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Fantasy poker, anyone?

Epic.

I think that’s the best word I could use to explain the hour-long conference call with some of the game’s most entertaining minds. The sixth annual ESPN.com fantasy poker draft may have been my favorite one yet, and honestly, it was probably due to the inclusion of Dwyte Pilgrim. Emerging as one of the stars of the World Series of Poker Circuit, Pilgrim hit the big time with a major World Poker Tour victory last fall and rightfully earned his spot in the draft this year. As you’ll see below, his inclusion was a change in dynamic that not everyone expected. All said and done, he was a much-welcomed addition.

The 2010 champion was none other than self-proclaimed fantasy poker expert and PokerNews writer Chad Holloway, who definitely backed up his claims with a win. His early-WSOP pickup of a certain Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was a big transaction, and his main event final table led him to emerge victorious.

This year we had 11 teams in contention. The only new participant was Pilgrim. That meant there were 10 fantasy poker veterans ready for another shot at glory and bragging rights. The managers this year included professional poker players Pilgrim, Daniel Negreanu, Eric Baldwin, Bernard Lee, Mark Seif and Dennis Phillips; Gary Wise and me from ESPN.com; Bluff editor-in-chief Lance Bradley; Chops from RisePoker and WickedChopsPoker; and defending champion Holloway. 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 what players were omitted.

Best of luck to all the teams and all the players at the WSOP. Every team can make one add/drop as the WSOP progresses, and as seen by Holloway’s decision with Mizrachi, it can truly make the difference.

My thoughts: Wow. First of all, my fault for not taping this draft, as the comedic value during the first round was through the roof. Pilgrim started off by saying he’s taking a man who has changed his life and selects Baldwin. Baldwin then responds with, “Really?” Nobody expected that at all, but Pilgrim says he’s playing with heart and will choose his team in that fashion.

Best value: Holloway — Ivey. He should’ve gone first overall, and anything other than that is a steal. That he dropped to second was a gift to Holloway, but many still are wondering just how much Ivey will play this WSOP. Even if he plays half the events, Ivey will play the ones that count for double in this competition.

Biggest stretch: Seif — Seif. Mark was at a disadvantage and caught up with his picks at the end of Round 2. He was flustered after continuing to select people who had already gone and didn’t know where else to turn so he picked himself. Seif hasn’t had the best WSOP record recently, but this might be the year he turns everything around.

My thoughts: A wide variety of players were selected in this round. We have vets in the Nguyens, Hellmuth and Lisandro; plus some young stars in Katchalov, Shorr, Kostritsyn and Dwan. Overall, a solid round in which the teams selected those that will be playing in all the big events.

Best value: Negreanu — Alaei. I’m not sure what this guy needs to do to get selected higher, but year after year Alaei produces. Last year he won his third bracelet and made the final table of the Players’ Championship. One of the best in the game who consistently doesn’t get the recognition he’s earned.

Biggest stretch: Lee — Shorr. Now, this isn’t a knock on Shorr in the least, but I think that he would’ve lasted a few more rounds. Shorr has had great success this year and perhaps his hot hand forced Lee’s decision to take him early. If Shorr comes through with a mixed-game final table, I think Lee gets great value out of his second pick.

My thoughts: This round was a real surprise to me. Many selections, including my own, probably weren’t the best, but all these players have had success on a big stage and can produce well for third-round picks.

Best value: Lee — Giang. Everyone was looking for the players who are a lock to play in the $10,000 events. Giang is definitely one of them. He’s ninth on the all-time WSOP cashes list with 56 and was a great selection at this spot.

Biggest stretch: Holloway — Frankenberger. Yes, I’ve been singing this guy’s praise for the past week as he won the WPT Player of the Year title, but Frankenberger is a WSOP rookie. He’s never been through the grind; said he wouldn’t play if he’s not 100 percent focused; and doesn’t play non-no-limit hold ‘em events. Those are three pretty big warning signs to me.

My thoughts: I felt this was one of the more interesting rounds of the draft just based on the types of players that were chosen. We have a lot of young stars in this round, but many of those stars focus on only one game.

