Ranking the WSOP Main Event final tables in the Modern Era

Since 2001 (What I’ll be calling the Modern Era of poker) there have been some pretty high-profile names at the final tables of the WSOP Main Event, but how does the whole table stack-up against the others of this era? In this column I’ll be looking at the sum of the parts, instead of each player (or champion) being rated individually.

2011 -The most recent WSOP Main Event final table has the potential to be one of the best in the game’s history -it certainly was the most expertly played by the players. Ben Lamb, Phil Collins, and Matt Giannetti are all solid pros, and Eoghan O’Dea, Champion Pius Heinz, runner-up Martin Staszko all look to be around for a while. The wild-cards will be Sam Holden and Anton Makiievskyi.

2001 – Carlos Mortensen (2 WSOP bracelets and 3 WPT titles), Phil Hellmuth (11 WSOP bracelets), Mike Matusow, Phil Gordon, and Hall of Famer Dewey Tomko, not to mention tough pros John Inishima and Henry Nowakowski, make 2001 one of the most accomplished in history.

2010 – Mike Mizrachi headlined this final table and then you add top pros Jason Senti, Joseph Cheong, and John Racener, along with John Dolan and Matt Jarvis who both look like they have the stuff to make it in the poker world.

2003 – People forget that Moneymaker was the story in 2003 because he was the amateur, swimming at a table with the likes of David Grey, Jason Lester, Dan Harrington, Amir Vahedi, Sammy Farha, and David Singer.

2009 – Phil Ivey: End of story! Ok, so there was some other talent at the table too, with names like Jeff Shulman, Eric Buchman, James Akenhead, and Antoine Saout.

2004 – The ’04 Main Event featured a final table of David Williams, Josh Arieh, Dan Harrington, as well as champion Greg Raymer.

2005 – Joe Hachem has turned out to be a great poker pro, and he was joined at the final table by Tex Barch, Mike Matusow, and Andy Black: Nothing spectacular, but a pretty solid group of players.

2006 - The Jamie Gold year had a single big name at the table, Allen Cunningham. Considering this tournament took place five years ago you would have expected one or two of the other players to make a name for themselves, but aside from the modest careers of Paul Wasicka and Michael Binger this final table hasn’t accomplished very much.

2008 – Peter Eastgate is still an unknown quantity in the poker world (will he be one of the all-time greats or will he fizzle out is a question yet to be answered). Other than Chino Rheem and Scott Montgomery the 2008 final table has been virtually MIA in the poker world.

2007 – The Lee’s are the biggest names from 2007, Watkinson and Childs, then throw in Alexander Kravchenko and that’s the 2007 WSOP Main Event final table’s contribution to the poker world.

2002 – 2002 was the first year the WSOP final table wasn’t comprised of the usual suspects. While names like Julian Gardner, Minh Ly, tony D, Ralph Perry, Russell Rosenblum and Harley hall are known names in the poker world they are not household names by any stretch of the imagination.