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Maria Ho has never been placed on the same pedestal for her poker abilities at the top women poker professionals like Vanessa Selbst or Annette Obrestad. She is looked upon more as a poker babe who adds glamour to the game. However, every now and then Maria comes up with a performance that leaves the best of her gender behind. In WSOP 2011 Maria reached the heads up in the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event. Though she lost to Allen Bari, she took home $540,020, which was the largest prize won by a woman in any WSOP event ever. The beach party she threw to celebrate that win is still talked about.

Now, in the currently concluded WSOPE Main Event in Cannes, Maria once again found herself in familiar territory. In the WSOP 2007 Main Event Maria gained fame and prestige as the last woman standing. She repeated the feat in the WSOPE 2011 Main Event. In 2007 Maria had finished 38th and had won $237,865. This time she finished higher up at the 27th spot but won only €32,000. This is because of the smaller field in the European Event.

The next poker babe in the WSOPE Main Event was a relatively unknown Melanie Weisner. Melanie hails from Texas and holds a bachelors degree in music from NYU. She hit the WSOP circuit only last year and has eight cashes to her name. Her 33rd place in the WSOPE Main Event earned her €27,500, her largest win till date. Following these two poker babes was Liv Boeree in the 36th place with a prize of €27,500. Many would say that Liv has the perfect blend of glamour and poker playing abilities. However Liv has never been able to repeat her €1.25 million San Remo EPT win of April 2010.

For the sake of completeness, the WSOPE 2011 Main Event was won by Elio Fox of the United States. His share of the prize pool was €1.4 million. In the heads up Fox beat Chris Moorman of Great Britain. Moorman took home €800,000. Now all eyes in the poker world are on the November Nine. Will Martin Staszko be able to defend his chip lead?

The formal announcement from WSOP released last week read, “After a public nomination process on WSOP.com and a vetting of all nominations by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, the finalists list eligible for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2011 has been determined.” The names in alphabetical order are Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Linda Johnson, John Juanda, Marcel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen and Huckleberry Seed.

There is only one woman who has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. She is poker babe Barbara Enright, who was inducted in 2007. Barbara is the only woman to have advanced to the final table of the WSOP Main Event and was the first woman to win an open event at WSOP.

Now three poker babes are hoping that one or more of them will join Barbara in this elite company by the year end. Jennifer Harman-Traniello and Linda Johnson were short listed in 2010 as well but did not receive the final nod. Jennifer obviously has the qualifications required but of late has been more in the news for things other than her poker. Last year she campaigned for votes to enter the Tournament of Champions on You Tube using a video that graciously displayed her décolletage (see picture). Then there was the story of Jennifer, Todd Brunson and their dogs.

Linda Johnson is more likely to get the honors than Jennifer. Linda is known as “The First Lady of Poker” and has been on the circuit for more than 30 years. Apart from her poker game she has worked to improve the atmosphere in card rooms and casinos and fought against player harassment and abuse at the card table. Linda started the CardPlayer Magazine, set up the Tournament Directors Association and founded PokerGives, a nonprofit organization that makes it easier for poker players to donate to charity.

Of the three poker babes in the running, Annie Duke has the most realistic chance of being inducted and that is because she is the most visible face. She was the brand ambassador for Absolute Poker and left just before the fiasco with the Department of Justice. She is presently in the limelight as a prime mover of the Federated Sports and Gaming, which is in the news for its Epic Poker League and for enforcing a code of conduct on poker players.

Five years ago the United States was the undisputed power center of global poker. Over the last few years the center has shifted eastwards. Today European poker is on equal footing, if not one step ahead of America, especially in view of Black Friday. PokerStars has many more European players on its roster than ever before and it has just said goodbye to three big American names – Dennis Phillips, Tom McEvoy and Bill Chen. In the WSOP 2011 Main Event November Nine only three players are from America and six are from Europe.

The time is ripe for an America versus Europe contest and Caesars is organizing just that during the upcoming WSOPE in October. Caesars Cup, as the event is being called, will be held on October 19 at the Casino Barriere de Cannes. Planned for the television coverage, the Caesars Cup will feature a contest between a European team and an American team. Each team will consist of five top players. The American team will be captained by none other than Phil Hellmuth. Apart from his television brand value Hellmuth is the current WSOP Player of the Year leader. The European team captain has been nominated as the Frenchman Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (see picture), probably because the event is being held in France. Hellmuth and Grospellier will select four additional team members. These names will be announced in due course.

