Phil Ivey's Summer Plans, Negreanu vs. Seidel

The summer is quickly approaching and over the next week, Poker Central’s finest minds are putting their heads together to predict and preview the poker world’s busiest stretch of action. Talking everything Super High Roller Bowl and World Series of Poker are editorial members Remko Rinkema, Paul Oresteen and Will O’Connor, along with contributions from Sam Simmons, Brent Hanks and Carly O’Loughlin.

Who will win the $111,111 buy-in High Roller for One Drop?

Remko: The High Roller for One Drop is one of most prestigious bracelets to be won this summer and I’m expecting some No Limit Hold’em crushers to dominate this year’s final table. One of those crushers has been on a tear this year and that makes the obvious choice: Bryn Kenney. He only has one WSOP bracelet, which is his 27^th biggest result to date, meaning it is time for a big Kenney bracelet and this might be the one.

Brent: Who did Remko say? Bryn Kenney? Wow, he got one right. King Kenney is my pick.

Paul: Daniel Colman, because life works that way sometimes.

Carly: I think Daniel Colman will pick up another One Drop win, especially if he runs deep in the Super High Roller Bowl.

Sam: Connor Drinan.

Will: Did I mention that Justin Bonomo was going to win WSOP Player of the Year and two bracelets? I did, okay, one of those bracelets will come in the High Roller for One Drop. Bonomo, pictured below, will be motivated to start the summer off on the right foot and then just continue to crush from there.

Who will end the summer on top of the all-time money list?

Remko: After winning the Super High Roller Bowl (spoiler alert!), it is going to be extremely hard for anyone to ever catch Daniel Negreanu. However, an Erik Seidel WSOP Main Event final table run is never out of the question.

Will: With Seidel and Negreanu, pictured below, so close at the top of the all-time money list, one deep run or bracelet one way or the other could swap their positions. I think there will be a point where Seidel jumps ahead during the summer but by the end of July, thanks to a few WSOP $10K Mixed Game Championship final tables, Negreanu is back on top.

Brent: Remko got another one right! Kid Poker is poised for a big summer.

Sam: Take a number, get in line. Daniel Negreanu for me as well.

Carly: Daniel may be putting up over $300,000 in WSOP buy-ins but my money is on Seidel to end the summer on top thanks to his (another spoiler alert!!) projected Super High Roller Bowl win.

Paul: Seidel is going to pass Daniel Negreanu this summer and my hunch is that it will be a huge score, so Seidel will hold his lead for a while.

How much will Phil Ivey play this summer? Will he win a bracelet? Where is he if he isn’t playing?

Remko: Poker’s greatest enigma is not playing the Super High Roller Bowl and if that doesn’t interested him, I’m not sure what will. According to Negreanu, Ivey might show up at some point if the action in Macau and/or Manilla slows down but I’m not counting on it. I think it would only be the $50K Poker Players Championship and Main Event but I’m skeptical we see him in Las Vegas at all this summer.

Will: I genuinely don’t think Ivey wants to grind the way he used to unless there is a huge monetary incentive for him to do so. This year has been extremely quiet on the bracelet bet front and I hope that before the summer starts, someone makes a massive bet against Ivey that forces him to try to win multiple bracelets. If that doesn’t happen, another year without the world’s best player.

Paul: Ivey doesn’t show up and if he is not at the WSOP, I don’t really care about where he is.

Brent: Remko couldn’t go three-for-three this time because Ivey will play this year’s WSOP. Fewer than five events but that doesn’t keep him from winning a bracelet. He picks up his 11^th piece of WSOP hardware and then goes back to Macau.

Sam: Another Ivey no show.

Carly: Ivey will be MIA. Instead he’ll probably be relaxing on a beach somewhere, with a big straw hat, drinking out a coconut, trying to stay under the radar but that won’t work because he is Phil Ivey.

Look out for more of Poker Central’s Pre-Summer Round Table over the next week and follow Poker Central on Twitter to get ready for the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl.