Yesterday it was announced that there will be a “Tournament of Champions” at this summer’s World Series of Poker, reviving an event that last officially took place in 2006. The new TOC will be a 27-player freeroll tournament with a $1 million prize pool, $500,000 of which will go to the champions’ champion.

The field will include 20 players voted on via an internet poll. Only “living WSOP bracelet winners” are eligible as candidates. (No dead guys!) In his article about the event, Stephen A. Murphy notes there are currently 521 living bracelet holders.

Only one vote per email address, so ballot-box stuffing will only work to the extent that a person uses multiple emails. Voting is now open and will remain so through June 15. One can track how the voting is going by checking the current “Top 50” vote-getters (presented in random order) on the WSOP site. Should be interesting to watch that list over the next three months to see which players prove most popular.

Five more spots will be filled by the TOC winners from its last incarnation (2004-2006), Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton, plus last year’s WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada and WSOPE Main Event winner Barry Shulman. The last two seats are being reserved for “wild card exceptions” — no word as yet what that means, although Harrah’s VP Ty Stewart has said it could be that those spots will be taken by winners of online tourneys.

Sounds like the TOC, like the Main Event, will have its own delay (of sorts) insofar as the tourney is set to begin on Sunday, June 27 and then conclude on the following Sunday, July 4 (an off-day for the Main Event). This will be a televised event, too (on ESPN, natch).

I’m referring to this as TOC 3.0 because the “original” TOC — the one envisioned by Mike Sexton in the late 1990s and run from 1999-2001 at the Orleans Casino — while not specifically connected with the WSOP, not only shared the same name but had a couple of features not completely unrelated to those of the new TOC.

That original Tournament of Champions lasted for three years (1999-2001). There was an entry fee ($1,500 the first year, and $2,000 the next two), but it was not an open tournament. Rather, one earned the right to enter by various means, including winning a WSOP bracelet, winning a TOC-sanctioned event, winning the TOC itself, or being a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Reading about the original TOC online, I’ve encountered conflicting reports on those qualifications, but you get the picture. The idea was to create a “champions” event involving the best of the best — sort of like the “Tour Championship” that comes at the end of the year in golf to which only the top money winners for the year are invited.

One other nifty aspect of the original TOC — it was a mixed-game event that featured different games throughout. The first two days players rotated between limit hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, and seven-card stud. Then on the final day, the last 27 players played no-limit hold’em.

That first year, 1999, there were 664 entrants, and David Chiu was the winner, with Louis Asmo finishing second and Doyle Brunson third. There was a somewhat famous hand between Chiu and Asmo at the final table, one in which following some preflop action Chiu folded pocket kings face up, and Asmo revealed he held pocket aces. Click here to read Lee Munzer’s description of that hand, along with an interview with Asmo.

In 2000, 440 players entered the event, with a computer programmer named Spencer Sun taking the title. The great poker reporter Andy Glazer participated that year (as he did in ’99, I believe), and finished a respectable 35th. Glazer reported on the event for PokerPages, and you can read what he had to say here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

In 2001, there were 402 entries, and Brian Saltus won, defeating T.J. Cloutier heads up. Scotty Nguyen finished third, and Miami John Cernuto fourth. Lee Munzer wrote up the first day of action for PokerPages here (giving Andy Glazer a chance to concentrate on playing), then Glazer wrote up Day 2 and Day 3.

The TOC was discontinued, then the name was used again for that one-table, ten-player event won by Annie Duke in 2004. I mentioned this one last week — no entry fee, $2 million prize pool, winner-take-all. Harrah’s had recently acquired the WSOP, and as they donated the prize pool, the TOC became associated with the WSOP.

In 2005, 111 players earned their way into the event by winning either WSOP bracelets or WSOP Circuit events. A bit of a hubbub that year also as three additional players — Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan — were allowed to play as “sponsor exemptions,” and in fact all three did well, finishing 13th (Chan), 10th (Brunson), and third (Hellmuth). Mike Matusow won the event and the $1,000,000 first prize. The rest of the prize pool — another $1 million — was divided among the other eight players who made the final table.

