LAS VEGAS (AP) — After 3½ months of reflection and study, nine card sharks are returning to Las Vegas to settle the $8.72 million title at the World Series of Poker.
Play in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event was expected to start Sunday with its final nine players — the top finishers from a field of 6,865 entrants who started in July.
Gambling expert RJ Bell of Pregame.com says casino sports books in Las Vegas think it’s anyone’s game to win.
Bell says that after factoring out adjustments for betting fees, casinos in Las Vegas were giving chip leader Martin Stazko of the Czech Republic a 17 percent chance of winning — best among the nine final table participants. Stazko has nearly 20 percent of all the chips in play at the table before the final table begins.
But Bell said four contenders — Eoghan O’Dea, Ben Lamb, Phil Collins and Matt Giannetti — ranged between 12 percent and 15 percent in the opinion of sports books.
Todd Fuhrman, a sports betting analyst with Caesars Entertainment Corp., told The Associated Press that gambling on the series’ main event — allowable for the first time this year under state gambling laws — has been totally balanced, though far less popular than other sports, like football.
"Can’t quite figure out who ‘sharp’ money is backing," Fuhrman said.
In Sin City, sharps are bettors who spend a lot of time studying betting odds and lines and try to take advantage of perceived weaknesses.
At the series on Sunday, the players will be looking at any edges they can get.
Also competing are Sam Holden, Pius Heinz, Anton Makiievskyi and Badih Bounahra. The entrants are from seven different countries: the United States, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Belize,Ukraineand the Czech Republic.
The finale will play out nearly live on television and on the Internet, with ESPN airing and streaming the action with just enough of a delay to satisfy gambling regulators that players won’t be able to cheat.
Millions are at stake, but the chips in play won’t have any direct monetary value. Each player already staked $10,000 to get into the tournament in July. A player must lose all his chips to be eliminated from the tournament, but must win all the chips in play to win. The top eight finalists will get at least $1 million in total prize money; each was given a ninth place payout of $782,115 in July and is playing for the difference paid to higher finishers this weekend. The ninth place finisher will get no more money.
As the tournament progresses, minimum bets creep higher every two hours, tightening the pressure on players who continually find their chips weren’t worth as much as before.
Six eliminations were expected Sunday and early Monday, with three finalists returning Tuesday to play for the title.
