Anyone who qualifies for the World Series of Poker main event online this year has a new decision to make. Take the money and play, or take the money and run.

With the new rules in effect at the WSOP barring online poker sites from taking part, players who win seats in the main event will be have to receive the money from the site and register themselves. So basically you can take your $10,000 and stand in line for hours to register, or take your $10,000 and spend it anyway you see fit. Here are some of the pros and cons of each scenario.

Playing the tourney:

Pro – You make the money and end up with some cash anyway.

Con – You bust out early and end up with nothing.

Pro – You win the WSOP main event, become the next big poker spokesperson and never have to work again.

Keeping the $10,000:

Con – You miss out of the grandiose spectacle that is the WSOP main event.

Pro – You have $10,000 with which to do whatever you want.

Con – You could have won a whole lot more than $10,000 in the tourney.

Faced with these two situations, I’m going to have to go with option C. That would be play with your new $10,000 online and try to make as much money as you can before the main event begins. If you’re good enough to qualify for the WSOP online, then you should be good enough to win some cash at pretty high stakes.

Then after possibly doubling or tripling your initial $10,000, withdraw the $10,000 you need to play the main event and take a crack at the millions available to the WSOP winner.

You’ve got until June 18th to win your seat at the 2007 WSOP by playing online poker.

As we do every year, poker writers like to make predictions about the upcoming WSOP tournament. I’ve got a couple of my own on how things will play out this year, so here goes.

Daniel Negreanu will win a bracelet this year. He’s motivated to win because he’s taking all bets under $100,000 at 5-1 that he’ll win. When he’s focused he always does well, so I predict that he wins event #18 or #22. I’ll also say that his buddy Mike Matusow will not win one this year, but he will get close.

If anyone of the big three (Brunson, Hellmuth, or Chan) are able to add to their WSOP bracelet total of ten, I predict it will be Doyle. With more bracelets up for grabs that aren’t no-limit hold’em, Doyle stands the best chance to win one because he is highly skilled in all variations of the game. Hellmuth is a one-horse hold’em specialist, and if Chan does get close to a bracelet it will most likely be in a Seven-stud or Pot-limit Omaha event, but he won’t win it.

No women will win bracelets other than the women’s event, although Annie Duke will get close on a couple of occasions. Also, there will not be a woman in the last 20 players left in the main event either. Sorry ladies, but that’s how I see it.

I’m going way out on a limb and I’m going to say that John Juanda is going to win two WSOP bracelets this year and will be 2007 WSOP player of the year. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling it will be John’s year.

David “Chip” Reese will amaze this year as he repeats as the H.O.R.S.E champion. He will also compete with Juanda in the overall WSOP player of the year race. The problem with Chip is that he makes more in cash games than he wins playing tournaments, and a day at the WSOP is usually a pay cut for him.

Put your money on an unknown for the Main Event. All I know is that it won’t be an American this year, perhaps Scandinavian or German, but not from the States.

So go place your WSOP prop bets, and you’re welcome – for all the cash you’re going to win.

If you’re a pretty good poker player, the money gets better this year at the World Series of Poker. If you’re the best poker player in the world, you’ll be wishing for a return to the days of old.

The folks in charge of the WSOP have changed payouts this year to increase the payouts for most players that sit at the tables for hours upon hours and finally crack the money. Apparently some players weren’t too happy last year after logging a number of hours at the tables and barely making any profit.

The payouts this year will still be determined by the number of players in the tournament, but we can explain the change in payout by basing some of last year’s results on the new system. In last year’s main event, 846 players that made the money would have received more cash in this year’s system but the Top 27 finishers would take a pay cut.

Anyone who finished from 873rd to 775th place banked $14,605 or $15,512 last year. This year they would pocket $22,266. Anyone finishing 82nd to 73rd would have walked away with $66,010 last year. Under the new system they would have made a lot more – $126,173. So, if you’re good enough to make the money but not good enough to make the final table, you’ve got to love the new rules.

