WSOP Brit' Watch: My Kindgom for a Bracelet

Time is ever so slightly starting to run out for the hopes of a Brit bracelet at the WSOP this year. We still have some 20 events left to go but things seem to be going from bad to worse for the UK contingent after what looked a really promising start.

The very talented Tony Philips looked in good shape to make it onto the $1500 PLO final table with a big stack, but his aces were cracked on the final table bubble by Vanessa Selbst in a much debated pot which effectively won her the tournament, her lead was so dominant. Paul Zimbler impressively made the $3000 HORSE final to prove that UK players know their stuff in mixed limit games too. JP Kelly and Dave Penly came 9th and 10th respectively in the Hold'em/Omaha mixed game – which would have been a fantastic first Brit bracelet for 2008.

But other than that, it's looking pretty bleak right now for UK players. In fact, the best boast we have right now is that Swedish Chris Bjorin has cashed four times and made two final tables this year. The poker pro now lives in London and for the purposes of this feature we are making him an honorary Brit.

So with 20 or so events still to come, what is our next avenue of hope? There are plenty of Omaha and Hold'em events you would fancy a UK player to do well in still to come, but a few stud and mixed limit events that you wouldn't. If one thing is for sure this year, is that is currently the year of the pro with the likes of Negreanu, Greenstein, Matusow and Lindgren all taking gold as well as one of the most mouth watering final tables ever in the $5000 PLO rebuy event, which has just been confirmed.

This success can be attributed to a much slower structure this year in most of the events which the pros have been enjoying. With this in mind, maybe we should now be looking at some of our biggest hitters – the De Wolfe's, the Devilfish's and the Vaswani's to bring home gold. One glimmer of hope right now is that fast talking Welshman Roberto Romanello is amongst the chip leaders in the $3000 hold'em event, which would make for one of the most fun final tables ever should he make it.

Whatever the result, there is no doubt that the pro heavy fields have made this one of the sickest World Series in years. The only place to see the action, including the amazing $5000 PLO final table later on today, is our exclusive Live Updates section.

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