If one considers that only 12 women have ever won an open event, odds of -175 that no woman will win one seems a bit small. But the growing number of good female players has kept the odds down to a slim +125 for a woman to do it.

I think I would lean more to the side of a woman not winning a bracelet this year, mainly because a woman won one last year. Bodog has a $50 limit on the bet, and this one could go either way.

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Phil Hellmuth is at 7-1, even though he’s never been able to win a bracelet outside of the game of holdem. Next best at 6-1 are Negreanu, Brunson, and Ivey. Bodog poker Pros David Williams and Justin Bonomo are getting a lot of respect at 11-2. The smart money would be on Ivey, who is due to win an event at the WSOP. He finished in the money in three HORSE events last year.

Last year Doyle had two deep finishes but failed to make a final table. His last WSOP final table came in ’07 when he finished eighth in the $50K HORSE event. His last big tournament win came back in ’06 when he won his 10th bracelet in the $5K Short Handed Event.

It’s possible for Doyle to win any tournament he plays in, but his health and age have taken some of the competitiveness out of his game. His best chances will be in the high roller events.

This year the line on Phil Hellmuth winning his twelfth bracelet is +300. That may seem a bit confident when you consider the size of the fields, but he always seems to battle for a bracelet. If you think he can’t do it in ‘09 you can get -500 on your wager. This year may be a good year to bet on Phil winning his 12th; there are extra 10K events, plus the big 40K event, that will have much smaller fields for Phil to beat.

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He’s been one of the best players over the last year, winning over a million dollars in multi-table tournaments since his $1.9 million cash in the H.O.R.S.E. event championship last July. And we know he’s going to play a busy schedule of events as he tries to compile $4 million in a month and a half. Win a seat to the WSOP with Bodog now.

In 2004, Duke beat a field of 234 players in the WSOP $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet. In August of the same year, Duke won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold’em winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. She has been hailed the best female poker player in the world.

Do you think Annie Duke deserved the title of Celebrity Apprentice? Or do you think Joan Rivers' intense hatred of Duke was justified ? Duke explains on her blog about what happened after the last boardroom.

Bonomo was signed as a Bodog team member in early 2008 and has six final table appearances since that time, including an eighth-place finish for $31,600 in the 2009 Caribbean Adventure at Paradise Island last month. Bonomo still hasn’t had a big tournament win thus far in his career. He’s playing well enough to get close numerous times, but still lacks that big tournament win to put him into the elite player category.

His latest endeavor as a Bodog Team member has been his open question forum called “Ask Justin Bonomo”. You can find the Q&A section at http://poker.bodog.com/poker-questions/justin-bonomo/ where Justin takes questions and writes up his opinions on the subject. He offers a new answer every couple of days, and so far the topics that he’s addressed are sit-and-go tournaments, transitioning from NLHE to Omaha PL, situational play, and tournament preparation. Anyone can ask a question of him if they have an area of their game that needs improvement. Just send it in and wait to see if he answers it.

In his most recent entry on sit-and-go tournaments Justin explains how opponents need to play a “mathematical game of chicken” in the later rounds of these events to be successful. In his situational question he outlines how creating a false betting pattern can pay off when no other play possibly can. He goes on to explain the importance of recognizing the level of play a particular opponent is at, and then taking advantage of what you know they know.

The forum is another way for Bonomo to show that he is indeed one of the best poker minds in the world. He also donates a percentage of his poker profits to charity, specifically SENS research.

Rasheed Wallace was also on hand but he wasn’t playing Three Card Poker with the others. He did have lots of drinks and enjoyed making fun of Iverson and the rest who were dumping bet after bet. There was no way to find out how much Iverson may have lost, but if anyone can afford to lose a few bucks on the Three Card Poker tables its AI. Shortly after being told they were too loud, Iverson and his posse left.

The side bet isn’t exactly the best play you can make either. The house edge on this bet can be as much as 15-30%, compared to the regular 3.5% edge, so limiting how many times you place a side bet will lower your overall losses.

The four big events are still to come, with the first being the $5000 Pot Limit Omaha event #27 starting on February 15. That event will have one optional re-buy, so it should make for a sizeable prize pool.

The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. event #29 will begin the next day on February 16. That event will showcase the best players in the world battling for what should be the second biggest H.O.R.S.E prize pool of the year. The $10,000 Heads-up event #32 starts on February 18 and should be another popular tourney with a nice size prize pool.

The WPT LA Poker Classic $10,000 Main Event #35 will run for six days starting on the February 21 with the final table wrapping up on February 26.

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