World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event.

The first event happened on 1 September 2004 with invitations only being extended to some of the most well-known names on the poker tournament circuit.

It is now an annual freeroll tournament with players able to qualify by being one of the top 18 finishers of any World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit events (held before the actual WSOP) or by reaching the final table of the WSOP $10,000 No Limit Hold Em Main Event. In 2005, the first year of this format, controversy erupted when big-name players Phil Hellmuth Jr, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan, all former Main Event champions and the three players with the most overall World Series bracelets, were able to compete in the Tournament of Champions without qualifying. These players were given sponsors exemptions by Pepsi, who put up the $2 million prize pool. Despite public protests from other players (particularly Daniel Negreanu and Paul Phillips), ESPN and Harrahs Entertainment had no choice but to allow these players to compete; Hellmuth would end up finishing third, while Chan and Brunson just missed the final table, coming in 13th and 10th, respectively (interestingly, both were knocked out by Brandon Adams, who would be eliminated from the final table first). From 2006 onward, Harrahs will reserve the right to let in up to 6 players via sponsors exemptions.

Wins in this event do not count as official WSOP bracelets, but the winner receives a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo.

2004
The winner took home a $2,000,000 prize. No other participants received prize money.

Results
Position Competitor WSOP Bracelets WPT Wins
1st  Annie Duke 1 0
2nd  Phil Hellmuth Jr. 9 0
3rd  Howard The Professor Lederer 2 2
4th  Johnny Oriental Express Chan 10 0
5th  Greg Fossilman Raymer 1 0
6th  Doyle Texas Dolly Brunson 10 1
7th  Daniel Kid Poker Negreanu 3 2
8th  Phil Ivey 5 0
9th  T. J. Cloutier 6 0
10th  Chip Reese 2 0

2005
The 2005 event took place between November 6 and November 8 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Final Table
Position Competitor WSOP Bracelets WPT Wins Prize
1st  Mike The Mouth Matusow 2 0 $1,000,000
2nd  Cowboy Hoyt Corkins 1 1 $325,000
3rd  Phil Hellmuth Jr. 9 0 $250,000
4th  Tony The Lizard Bloom 0 0 $150,000
5th  Steve Dannenmann 0 0 $100,000
6th  Grant G-Money Lang 0 0 $75,000
7th  David Levi 0 0 $50,000
8th  Keith Sexton 0 0 $25,000
9th  Brandon Adams 0 0 $25,000

Other Entrants
Qualified entrants include:

World Champions

Eliminated Day 2
 Doyle Texas Dolly Brunson (10th place - on the ubble)
 Johnny Oriental Express Chan

Eliminated Day 1
 Chris Jesus Ferguson
 Joseph Hachem
 Russ Hamilton

Other Notables

Day 2 Eliminations
 René Angélil
 Tony The Animal Ma
 Michael The Grinder Mizrachi

Day 1 Eliminations
 Andrew Black
 Barmy Barny Boatman
 T. J. Cloutier
 Allen Cunningham
 Antonio The Magician Esfandiari
 Scott Fischman
 Alan Goehring
 Jennifer Harman
 Phil Ivey
 Cowboy Kenna James
 Tuan Le
 Howard The Professor Lederer
 Erick Lindgren
 David The Dragon Pham
 Gavin Smith
 Mimi Tran
 James Van Alstyne
 David Williams
 Robert Williamson III

2006
The 2006 event will be taking place on June 28 and June 29 in Las Vegas at the Rio Hotel-Casino to kick off the 2006 World Series of Poker. As it takes place prior to the WSOP, the tournament will not include any qualifiers from the previous years final table, as had occurred in 2005. All players listed below have qualified via the WSOP Circuit Event series.

Notable Qualifiers
 Chris Jesus Ferguson
 Joseph Hachem
 Chip Jett
 John Juanda
 Kathy Liebert
 Minh Ly
 Daniel Kid Poker Negreanu
 Scotty Nguyen
 Nick The Takeover Schulman
 John Spadavecchia
 J. C. Tran
 James Van Alstyne
 Lee Watkinson