We’re starting our World Series of Poker countdown a bit earlier this year; usually we get a jump on this about 10 days out but this time around we’re going to bring you even more news, notes, information, opinions, odds & ends, and history of poker’s premier tournament series.

The first topic we’re going to tackle will be potential Triple Crown candidates.

Poker’s Triple Crown consists of three titles: A World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship; a European Poker Tour (EPT) Championship; and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Bracelet. The WSOP bracelet is the easiest leg of the Triple Crown to come by, simply because of the sheer number awarded every year –in 2013 some 75 WSOP bracelets will be awarded. Compare this to the 10 or so chances a player has each year to win a WPT or EPT tournament. Furthermore, EPT and WPT tournaments take place around the globe over the course of the year, whereas the bulk of the WSOP bracelets awarded are confined mainly to six-weeks in Las Vegas.

So far only five men have managed to accomplish the championship trifecta, and one of them has an asterisk next to his Triple Crown:

* Gavin Griffin – Completed the Triple Crown in 2008

* Roland De Wolfe– Completed the Triple Crown in 2009

* Jake Cody– Completed the Triple Crown in 2011

* Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier– Completed the Triple Crown in 2011

* David Kitai*– Completed the Triple Crown in 2012

Three Potential Players who can become Triple Crown winners at the 2013 WSOP:

Roberto Romanello

* 2010 EPT Prague Champion

* 2011 WPT Bratislava Champion

Romanello came really close to claiming the Triple Crown at last year’s WSOP when he final tabled the $3,000 NLHE Shootout tournament before finishing in 7th place, and then nearly accomplished the feat a few months later when he finished 5th in the €2,500 6-Max NLHE tournament at the WSOP Europe tournament series.

Andrey Pateychuk

* 2011 EPT San Remo Champion

* 2011 WPT Prague Champion

Pateychuk has had very little success in WSOP tournaments during his short career, but when he does make a deep-run he seems to do it at the right time, evidenced by his 15th place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Moritz Kranich

* 2009 EPT Deauville Champion

* 2010 WPT Bellagio Cup VI Champion

Kranich is one of the numerous talented young German players overrunning the tournament poker world in recent years, and despite having just a single WSOP cash on his poker resume, for Kranich it was almost enough to land him the Triple Crown as he finished 3rd in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event.

Resources: www.thehendonmob.com

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Poker News. 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.