In 2006, the TOC was reduced to a 27-player invitational tourney, with the nine WSOP Main Event final tablists and 11 WSOP Circuit event winners all playing along with seven other “exemptions.” Mike Sexton won that year, defeating Daniel Negreanu heads-up. Again, the prize pool — donated by Harrah’s — totaled $2 million, with half of that going to Sexton for winning.

Now, after a four-year hiatus, the TOC is back. Already seeing debates on Twitter and in the forums about the new format. Kind of a popularity contest, really, as far as who will primarily make up the field. But it should prove interesting nonetheless — another good buzz-creator.

I see Dr. Pauly has already shared his voting guide. Who is getting my vote? Billy Baxter FTW!

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PartyPoker.com has announced that WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, professional poker player Vanessa Rousso and French high stakes cash legend David Benyamine have joined the line-up for PartyPoker.com Premier League IV in Las Vegas from the February 12th – 18th, 2010.

Both Negreanu and Benyamine are among the most popular poker pros on the circuit, with over $12 million in combined career earnings. Rounding up the players lineup is French-American poker talent and Team PokerStars member, Vanessa Rousso, who will add a little glamour as the only female player invited to play this year’s event.

“There was only one target when selecting a female player for the league. Vanessa has become a huge force in poker and her win at the EPT High Rollers event coupled with her runners-up finish at the NBC Heads-Up Championship as well as a string of WSOP cashes has made her, in my opinion, the world’s number one female player right now.” commented Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Poker.

This year’s line up will also feature 2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton, J.C. Tran, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz, multiple WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and the newest member of Team Party Poker, Tony G. With ten players for the $100,000 buy-in Main Event already confirmed, there are now only two seats left for the Premier League IV. One seat will come from a Team Party play-off, while the final seat will go to an online poker qualifier. A total of 16 players who all fly out to Las Vegas to play in a Premier League Poker play-off to see which one of the 16 will  join 11 professional players in Premier League Poker IV. The  online qualifiers will play a short series of play-off sit & go’s in Las Vegas and the eventual winner will win a $100,000 buy-in to take part in the main Premier League event.

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We are almost there. The last day of the year. How are things stacking up for you, in terms of your win/loss total for 2009? Don’t do anything silly today to try and manipulate it into something you like better.

Me? I might play a little today, but I have a lot of other writing to do, including finishing this here recap. Following Part 1 (Jan.-Apr.) and Part 2 (May-Aug.), here’s the rest of the story:

September

In UIGEA news, a lawsuit brought by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) that challenged the law’s constitutionality was dismissed. This story was strangely spun by many (in particular, iMEGA) as good news because in rejecting the case the 3rd Circuit District Court made reference to the fact that individual states get to say what is and what is not unlawful internet gambling.

Fact was, this distinction had been noted in the UIGEA all along (i.e., this new case didn’t really change anything on that front), something I pointed out in “iMEGA Suit Claiming Unconstitutionality of UIGEA Dismissed.”

During the first part of September I was occupied with helping cover PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), and so there were a few posts this month reporting various happenings there. In the last one of those posts, I was inspired to comment on the repeat successes of guys like Daniel “djk123” Kelly, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko in “PokerStars WCOOP Concludes: It’s a Skill Game, Jo.”

Was watching the U.S. Open in there, too, and in “Matching Up Poker and Tennis” I attempt to draw an analogy that addresses the old luck-vs.-skill debate in poker. “The Poker Hall of Fame: Will Anyone Be Worthy?” notes how the new voting procedure appeared to guarantee that either no one or just one person would get in this year. And “When Winners Lose, and Losers Win” relates the story of that wild hand at EPT Barcelona between Tobias Reinkemeier and Roland de Wolfe in which de Wolfe mucked a winner.

As far as my own play was going, I was running good in August and early September, partly evidenced by “Shovels, Clovers, Valentines, and Squares” in which I tell about flopping a straight flush. Then hit a bad patch, some details of which I shared in “I Get Up, I Get Down.” I also see that I began and ended the month with a couple of posts about stack sizes in PLO: “Topping Off” and “Don’t Want No Short People ’Round Here?”

