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The 2012 World Series Of Poker

The 2012 World Series of Poker featured 61 total events, including the world-famous Main Event. The WSOP continues to enjoy enormous popularity year after year. Once again, the event took place at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino. Contrary to popular belief, the Rio isn’t located in Las Vegas but in Paradise, Nevada. This town lies within the Las Vegas area, home to the world-famous Las Vegas Strip.

Massive participation and prize pool

Over 75,000 entrants competed for a total prize pool of over $192 million. This event remains the pinnacle of the poker world. Every summer, the WSOP becomes the poker Mecca, and this year was no exception.

The 2012 WSOP Main Event was the fifth largest live poker event in history. While participation peaked in 2006 before the UIGEA’s limiting factors, fears that online poker industry troubles would end the WSOP’s glory days proved unfounded. The poker world demonstrated once again that the WSOP is too big and popular to be significantly affected.

The inaugural One Drop tournament

One of the most exciting events of this year’s WSOP was the inaugural One Drop tournament. This event required a buy-in of one million dollars. Forty-eight poker players and high-profile businessmen competed for the biggest prize in WSOP history—over 18 million dollars. This was double the WSOP Main Event winner’s prize this year and over 6 million more than Jamie Gold’s 2006 Main Event win.

This tournament also offered the WSOP’s first Platinum bracelet, valued at approximately $350,000. A significant portion of the profits from this tournament was donated to provide safe and clean drinking water to those in need.

Big names and wealthy amateurs

The tournament featured many big names and wealthy amateurs seeking fame and fortune. The lineup included accomplished pros like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Galfond, Ben Lamb, Brian Rast, Sam Trickett, Daniel Negreanu, Eric Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, and Gus Hansen. Additionally, former WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel, WSOP TV host Mike Sexton, and poker legend Bobby Baldwin participated.

The final table

The final table consisted of Esfandiari, Hellmuth, Baldwin, Rast, Trickett, Sexton, Cirque du Soleil founder and tournament creator Guy Laliberte, Chinese businessman Richard Yong, and American businessman David Einhorn. The mix included famous poker players, young pros, an old-timer, and wealthy amateurs looking to make a statement.

The tournament was more upbeat and relaxed than usual for the WSOP, despite the high stakes. Players were often seen clowning around and showing their mucked hands. The event was entertaining to watch and had a generally good atmosphere.

Antonio Esfandiari’s Win

Antonio Esfandiari hadn’t planned to enter this tournament due to the high buy-in. However, he had a good feeling about it and decided to take the risk for the potential reward.

After all the cards were dealt, Esfandiari walked away with the title, the platinum bracelet, and $18,346,673. Sam Trickett finished second, and billionaire David Einhorn, the top amateur, finished third. Einhorn donated his entire prize of over $4.3 million to charity.

The October Nine

The 2012 WSOP final table, known as the October Nine this year, was determined. The final table was moved up to late October due to the US election in early November.

Nine players will compete for the championship, having survived thousands of original entrants. All final table entrants are guaranteed a significant prize. The exact amount will depend on the final two days of action, which we eagerly await.

Please follow the link to find out more aboutthe 2012 final nine.