Top Fantasy Poker Players For 2009

2009 fantasy poker already looks exciting.  I went ahead and filled out two event picks and I’ll do some more before the games begin.  Oh and big news I also just came across where to start a league so we have a league to keep track of everybody’s score.

Our league name is APA and the password is pokerblog.  Join me.  It’s the next best thing to playing and you could win free stuff.  For more details see my previous blog.

The two events I have selected for thus far are the No Limit Main Event and the No Limit $40k buy-in.  When picking your players, there are a lot you won’t know so you’ve got to take your best guess given how much you’ve seen on tv, video, and read on blogs.

In both of my group A picks (players that are worth the most to me), I have Dan Harrington and Greg Raymor.  Statistically speaking, these two probably have the best chance to win it all because of their super impressive runs in mammoth WSOPs of past years.  Harrington and Raymor play mostly a cool game with Raymor being more selectively aggressive and Harrington the master of picking his spots.

Neither are going to make stupid mistakes at the table, both have a more quiet demeanor, and both have finished high in more than 1 WSOP huge field because they stay super sharp at the table.  These guys are my top two picks with Raymor as my favorite because of age.

Others I’m high on include Carlos Mortenson, Alan Cunningham, Andy Bloch, Ivaon Demidov,  Eric Seidel, Mike Sexton, TJ Cloutier, David Benyamine, Kirk Morrison, Jean Robert Bellande, Billy Gazes, and Chris Ferguson.  Honorable mention to Joe Hachem and Mark Seif.

My criteria came down to looking for players that:

• had shown positive experience in going far in deep tournaments
• didn’t have any huge extra distractions such as temper or ego
• weren’t cash game specialists
• have followed up WSOP championships or strong play with other notable successes

This factor base easily explains why Negreanu, Ivey, and Dwan aren’t mentioned.  These guys are cash gamers.  They’re typically out in quick fashion in a tournament because they play too strong for the biggest of tournaments.  Another huge element for me is the sideshows.  I can’t pick Mike Matusow, Devilfish, or Phil Hellmuth types for this reason.  It’s hard enough winning a huge tournament, but these guys have targets on their back and they have that added dimension of constant negativity that makes it harder for them to outlast other players.

Finally, no flukey/lucky players.  Yang and Gold steamrolled their way to a WSOP bracelet with hot hands and winning lots of coin flips and haven’t especially played well since.  Moneymaker has a little more game than people like to give him credit for, but not anywhere near enough to have me pick him.

Remember to join our league when after you sign up for fantasy poker 2009 – League – APA (”AllPokerAddicts” if you’re wondering, password = pokerblog.

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