Some people live for Fantasy sports. Whether it’s an annual baseball, football, or hockey draft, people go all out when it comes to studying potential players and poring over stats in preparation. As if bragging rights weren’t enough, usually everyone wagers a certain amount of money so that the winner has a prize to collect at the end of the season.
So what if the buy-in for the draft were $25,000 and what if the sport was… poker? This exact scenario came to life just recently in Vegas as Daniel Negreanu collaborated with Erick Lindgren to create a WSOP fantasy draft.
The draft, which was open to the public, took place at the Aria hotel in Vegas and was done by auction. This means that teams started with a certain number of points and had to bid on players they wanted. This style of drafting is extremely fun and adds a considerable amount of strategy to the game.
In total 15 teams put up $25,000 to participate in the draft, with several teams being headed by multiple people. For example, Justin Smith and Ashton Griffin created their fantasy team together.
One fun aspect of the draft is that team leaders could be drafted by other teams if they weren’t willing to bid the necessary amount to keep their own action. For example, Scott Seiver’s team did not draft Scott Seiver because they weren’t willing to out-bid Negreanu for him.
Negreanu was drafted by Frank Kassela’s team for 89 points, one of the highest bids in the draft. Teams were only given 200 points to start, so this is a significant amount! Other high bids included Daniel Alaei for 80 points, Jason Mercier for 74 points, and Eugene Katchalov for 72 points.
The highest bid of the draft was 108 points for Phil Ivey, which was made by Team Barry Greenstein. We all know that Ivey has boycotted WSOP 2011, so this is a huge blow to Greenstein’s chances. Luckily Greenstein drafted both himself and a couple other proven winners, so he still has the chance to come out on top.
So far the team headed by Eugene Katchalov and Daniel Alaei is winning with 100 points, although Erick Lindgren is close behind with 77 points. All the points for Lindgren’s team have come from Eric Froehlich’s score in the $25k heads-up tournament.
With so much money on the line and so many great players in charge of teams, this Fantasy draft should be extremely entertaining to keep tabs on. Which one of the proven players will come through with huge points for their team? Will one of the lesser known players have the potential to steal the win for someone? Be sure to check back soon for updates!