The most surprising poker players without a WSOP bracelet
Now that Mike Mizrachi, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, and Gus Hansen have all been able to erase their name from the list of poker players who haven’t won a World Series of Poker bracelet, it’s time to revisit the list and add a few names to replace the players the players who are now walking around with a little extra gold on their wrist.
With 60+ chances each year to win a WSOP bracelet it’s a bit surprising to see some of these names on the list. So here are my ten choices for the most surprising poker players without a WSOP bracelet -in no particular order:
- Andy Bloch
Bloch has been around the poker world since the early 90’s and has over $4.3 million in career tournament earnings, but is still missing a WSOP gold bracelet. Bloch first cashed in the WSOP in 1996, and has a total of 26 WSOP cashes, just not a first-place finish.
- Phil Gordon
Gordon is another longtime poker pro who hasn’t been able to cash in at the WSOP. 20 WSOP cashes, 5 final tables, but zero gold bracelets. Perhaps adding insult to injury Gordon did win the non-bracelet Ante-Up for Africa at the 2010 WSOP.
- Patrik Antonius
Antonius has been playing in the WSOP for a lot longer than people think, his first cash came in 2005; Antonius will be turning 30 years old in December. Antonius has 15 cashes in the WSOP for his career, with his best finish being a 3rd place finish in the 2007 PLO Championship.
- Billy Gazes
Gazes has 28 WSOP cashes for his career, which gives him the dubious honor of having the most cashes without a win on this list. Gazes has actually never won a major poker tournament on any tour!
- Marcel Luske
Luske is a real surprise on this list considering he specializes in the far less popular 7-Card-Stud poker variant. With 20 cashes in the WSOP and $3.7 million in career tournament earnings, Luske is perhaps the most surprising entry on this list.
- Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier
“ElkY” hasn’t been around long enough for this to be a jaw-dropping revelation, but the online poker superstar has seemingly won every major poker tournament already in his career, so it’s a little remarkable he doesn’t have a gold bracelet to go around his wrist.
- Jonathan Little
Little is another young player, but considering his prolific tournament schedule his lack of a WSOP bracelet is quite surprising. Little holds two WPT titles, and has cashed at the WSOP 11 times.
- Chad Brown
Brown is one of those players that most poker fans would assume has won a bracelet at some point in his career considering he plays virtually every form of poker. With 27 WSOP cashes Brown has the second most on my list for most cashes without a win.
- Nam Le
The WPT winner Le has amassed 19 WSOP cashes in his career, but hasn’t been able to break through and win a WSOP bracelet thus far. With nearly $6 million in career tournament earnings the only thing missing from Le’s resume is a gold bracelet.
- Tony G
This one might not be totally surprising since if Tony won a WSOP bracelet you would surely hear about it! Tony G does have 15 WSOP cashes for his career, despite playing a very limited schedule of tournaments.