However, if you end up taking home a bracelet this year you may be wondering where all the money went. Here’s why. In last year’s main event Jamie Gold took home a record $12 million after outlasting the rest of the 8667-player field. If Gold faced the exact same number of players this year and came out on top he would only end up with $10,028,715. That’s quite a drop!

Like we said before the Top 27 players in the main event would have received less under the new rules. The second-place finisher under the new rules would bank $5,442,769 instead of last year’s $6,105,900. As long as you’re not final table material, the new rules shouldn’t bother you but if you win the main event your wallet may end up feeling a few million dollars lighter than expected.

Play some online poker at Bodog Poker!

It’s not much of a stretch to say that most poker players aren’t very healthy. In fact most gamblers aren’t that healthy. If you don’t believe me, think about the last time you were in your casino. How many of the people hunched over the tables and the slots couldn’t get close enough to the game or the machine because their giant gut was in the way?

Most people don’t realize that the food that has made their body the size of a blimp is also slowing down their mind. If you really want to win the World Series of Poker main event, a diet that helps out your mind as much as it does your body can’t hurt. In fact, last year’s WSOP champ Jamie Gold credits his diet of blueberries as “brain food” that helped him win the main event.

So before sitting down in a WSOP tourney don’t stop by the donut shop and eat a breakfast of donuts and pastries. Eat a healthy, balanced meal with plenty of protein, carbs, energy and vitamins. If you were going to play sports you wouldn’t fuel your system with junk, so why would you do it when you’re playing poker?

You also want to be thinking of your mind and body when you’re sitting at the tables. This means keeping yourself hydrated as well as properly nourished. This will keep your brain from shutting down and hopefully keep you from making any money-losing mistakes. Keep a bottle of water handy, or maybe even a bottle of diet cola. Many poker players drink diet cola because it doesn’t pack too much sugar that can overexcite them, but it does have some caffeine to give them that added jolt they need later on in the day.

If you’re going to quench your thirst at the table, one thing you don’t want to do is reach for some alcohol. Not only will this dehydrate instead of hydrate you, but it will slow your mind down and leave you wide open for a big fall.

Playing poker online will also keep you on your toes!

Most sportsbooks out there that are offering props on the 2007 World Series of Poker like to offer one pitting poker legend Doyle Brunson against his son Todd Brunson in the $10,000 main event. Bodog is no exception and has the younger Brunson listed as a slight favorite at -140 to go further than his famous dad in the main event. The Texas Dolly is current listed at Even.

So who really does have the advantage in the WSOP main event, Doyle or Todd? Well, Doyle has more experience in the big show, having won it twice and also holding a record 10 WSOP bracelets. Todd has never made it all the way in the big one and his WSOP jewelry collection consists of only one bracelet.

Not only does WSOP history seem to favor Doyle, but so does the present. Neither father nor son made it to the money in the main event last year or in 2005. Doyle had a good run in 2004 though, finishing 53rd overall out of 2576 players. Todd failed to money that year, meaning Doyle would have been the winning pick on the prop bet.

To find Todd’s last WSOP main event cash, and actually his only WSOP main event cash, you have to go all the way back to 1992. Todd came 13th that year out of a much smaller field of 201 players.

The only advantage that Todd seems to have over his father is age. Doyle is getting up there at 73 years of age, while Todd is only 37 years old. Don’t let Doyle’s rising age fool you, though. He’s still a methodical poker player that last won a WSOP bracelet in 2005 and could easily make it to the final table in the main event, with a little of the old Doyle Brunson luck.

Get all your WSOP props at the Bodog Sportsbook!

So you’ve been playing online poker for a few years now, and after grinding it out you’ve finally made enough cash to head to Las Vegas and make a name for yourself at the World Series of Poker. To get your name in lights and have the online poker sites knocking on your door to represent them, you’re going to have to win a bracelet or two. Making money at poker whether it is at the tables or through books or endorsement deals is all about one thing: Winning. Winning at the WSOP gets you the greatest prize of all, a WSOP bracelet and the fame that comes along with it.

