WSOP Big One for One Drop: Negreanu In, Hellmuth Maybe

A stellar cast of pros will return to the felt for the 2014 Big One for One Drop (Image: OneDrop.org)

Daniel Negreanu and Isaac Haxton topped the recent list of players confirmed for this year’s Big One for One Drop. The $1 million WSOP event is less than a week away, and following a flurry of registration activity, the total number of players has now reached 41.

WSOP released the names of 11 of the latest participants, and among the hopefuls is one of the game’s top-ranked tournament players, Daniel Negreanu. After some uncertainty over whether or not he would play, the vegan poker pro decided to sell off some of his action before committing to the event.

After a few weeks of silence (and presumably behind the scenes negotiating), Negreanu finally confirmed his participation, and will now be looking towards the kick off on June 29th.

Bigger and Better

This year’s $1 million buy-in tournament is shaping up to be a highly lucrative affair, thanks to the organizers’ decision to increase the maximum number of players from 48 to 56. Indeed, if that target is reached (and with under a week to go, it’s still a possibility), the top prize will be an impressive $20 million.

Not only will that top the $18,346,673 Antonio Esfandiari banked when he won the last incarnation of the tournament back in 2012, but it will make it the single largest tournament prize in history.

In an effort to ensure the charity-minded tournament reaches its capacity the WSOP will be running a series of super satellites inside the Rio from June 26th. Costing as little as $200, the qualifiers will culminate with a $25,300 satellite that will give away at least one entry to the Big One for One Drop.

A Murderers’ Row of MTT Killers

Also listed on the latest batch of tournament One Drop entrants is: Daniel Cates, Daniel Colman, Tom Hall, Isaac Haxton, “Anonymous Businessman”, John Morgan, Greg Merson, Daniel Negreanu, Doug Polk, Scott Seiver, and Talal Shakerchi.

One player who is notable by his absence from the recently updated roster of 41 hopefuls currently is Phil Hellmuth. Despite a positive start to this year’s WSOP – a start which includes a second place finish in Event #7 – Phil has not yet put his money where his mouth is.

However, the Poker Brat is keen to play the tournament and recently took to Twitter in search of backers. Reiterating that he finished fourth in 2012 (a result which netted him $2,645,333), Phil is willing to give away 9 percent of his action for a $100,000 investment.

Whether or not he attracts enough support remains to be seen, but with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Cates and Isaac Haxton all looking for glory, he certainly won’t have an easy ride if he does make it to the felt.

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