Who I am Betting On To Win The WSOP Main Event

7 years ago
Who To Bet On To Win The WSOP Main Event
12:32
31 Aug

As fun as it is for the November 9 finalists to fight for life-changing prize money and a first prize of $8,000,000, the rest of us can only watch and wait to see which player eventually comes through and takes the prize.

In order to make things a little more fun, it is normal for poker players to add a bit of interest to the proceedings by betting, either via cash bets or prop bets, on their tips for the title. NutsBet has found a clever way to leverage that audience by expanding their betting markets to poker and they now provide odds on all of the main poker events from around the world like the World Poker Tour (WPT), the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and many more. Once play begins, you can follow the action via live feeds.

Betting with a company like NutsBet always reassures me that rather than worrying about whether my friends will pay up if my bet wins, all I have to do is concentrate on picking a winner. It almost sounds easy doesn’t it!

This is the NutsBet interface and the current odds, correct as of 31st August 2016. Click here for the latest odds on the November 9 as the weight of money and interest in the event which will continue to intensify until play begins, means prices will ebb and flow for a while. The interface is clean and crisp and easy to use, so you won’t have to spend long working out what to press. You can get your bets on quickly and easily.

I’ve spent a good bit of time thinking about who to bet on. I’ve picked out two finalists I think will come close and I would like to share them with you.


Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy - 3.38

Chip leader with $74,600,000

44 year-old Cliff Josephy is an online poker legend who has played countless hours of poker online and enjoyed great success. He has amassed millions of dollars in online poker winnings and remains successful online up to the present day.

He starts the WSOP final table as chip leader, around $7 million ahead of his nearest rival Qui Nguyen (4.31) with $67,925,000 chips and Gordon Vayo (5.45) on $49,375,000 chips.

Getting a price of 3.38 from NutsBet on Josephy as chip leader seems like value for me as, although he is anything but home and dry at present, the experience he has of being able to close out big events, such as the 2013 No Limit Hold’em shootout where he won 1st place and $299,486 as well as countless online wins, means I do not expect him to falter if the cards are kind to him. Whilst the WSOP Main Event is a career defining moment for him, I do not believe Josephy will shirk in the marginal but correct spot where some players may falter and play it too safe. I have faith in his ability and certainly he does too.

Josephy has over $3 million (including the minimum $1 million he has already won for 9th place) in live tournament winnings. That figure could be about to go a lot higher.



Gordon Vayo - 5.45

Third in chips with $49,375,000

27 year-old Gordon Vayo is third in chips with $49,375,000 and has odds of 5.45 to go on and win it. It would not take much for him to go from third to first and he has clear breathing space to fourth place, putting him firmly in the leading group. The reason I pick him over Nguyen in 2nd place is that their stacks are similar (and should be played similarly), but Vayo has the better price.

Before his $1,000,000 guaranteed for 9th place, Vayo already had tournament winnings of $974,714. He has finished runner-up in a WSOP event before and has 26 WSOP cashes. This seasoned WSOP player also has an online poker pedigree and won $1.5m at the online tables during the boom years until 2009. It may appear like Vayo is a breakout star of the WSOP in 2016, but the truth is he has been around for a while and has demonstrated a consistency envied by any aspiring professional. He could well take it down.



Good luck if you have a bet on a WSOP November 9 finalist with NutsBet. I am sure the person you bet on hopes you are right. They have eight million reasons to back your decision!


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Malcolm comes from Consett in the North East of England and is an avid poker player and writer.Read more

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