September also saw the Kahnawake Gaming Commission issue its so-called “final decision” on the UB insider cheating scandal, which I talked some about in “Final Decision on UltimateBet: None of My Business.” And, as you’ll recall, soon after came “The Sebok Surprise” in which the well-liked pro signed on with the beleaguered site.

October

The month began with the conclusion of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, in which Barry Shulman enjoyed a couple of fortunate hands against Daniel Negreanu heads up to take it down. Talk about that some in “End of Story: 2009 WSOPE Main Event Concludes.”

Then our attention gradually turned toward Vegas and the upcoming conclusion of the WSOP Main Event. On October 7 I noted there was just “One Month Left to Hype the November Nine.” I think Harrah’s, ESPN, et al. ended up doing okay during those next few weeks to get us all (and others) interested in the sucker come November. Case in point, a week later in “That’s the Way We Do It” I admit how I was starting really to get into the ESPN broadcasts of the Main Event. And near the end of October I was marveling with everyone else at that hand in which Phil Ivey mistakenly mucked his flush, giving Jordan Smith an undeserved pot in “Not Exactly Ivey League.”

These posts from October all have self-explanatory titles, I think: “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Debuts,” “The Poker Hall of Fame: Sexton Selected,” and “Kentucky Still Hoping to Be Master of Your Domains.” Well, maybe I should explain that last one. Had to do with the still-ongoing appeal of the appeal, now being considered by Kentucky’s Supreme Court, in that case regarding the commonwealth’s desire to block or seize domains hosting online gambling sites.

Then there are some posts in there with titles that definitely need explainin’. “Playing As If Your Life Depended On It” made references to both Tommy Angelo and The Seventh Seal. “Up, Up, and Away!” concerns our friend “balloon boy” (remember him?). And “Call and Response” does a little theorizin’ about the significance of blogs, Twitter, and how we use this here interweb to relate to each other.

Early in the month I made it to the movies to see a decent comedy called The Invention of Lying. I reviewed that one over on Film Chaw, then wrote about it here, too, in “First, the Invention of Lying; then, the Invention of Poker.” That post caused me to evoke James McManus’ new book (which I was reading at the time), Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker. I’d eventually review it here in “A Good Read: McManus Tells the Story of Poker.” Soon I’d additionally get the chance to review Cowboys Full more formally over on the Betfair site, where I’d also interview McManus.

November

First half of November was all about the WSOP Main Event final table. In “Post-Production is 20/20” I talked some more about Ivey’s mistake versus Jordan Smith, including sharing Barry Greenstein’s thoughts on the matter. Then in “Kopp Busted!” I talked about seeing ESPN’s coverage of another crazy hand, the one in which Billy Kopp lost it all to Darvin Moon with just a dozen players left.

Then we finally got there. In “2009 November Nine Just Hours Away… Time for Special Tactics!” I talked a bit about Phil Hellmuth saying he’d coached Jeff Shulman to employ a “special tactic” to “shock the world.” Then I gave an overview of the nine players at the final table in “2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table: Welcome Back, November Nine.”

Discussed that bizarro Hand No. 90 in which Darvin Moon made the big bluff then folded for next-to-nothing to Steve Begleiter in “Moon Begs the Question… WTF?” Wrote about the heads-up match a bit in “Comeback Kid Cada 2009 WSOP Main Event Champ,” then a few days later offered “Kudos to Cada: WSOP Champ on Letterman.” A final November Nine post, “Looking Back: 2009 WSOP November Nine on ESPN,” includes a list of the 32 (of 364) final table hands that made it into the two-and-a-half hour long ESPN broadcast.

You’ll recall it was just a few days later we learned “Pollack Moves On, WSOP Commish Seat Open.” Harrah’s still hasn’t filled that seat, and toward the end of the month I asked “Does the WSOP Need a Commish?”

