Three Players to Watch Here in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship
The 2014 WSOP's incarnation of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship is underway, but prior to its start PokerNews put together a list of players to look out for as things get up and running. The original list, which can be viewed here, is comprised of eight players, but here we're only going to examine three of them (courtesy of Marty Derbyshire), all of whom are currently in the field.
George Danzer
If you haven't heard the name George Danzer at the 2014 WSOP already, you simply haven't been paying attention.
Danzer has two bracelet wins and has jumped out to a 300-plus point lead in the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year race. The bracelets came in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and $10,000 Seven Card Razz events, games that are both a part of the Players Championship eight-game mix. Plus, Danzer placed fifth in the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and narrowly missed another final table finishing ninth in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed event.
If there's anybody that's prepared for this event, it's Danzer.
"How about George Danzer?" said 2011 $50,000 Poker Players Championship winner Brian Rast. "This is a guy that is playing well and running well. That's what you're looking for."
Calvin Anderson
With a summer that already includes a bracelet win in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and final table appearances in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and $10,000 H.O.R.S.E, a lot of the sharps are all over Calvin Anderson in an event like the $50k Poker Players Championship.
"Calvin Anderson is a guy who has been playing well all series," said Rast. "I played with him for a little while in the Dealers Choice. He plays all the games. That's really key: Knowing all the games."
Anderson also started the series with a deep run in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max event and is coming off a big 2013 WSOP where he had six cashes in everything from six-handed no-limit Hold'em to 2-7 triple draw lowball.
Benjamin Yu
Benjamin Yu is not exactly a household name. But with deep runs in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E, $10,000 H.O.R.S.E, $1,500 Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball and $1,500 Seven Card Razz event already this year, his is a name that is certainly on the radar of the mixed-game specialists here in Las Vegas.
Dating back to 2008, Yu has collected a total of 20 WSOP cashes for $268,524 and put the mixed-game world on notice in April of this year with a runner-up finish in the PokerStars European Poker Tour's H.O.R.S.E Championships at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.