WSOP props are a hoot to bet on! Check these out!

To get the bracelet and the fame, though, you need to choose the right events to play. When deciding on what WSOP events to choose from you can pretty much split them into two categories: 1) your cheaper buy-in tourneys that will likely have a larger field full of players with a couple grand burning a hole in their pocket; and 2) the more expensive buy-in tourney that will likely have a smaller field, but this field will consist of more seasoned pros and former bracelet winners than the cheaper tourneys.

If you wade into the water in Category 1, you’re going to have to fend off more challengers but there’s a chance they will be less skilled, since a lot of pros will skip them so they won’t miss out on the bigger money tourneys presuming they make it to Day 2 or 3 in the cheapos. If you think you have the skill to rip through the bigger field and can get lucky when you need to (a bigger field usually requires a little more luck), then you’ll want to try your hand at the smaller buy-ins. It will also be kinder on your bankroll if you aren’t able to make the money.

If you go with Category 2 you need to bring your A-game. The field may be smaller, calling for less luck, but when you’re going toe-to-toe with a table full of players you’ve seen taking home poker titles on TV, you either play mistake-free poker or end up on the rail. If you don’t make the money in these tourneys your bankroll will suffer in a big way.

A good idea may be to mix in a couple of cheap tourneys and also get in the bigger money buy-ins, and go for a bracelet in both categories. Whatever you do make sure you set aside some cash for the $10,000 main event. The last six WSOP champions all won their first WSOP bracelet in the main event.

There’s still time to qualify online for the WSOP at Bodog!

The World Series of Poker is days away from starting up at the Rio and the oddsmakers are prepped and ready after doling out numerous prop bets this week. Poker props are always a tough pick because no matter how good a poker player he (or she) may be, they’re always just one bad beat away from getting eliminated.

That being said there are a few prop bets outs there that look like easy marks. The usually brilliant Bodog oddsmakers are offering a prop on whether or not one player will walk away with two WSOP bracelets this year. The simple answer is, of course there will be a double bracelet winner. There are 55 events this year and the odds on at least one poker pro chewing up two tourneys is pretty damn good. Last year there were two double bracelet winners, as Williams Chen and Jeff Madsen both had a bracelet on their right and left wrist.

The more difficult prop at Bodog is whether or not someone will hit the motherlode and win three bracelets. Madsen had a chance last year because he made four final tables. Poker brat Phil Hellmuth also sat in on four final tables, but only walked away with one bracelet. Coincidentally Hellmuth is one of only three players to win three WSOP bracelets in the same year, but another Phil – Phil Ivey – was the last player to do it in, back in 2002.

Another great Hellmuth prop involves some select company that are all going for a record-setting 11th WSOP bracelet. Hellmuth, Johnny Chan and the great Doyle Brunson all have 10 WSOP bracelets to their name, and a prop at Bodog asks you to guess which one will take home No. 11 first. Hellmuth was the only one in the trio to win a bracelet last year and he’s the favorite at 3/1. Chan and Brunson haven’t won some WSOP bling since 2005 and Chan is favored over the legend at 5/1, compared to Brunson’s 8/1. The best scenario would have all three of them at the final table in the same event, but the odds of that happening are probably impossible to calculate.

WSOP odds and props at Bodog!

If you’re going to bet on who’s going to win this year’s World Series of Poker main event, your best bet is likely to take the field. You could have scoured the props and futures bets at every sportsbook that exists online the last four years the WSOP has been held and it’s doubtful you would have found odds on Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joseph Hachem or Jamie Gold. You know why? Because before they took home poker’s crowning jewel all four of those guys were unknowns.

You don’t remember talking about how you believed Jamie Gold was going to be the big WSOP winner on the day the $10,000 main event kicked off last year? Do you know why you don’t remember? Because, that never happened.

When you’re trying to predict the WSOP main event winner you’ll likely start with the obvious names like Brunson, Hellmuth, Ferguson, Chan, Nguyen, Negreanu, Lederer and Hansen. Those eight names alone boast more than 30 WSOP bracelets and seven main event championships in the past. Picking at least one of them to wear the championship bracelet this year seems like a no-brainer.