Let’s see… the weird-ass juxtaposition of the month award goes to the post “The Sklansky Minute and John Cage’s Indeterminacy.” (See that one for yourself, if yr curious.) And “$1,356,946.50” relates how I happened to have been railing Isidur1 and Patrik Antonius when I saw them play the biggest pot in online poker history.

As the month concluded, we American online poker players were all fretting about the upcoming December 1 deadline for enforcement of the UIGEA. I wrote “The Door is Closing: Hoping for UIGEA Delay,” then the next day (Thanksgiving) got to say “Thankful, I Am” as we’d heard that indeed there’d be a six-month postponement of the deadline.

December

Month began with that House hearing on online gambling, discussed in “Talking Online Poker: House Hearing Today.” Then everybody put the subject on hold. ’Cos, you know, there was shopping to do. Oh, and that health care thing.

Read a couple more poker books near year’s end, both autobiographies. I’d review Doyle Brunson’s The Godfather of Poker over at Betfair, but also wrote a piece here — “Doyle Brunson’s Confessions” — in which I talked about how the book reminded me more than once of St. Augustine’s autobiography. (Not saying Doyle’s a saint, haha!) I also wrote here a “Poker Book Review: Victoria Coren’s For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair With Poker” — a funny, even “literary” book I’d think should appeal to any poker player who likes good storytelling.

Opined a bit on Scott Huff and Joe Sebok’s new Fox Sports show in “Poker2Nite Brings Poker to the World.” The post “Speaking of Poker: What You Can and Cannot Say, Part II” is also about their show, revisiting an old topic regarding the conflict between online poker sponsorships and television.

Mid-month saw the “2010 WSOP Schedule Announced,” inspiring a bit of photshopping (see below). In much less significant news, I finally got response to my repeated requests to UltimateBet which I related in “The Rest of the Story (UB Hand Histories).”

Of course, the big poker story in December was the ongoing Isildur1 saga, and I wrote about it a few times here.

“Out of This World: The Isildur1 Saga Continues” discusses Patrik Antonius’s interview with Phil Gordon about the mystery man while also pointing to some other stories then swirling about. In “Loving Life, Defying Death” I talked about railing Isildur1 a bit while also referring back to Doyle Brunson’s book (and the weird, repeated joke of some railbirds prematurely announcing Texas Dolly’s death). “Digging for Gold (Mining Isildur1)” took up the new controversy regarding the CardRunners guys’ collecting info about the sneaky Swede. Then came PokerNews’ interview with Isildur1 in which revealed he planned to pursue a “formal complaint.” I suggested “Grab Your Popcorn (Isildur1 v. Full Tilt).”

So that’s what’s been happenin’ here. No telling at the moment what 2010 will be like for yr humble gumshoe, but I imagine continuing to scribble away here will most definitely be part of the plan.

Big thanks again to everyone for coming around here and for all of the nice feedback. Be sure and make contact again in 2010. Have a safe and happy new year, all!

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Officials of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) have informed that film, television and stage star Perry King will be joining the 2009 AMA weekend event in Las Vegas to serve as host and emcee at the 2009 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony  taking place on Saturday, December 5th, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

King, a longtime motorcyclist and a member of the AMA Board of Directors, will introduce the candidates and present this year’s inductees at the annual AMA Ceremony. The list of inductees for this year’s ceremony include industry innovator Robert Bates, off-road champion Randy Hawkins, motorsports giants Bob and Geoff Fox, engineering pioneer Gilles Vaillancourt, off-highway rights activist Mona Ehnes, motorcycle safety proponent David Hough, race team manager Gary Mathers and dirt-track racer Chuck Palmgren.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have someone of Perry King’s stature emcee our 2009 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Here’s a guy who has enjoyed great success and is very busy in his daily life, and yet he finds the time to be with us because he is a life-long rider and he understands the significance of what we are doing.” said AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman.

The induction ceremony is part of the 2009 AMA Weekend in Las Vegas. Other events include the 2009 AMA Racing Championship Banquet, presented by KTM North America on December 4th and the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Concours d’Elegance, presented by FOX Racing Shox on December 5th , in where guests and attendees will have the chance to check some of the most beautiful motorcycles in existence and meet the 2009 Hall of Fame inductees and other Hall of Famers at an autograph session held earlier in the day.