The Caesars Cup will feature poker in the No-Limit Hold’em format. The two teams will participate in a series of unique partner and heads up formats, with points awarded for each victory. The formats have been designed to include alternate betting and other non-traditional elements so as to enhance the interest level for television viewers. The Caesars Cup will be played in a best of five format, with the first team to reach three points being declared the winner.

This is not the inaugural Caesars Cup. The event was played in London during the WSOPE 2009. Then Team Europe, captained by former WSOPE Main Event champion Annette Obrestad, defeated Team Americas, captained by Daniel Negreanu and featuring greats like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey. WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said, “Team Americas has a score to settle after what most considered a colossal upset in London. You see a real rivalry developing as European players continue to win more tournaments around the world.” Hopefully the Caesars Cup will now become an annual event.

WSOP is the grandest annual poker event. There had been questions raised about the success of 2011 WSOP because it was preceded by the crash of the three biggest online poker sites in America. As 2011 WSOP unfolded it became apparent that the cause for concern was unfounded. But now the official statistics are out and there can be no denying the success of 2011 WSOP.

The official release from WSOP states, “The 42nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) presented by Jack Links Beef Jerky at the Rio-All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas established a host of new records as poker enthusiasts from more than 100 nations traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the game’s grandest spectacle.” The total number of entries was a record highest at 75,672, which was 3.7% more than the previous record set last year. Similarly the 2011 WSOP prize pool of $191,999,010 was the largest in WSOP history, surpassing last year’s prize pool by 2.6%. It is true that the flagship Main Event did take a bit of a hit. The starting field was only the third highest. This was understandable because Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars sponsor their online players mostly in April and May, and that was the time they were out of action.

There has been some criticism about the final table of the Main Event. There is a lack of big names and this will have a negative impact on the following when the final table resumes in November. The only big name to stay away was Phil Ivey. The others were eliminated and this cannot be helped. The poker industry should concentrate on the positives. The chip counts are among the closest ever and this will lead to more intense competition. It should make up for the lack of fan following. Also the final table has only three American players, probably the lowest ever. This means that the global participation is growing, which is good for the game.

One of the endearing moments of 2011 WSOP was the participation of 91-year-old Ellen Deeb in the Main Event. She got eliminated on Day 1C and immediately pulled out $10,000 cash from her purse to try and re-enter the tournament. As per the rules she was not allowed and will have to wait till 2012 WSOP to play again.

While the poker world is preoccupied with the Main Event at WSOP 2011, the online poker room PokerStars is chugging away. The tribulations of the recent months following Black Friday have slowed down the progress on the Road to 100 Billion, but have not deterred it from the path.

The next mega milestone on the road to 100 billion is 65 million. The payouts will begin from the 64.7 billionth hand. Thereafter every millionth hand milestone will award prizes to the participants in that hand with the 65 millionth hand awarding mega prizes. Players dealt into a milestone hand win a cash prize of $50 for every VIP Player Point they earned in the previous 50 hands played on that table in addition to a base prize of $50. The winner of the milestone hand will get the prize doubled. There will be 300 regular milestone hands before the 65th billion mega milestone hand. In the mega milestone hand, all players dealt in will be rewarded $500 for every VPP earned in the previous 50 hands plus a base prize of $500. The winner of the mega milestone will have his prize money doubled, and will also receive a bonus of $65,000.

The first milestone hand is expected to be dealt on Monday, July 18. The mega milestone hand has been forecast to be dealt around Tuesday, July 25. This promises a bonanza week for PokerStars players. The 60 billionth mega milestone hand was dealt on March 22 and was won by “Pogo650” from the Isle of Man. He took home $102,090 at a $5/$10 Limit Hold’em table. The other players dealt in the hand each collected between $11,040 and $21,045 depending on their VPPs, and close to $200,000 was awarded in total.

Like other indicted online poker rooms, PokerStars has had subdued representation at the WSOP 2011 Main Event. Its most high profile representative Daniel Negreanu finished 211th position with a cash prize of $47,107. PokerStars has come out of its crisis in an admirable manner. It has paid back players in full. Its licensor in the Isle of Man has assured all customers that their funds are safe and that it fully supports PokerStars.