Thanks to the stupid American government this may finally be the year that the famous poker pros take the top tournament in poker back from the unknown amateurs. The American government’s anti-online gambling legislation is expected to cause the WSOP main event levels to drop for the first time in many, many years. Out of a field of 8667 (last year’s field by the way), you’re going to need just as much luck as you will skill to survive to the final table.

If the levels fall to say 5000 or lower like some in the poker world are estimating, the pros should go back to feeding on the amateurs like they used to and the final table will have more than one familiar face – unlike last year where Allen Cunningham was the only standout among the final nine.

Here’s one betting tip. Don’t bet on reigning champion Jamie Gold to win it all again. There hasn’t been a back-to-back champ since Johnny Chan did the deed way back in 1998. That year only 152 players played in the main event. When you’re facing more than 30 times than that in a tourney, repeating as champion is nearly impossible.

Get all your World Series of Poker betting at Bodog!

With only a week to go, the countdown to the WSOP has begun. Many are anticipating the best year ever for the event, even though it’s not expected that the tourney will get close to the numbers of last year. With all the negative internet attention resulting from the unlawful internet gambling act of last October, many parties that were involved in the last couple of years will not be back. The laws have affected poker globally, and the turnout at WSOP 2007 will give us a good indication of how these laws have affected the live game.

Instead it should go back to being the best poker tournament in the world. Last’s year’s WSOP had a sideshow feel to it. It was so popular that companies were doing anything to get a piece of the media rush, as far as to try and enter a monkey into the main event.

Many changes have been implemented for this year’s event. The Rio has prepared for an extreme turnout if it occurs, and the schedule of events has been tweaked and improved with the players in mind. More bracelets are up for grabs, so more players can live the dream of being a WSOP champ. The evolving structure of the tournament has produced other changes like doubling the starting chips, and a flattened payout structure so more will place in the money.

Some things have been changed for the professionals too. More events with buy-ins bigger than $2000 have been added, and more mixed hold’em events are scheduled. The H.O.R.S.E. event is continuing its evolution towards becoming the true main event it should be, with the buy-in at $50,000. Tournaments will now run longer and overlap each other, making it impossible to play in all the events even if you wanted to.

The WSOP 2007 kicks off on the first of June this year, and the main event starts on the sixth of July. I’m going to predict that the main event winner will start on day two, which is the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year, so it should be special. It’s the year of the “Hoochie Coochie Man” if you’re a Muddy Waters fan. This year’s champ will be “born for good luck”, bump ba da bump bump, and “he‘ll be a son of a gun”… (or she, of course).

Are you ready for the World Series of Poker?  That depends on who you are, I guess.  If it’s your first trip there, getting ready for the most famous poker tournament in the world shouldn’t be a serious thing.  If you love to play poker then you’ve looked forward to going to the big show since you first played.  Your first trip should be fun and not too serious.  If you’re nervous, you’ll make foolish decisions so just relax and play your game with a positive attitude.

You can still play your best game at the tables, but make sure you take in all that the tournament offers.  All the latest things that are poker are on display at this tournament, and don’t forget your camera because all the poker stars will be there and you’ll be able to meet most of them if you want to.  Take it all in; you may not get back next year, so enjoy the experience regardless of any outcomes on the tables.

If you’re returning from previous trips you should have some leaks worked out of your game over the last year.  You should have been playing a lot of tournament poker over the last few weeks in the variations that you plan on playing at the WSOP.  You should know by know that pre-registering for your events will save you hours of frustration the morning of your event.

You should also be envisioning yourself going deep into the tournament, playing at the final table, and eventually holding the bracelet in one hand and a wad of pretend cash in the other.  You should believe that it can happen to you, because it will happen to you, because you deserve it.  To believe anything else is a waste of your time.  Winning a WSOP bracelet isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something you make happen.  And it’s ok for you to have fun too.