised event and there aren't many chances to get your face on TV anymore for playing poker.

• A bracelet will be awarded to the winner. For many of the top 100, a win in this event would mean they'd possess multiple bracelets.

As the final list of players had been announced, a number of players expressed their excitement. Jason Somerville was one who already confirmed his participation on Twitter saying, "I'll be there, don't see why anyone who qualified wouldn't be!"

Christian Harder echoed his statement, saying, "I'm assuming missing this even with [a $10,000] entry would be dumb?"

All additional buy-ins from the members of the top 100 will go directly to the prize pool with no fee.

The first two days of the event will be held on July 6 and 7 at the Rio in Las Vegas, and the final table will be played out on July 11. The final table will be broadcast on ESPN.

Here's the list of players who have qualified, in order of points earned: Michael Mizrachi, Ben Lamb, Shawn Buchanan, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Chris Moorman, Jonathan Duhamel, John Racener, David Baker, Frank Kassela, Richard Ashby, Steve Billirakis, Jason Somerville, Brian Rast, Daniel Idema, Eugene Katchalov, Bertrand Grospellier, Jeffrey Papola, Tristan Wade, Pius Heinz, Jason Mercier, Matthew Matros, Daniel Kelly, Sam Trickett, Michael Chow, Allen Kessler, Valdemar Kwaysser, Vladimir Shchemelev, Joseph Cheong, Men Nguyen, David Baker, Joe Ebanks, David Chiu, Owais Ahmed, Mikhail Lakhitov, Tomer Berda, Sam Stein, Mitch Schock, Eric Buchman, Miguel Proulx, Martin Staszko, Jake Cody, Christian Harder, David Peters, Daniel Alaei, Matt Jarvis, Tom Dwan, Sean Getzwiller, James Dempsey, Ian Gordon, George Lind, Will Failla, Gavin Smith, Amir Lehavot, Nick Schulman, Joshua Tieman, Alexander Kostritsyn, Mark Radoja, Allen Bari, Matt Glantz, Jarred Solomon, Maxwell Troy, David Bach, Elio Fox, Mark Schmid, Ayaz Mahmood, Nick Binger, Matt Keikoan, David Sands, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Arkadiy Tsinis, Jason Dewitt, Fabrice Soulier, Robert Mizrachi, Matt Marafioti, Steve Landfish, Maxim Lykov, Chris Bjorin, Jon Turner, Sammy Farha, John Dolan, Pascal LeFrancois, Viacheslav Zhukov, Victor Ramdin, Joshua Brikis, Nicolas Fierro, Gabriel Nassif, Scott Montgomery, Kirill Rabtsov, Jesse Rockowitz, Peter Gelencser, David Diaz, Tyler Bonkowski, Eric Cloutier, Michael Michnik, Owen Crowe, Vitaly Lunkin, Steve Sung, Eric Rodawig and Sami Kelopuro.

The list of players who currently have qualified through the WSOP Circuit can be found here. There are still six more WSOP Circuit stops remaining in the 2011-12 season.

The WSOP Circuit changes for the 2010-11 season attempted to get the pros to play on the Circuit. The pros refused and as a result, the National Championship was far from the vision the WSOP leadership had in mind. This year will be different. This time around, the WSOP has provided an offer to the pros that really might be too good to resist. The capacity for this event is 200 players and in my mind, anything less than 175 would be a disappointment.

Small blinds: One of the highlights of the WPT, the Bay 101 Shooting Star, began Monday. Alan Sternberg defeated a field of 415 players to win the event in 2011. 2010 champion McLean Karr was the first player eliminated in this year's event. … Steve O'Dwyer continued his incredible run since last July with a win at the WPT National Denmark. He defeated the field of 289 for $158,704. … PokerStars players in Poland, Romania and Slovenia have joined players in Finland and Sweden on PokerStars.eu. PokerStars is also planning on releasing "Zoom Poker" in beta this month. Zoom Poker is their version of Full Tilt's Rush Poker. … According to Wicked Chops, the parent company of the Epic Poker League, FS+G, listed 118 creditors in its bankruptcy filing with debts of approximately $7 million. … The Chicago Poker Classic main event attracetd a field of 360 players, up 20 percent from 2011.