The main event is underway at the Rio in Las Vegas as we speak, but the next Poker World Championship is still a long way and many hours at the tables from being crowned. The main event kicked off with Day 1A last Friday, but the final table won’t be played until Tuesday, July 17.

The first two days of the main event drew a combined 2,832 players, and with approximately 1,600 players expected to come out for Days 1C and 1D, the organizers are estimating a field of around 6,000 players, give or take a few. For those keeping score at home, that total would be down from 8,773 last year.

Before the hordes gathered for the main event, there were at least a few noteworthy bracelet winners over the last month at the Rio. One of the first bracelet winners at this year’s WSOP was Tom Schneider, who won Event 5, the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha/7 Card Stud Hi/Lo tourney during the opening week. Schneider became the lone double-bracelet winner at this year’s 2007 WSOP three weeks later, when he was the last man standing in Event 46 , the $1,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. Schneider also made another final table this year and pocketed a combined $416,829 in prize money, and won the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Award.

The richest winner at the 2007 WSOP heading into the main event was Bill Edler. The poker pro won his first WSOP bracelet and $904,672 after winning Event 45, the $5,000 No Limit Short Handed. Edler barely topped Burt Boutin by just over $3,000. Boutin won Event 7, the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha, and cashed in two other events to pocket $901,456.

The win that had everyone talking was Phil Hellmuth’s record-setting 11th WSOP bracelet. Hellmuth passed Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan after achieving his 11th WSOP victory in Event 15, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. Hellmuth has been his usual consistent self at this year’s WSOP, having made two final tables and cashing six times.

The tournament with the smallest field so far at the 2007 World Series of Poker has paid out the biggest first prize. It helps that the tournament had by far the highest buy-in at this year’s WSOP, at $50,000. Aside from the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship main event, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament is the tourney that every player at the WSOP wants to win.

Since the tournament has such a huge buy-in only a select few players can actually afford it. This year only 148 players were able to squeeze an extra $50,000 out of their bankroll. And even with the small field, the winner of the tournament received $2,276,832.

After five grueling days of Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Stud Eight or Better, the last man standing was fan favorite Freddy Deeb. This was Deeb’s second career WSOP bracelet, as he had also won the $5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball event in 1996. The final table in the H.O.R.S.E. event lasted 14 ½ hours, and Deeb masterfully lasted that long despite not having the chip lead until heads-up play began between him and Bruno Fitoussi. The final hand of the tournament was played in Stud Eight or Better, and with Fitoussi forced all-in before the cards were even dealt, Deeb ended up winning the tournament with a lousy pair of fives.

While Deeb got rich busting out the smallest field the 2007 WSOP has seen so far, the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event just broke a record for the largest non-main event field that had only been standing for three weeks. The third event on this year’s WSOP schedule had a field of 2998 players and was a record-setter. Late last week, 3151 players anted up the $1,500 for the No Limit Hold’em event and set a new record. The winner of the record-setting event was in for a $722,914 payday once the smoke had cleared.

The WSOP officials have been taking notice of the large turnouts and as a result have added an extra Day 1 to the $10,000 main event. Monday, July 9 was supposed to be a day off, but instead is now Day 1D of the main event. Last year’s main event drew 8773 players and this year’s number may actually be on par with that, despite initial predictions of a much lower number.

If you want to find out who really is the best poker player in the world, don’t look for him (or her) at the World Series of Poker main event. If Jamie Gold is the best poker player in the world, I’ll eat a full deck of 52 playing cards. To find the best poker player in the world, look for the winner of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event.

To win that tournament you need immense skill, and it’s not just because you need to be proficient at five different types of poker. You have to be proficient at five types of poker while also matching wits with the best poker players the world has to offer. This year’s $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney started up a few days ago and this is just a taste of the 148-player field: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Ted Forrest and 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament winner Chip Reese. If you can go up against those players, plus a ton more that we didn’t even mention, and walk away with all the chips – you deserve the title as world’s best.

If you talk to any of those players they’ll definitely agree that the H.O.R.S.E. tourney is the best of the best at the WSOP. In fact a number of players want the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney to replace the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tourney as the true WSOP main event. Some people, such as Chip Reese, already consider the H.O.R.S.E. tourney to be the main event. In fact if you look at numbers and level of play, the current H.O.R.S.E. tourney compares with WSOP main events from a decade ago much better than the WSOP main events the last couple of years.

The last man or woman standing in this year’s $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tourney will pocket $2,276,832 of the $7,104,000 prize pool. That’s up from the $1,784,640 that Reese collected last year. Another change this year is that they will actually be playing H.O.R.S.E. at the final table. Last year the final table was played as No Limit Hold’em because the fools that ran the WSOP did not think H.O.R.S.E. would translate very well on TV. They’ve fixed that this year by making the event H.O.R.S.E from start to finish.

Anyone who wants to see the real best of the best that poker has to offer should tune in.

Here are a bunch of other online poker tournaments that you can play!

With 21 events completed, the WSOP Player of the Year Race is shaping up to be one to watch. The current leader is a seasoned professional named Tom Schneider. Tom has been a force on the tournament scene since 2002 but was always a bridesmaid, cashing often but never winning the event, until this year’s 7-Stud bracelet win. He also had a fourth-place finish in the $2500 HORSE event. His lead isn’t very big though; his 155 points are only 20 more than the second-place player, who happens to be a WSOP legend.

Humberto Brenes is on Tom’s heels with 135 pts and three cashes of his own this year. Humberto has had 48 WSOP cashes (no, that’s not a misprint) and has two bracelets of his own. He had eight cashes last year alone, and is my early favourite to win the race this year.

Next is Russian poker star Alex Kravchenko, who also has three cashes so far this year. The veteran has earned over half a million in tournament cash and is a real threat to win, because he is so diverse in the poker variations he can play at a top level. He is alone in third place with 120 points.

The 21-year-old sensation named Steve Billirakis has continued his solid play since he won event #1 of this year’s tournament. He has cashed twice since then, and is currently tied with John (Razor) Phan for fourth place in the WSOP standings with 110 points.

Other notables are Greg (Fossilman) Raymer in sixth place and Phil Hellmuth in seventh, both only 50 points off the lead. Phil has won his 11th bracelet, and Allen Cunningham has won his fifth this year, leaving them with105 and 100 points respectively, and a good shot at winning this race too.

Names like Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, and Erik Cajelais are all sitting at 75 points with lots of events left to be played. It’s still anyone’s race to win, and it’s going to be exciting to see who is able to do it.

For more WSOP news, check out the Bodog Beat.