Tickets for the AMA Racing Championship Banquet and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, can be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office on the day of the event. Ticket purchase includes dinner each night, and costs $59 (plus a service charge) per person per single event, or $99 (plus a service charge) per person for both events. Admission to the Hall of Fame autograph session and the Concours d’Elegance, presented by FOX Racing Shox, is free.

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This year’s World Series of Poker is the grandest yet with 8,773 players in the field, and an astounding 1st place prize of $12 million. At this moment, 85 players are left, with Joseph Hachem being the last WSOP Champion eliminated, just prior to Daniel Negreanu, each winning $42,882.

The women poker players accounted for 3% of the field this year, while about 30% of the spectators, by my count, were women. Susan “Sabyl” Cohen is the last woman remaining with a little over $1 million in chips, and Annie Duke was eliminated in 88th place, in the money at $51,129. Debra Lalor was bumped out at 117th, also winning $51,129.

ESPN provided coverage of the WSOP this year, and those of you who don’t want to wait for the WSOP to be released in the fall line-up, take heart! ESPN will be airing the Final Table of the 2006 WSOP on “pay-for-view” TV this August 10th, so pay close attention to your TV guide if you don’t want to miss it.

There were three reasons I went to the WSOP this year, first and foremost being the WSOP, of course. Secondly, due to all the personal health problems with my family and friends, I simply needed to unplug as a support line. Thirdly, and probably most pressing, I needed to check out towns in Nevada where I could move to. You see, where I live in Washington State, it’s now illegal to not only bet & play poker online, it is also illegal to even write about poker online; talk about a major violation of our 1st Amendment right to free speech, but I’ll touch on that later on in this article.

Meeting the poker players was actually allot easier than I had anticipated, as most of them are very approachable; somewhat like running into Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones on Park Avenue in New York City? I say ‘somewhat’ in that if you run into Keith, you’re likely to be able to chat & walk a bit with him, whereas at the WSOP, time is crunched into playing & very short breaks, so the players don’t really have a whole lot of time for socializing with their fans.

While attending a press conference for the new poker movie, “Lucky You”, starring Drew Barrymore, and poker greats Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman, I had the good fortune to sit next to, and speak with Joseph Hachem, who was there in the capacity of reigning WSOP Champion.

During the press conference, hosted by the new WSOP VP Jeffery Pollack, poker legends T.J. Cloutier and Billy Baxter were inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, and along with Joseph Hachem, took questions from the audience. The big question, who felt they would win the WSOP, and both TJ & Joseph replied that they’d be happy just to make it past day 1.

One reporter errantly ‘accused’ Joseph Hachem of having made it to last year’s WSOP via an online satellite, and was quickly rebuffed by Joseph as needing to “get your facts straight”. Actually, Joseph has been a professional poker player for over 10/years, and put up the $10,000 entry fee himself last year.

While briefly walking and talking with Joseph while heading to the Amazon Room I asked him how his two handsome sons were dealing with his being rich overnight. He smiled and said they were taking it in stride, and basically “just being kids”. I said it sounded to me like he raised them right then, and he said, “Exactly!” We were then separated by the many fans wanting to get snapshots with the WSOP World Champion.

After that I met the new WSOP Tournament Manager, Robert Daily, had a brief chat with Doyle Brunson, and while talking with newfound friends from Sun Poker at the Cryptologic lounge, I was able to interact, again briefly, with Scotty Nguyen. Great guy Scotty, and he definitely has a super attitude, “Just have fun, baby!”

That’s exactly what I was doing too, having fun, that is if you don’t count the technical difficulties I had attempting to update my sites (unsuccessfully) and losing a full disk of great photographs; my bad.

Concluded next article ….

Kurt

Editors Note: I’m Kurt, the publisher and editor of the ComKings network, which includes: PokerNewsweb, PokerAllstar, and GamingInvesting.