Best value: Bradley — “Bakes” Baker. Baker locked up his first bracelet last year in the 2-7 World Championship. He’s extremely bright, dedicated to improving and plays in the highest buy-ins available. A great pick by Bradley late in the fourth round.

Biggest stretch: Chops — Pilgrim. I’m going to hear about it for writing this one, but if you look at all of Pilgrim’s cashes, all but one of them have come in no-limit hold ‘em. World shocker or not, Pilgrim needs to be more of an all-around player to be selected in the fourth round.

My thoughts: I love a lot of these picks. There were so many talented players selected in the fifth round that I think every team will be happy with the results. Many of the players selected in this round probably could have gone higher based on their excellence in mixed games and high-stakes events.

Best value: Wise — Schulman. I immediately regretted not taking Schulman after Wise made his pick. Schulman has the potential to do it all and already owns a WSOP bracelet. Last year he finished seventh in the $10,000 HORSE and ninth in the $50,000 Players’ Championship.

Biggest stretch: Lee — Jaka. I already said I liked all the picks here, and finding the biggest stretch in this round was tough. I think Jaka is one of the elite no-limit hold ‘em players in the world, but that’s where it ends. Zero non-no-limit hold ‘em cashes in his career limits his potential in this type of league and, while he may be playing in all the big no-limit events, Lee could miss a lot of value elsewhere.

My thoughts: Bookended by two of the more memorable players around, Chad Brown and Allen Kessler, this round presented a lot of surprises and a lot of potential. Chris Ferguson went from a top-10 pick in 2010 to the 63rd overall this year, but with concerns of his attendance at the WSOP, he continued to fall. Phillips took a flier on him and if Ferguson does play a full schedule, he’ll be rewarded.

Best value: Baldwin — “The Original” David Baker. For the first time in the draft’s history, two players with the same name were taken, and Baldwin picked a great one. Baker finished 17th in the 2010 WSOP main event and made seven total cashes for more than $700,000. He’s skilled in a variety of games and is probably one of the best without a bracelet .

Biggest stretch: Feldman — Oppenheim. There were a lot of questionable selections in this round, but I’ll rag on myself for a bit. Oppenheim isn’t always around the tournament felt. He’s a cash-game star, and the only way I’ll get a big showing from him is if he’s able to come through in one of the few events he plays. Then again, he could surprise me and be very active at the Rio this summer. (Please?!)

My thoughts: This is the round in which everyone began to look deep on his list and hope for someone big to come through. We have a number of players this round that probably aren’t on the radar of the casual poker fan, but that’s why drafting these teams is always interesting.

Best value: Bradley — Bjorin. Year after year, all this guy does is cash. Eight cashes in 2010, six cashes in 2009 and seven cashes in 2008. He’s a veteran who plays all the games and never seems to want to stop. He’s closing in on $5 million in career earnings and is sixth all-time in WSOP cashes. Great choice in the seventh round.

Biggest stretch: Pilgrim — Elias*. First off, there’s an asterisk next to his name because Pilgrim said he needed to have one. Elias had three cashes last year and recently won a small event down in Florida. Clearly not the most well-known player in this draft, but Pilgrim is confident he’ll come through.

My thoughts: Yueqi Zhu? Who? Negreanu was confident that we’d know him shortly, and this was his “secret” pick. This last round went in a very interesting direction and, really, I think only a few people made the best with their last pick. That said, there’s 58 events to be played.

Best value: Holloway — Mizzi. I’m sure Negreanu will argue that his boy Zhu is the man, but considering I don’t know a ton about him, I’m giving the nod to Holloway. Mizzi, the 2010 Bluff Player of the Year, hasn’t been lighting it up to the extent he was a year ago, but with Mizzi you know that you’ll get a lot of action throughout the summer.

Biggest stretch: Pilgrim — Brikis. Pilgrim didn’t care about name recognition. He didn’t care about proving anything in this draft. He took the players he knew would have a lot of heart and determination. It might not be enough, but you have to respect why he made this selection. He said Brikis is playing for his career this summer, so a poor showing would mean a lot more than just failing in a tournament. The motivation is there, but can Brikis follow through? We’ll be watching.

There you go. Eleven teams and 88 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.

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.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 29th, 2011 and is filed under Gambling Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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