The Poker Players Championship Quiz

Answer: Several different poker variants are played

In 2006, the tournament was called H.O.R.S.E. and was a five-game event. Over the years, the number of variants have expanded, and in 2024 it contained nine different variants. Mixed-game tournaments require poker players to be proficient in most if not all variants, while single-game events such as the Main Event (which is solely No-Limit Hold'Em), require mastery of a single variant.

Answer: $50,000

The buy-in would remained unchanged in the decades to follow, even as the format has shifted from H.O.R.S.E. to an eight-game, nine-game, and ten-game mix. Since its inception it would be one of the highest stakes mixed-games event at the WSOP.

Answer: Chip Reese

Unlike the incorrect answers, Chip Reese never won the Main Event, preferring to concentrate on cash games. Sadly, he died just a year after winning in 2007. The winner of the Poker Players Championship receives the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy in his honor.

Answer: Scotty Nguyen

The lack of punishment for Scotty's poor behavior at the final table was heavily criticized. He later apologized for his behavior. In 2013, he was voted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He was the first person ever to win both the Main Event and the Players Championship.

Answer: Short Deck Poker

Poker games played at the PPC can be divided into Community Card Games, Draw Poker, and Stud Poker, which can be played No-Limit, Pot-Limit, or Fixed Limit, and the objective can be to either make the best high hand, the best low hand, or to make both the best high hand and the best low hand.

Community Card Games are the most popular today, including both Texas Hold'Em and Pot Limit Omaha. In these games, players are dealt their own personal cards(hole cards), and then attempt to make the best hand possible with a group of cards shared by the entire table (community cards).

In Draw Poker, players are dealt a complete starting hand. They then have a predetermined number of rounds to exchange cards to try to make the best hand. Many draw games are played lowball, meaning that the objective is to make the best low hand. In Deuce to Seven Lowball, Aces are high, and straights and flushes count against you, meaning 75432 is the best possible hand. In Ace to Five lowball, Aces can be played both high and low, and straights and flushes do not count against you, so A2345 (the Wheel) is the best possible hand.

In Stud Poker, you get a starting hand, and you draw an extra card for each round of betting, until the last round of action. Some cards are dealt face down, while others are dealt face up. In all forms of stud at the PPC, you are initially dealt three cards, two face down and one face up. Your next three cards are dealt face up, while your last is dealt face down.

Answer: Michael Mizrachi

Mizrachi had a sensational year in 2010. Along with winning the PPC, he also made it to the final table of the Main Event, eventually finishing fifth. Despite these strong performances, he missed out on winning the WSOP Player of the Year, which went to Frank Kassela, who won two bracelets. This led to a revamp of the scoring system.

Answer: Brian Rast

In both 2010 and 2011, the final table was televised and played exclusively No Limit Hold'Em to appeal to the casual viewer. After 2012, that was dropped, and the tournament's final table was played with the same rules as the rest of the tournament with all games in the mix cycling through in succession.

Answer: Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth's abrasive personality has made him a very polarizing figure. While he is regarded as one of the greatest tournament players of all time, he is famous for his poor reactions to bad beats in poker.

Hellmuth's strength is considered to be primarily No Limit Hold'Em - the vast majority of his bracelets are in that format. However, that has changed somewhat - while the first eleven of his bracelets were all NLHE, three of his next six have come in mixed games.

Answer: Daniel Cates

In 2010, Jungleman accepted the durrr challenge, which involved playing Tom Dwan heads-up for 50,000 hands. Through 20,000 hands, Jungleman dominated Tom Dwan, winning over a million dollars, at which point Tom Dwan quit. This cemented his status as one of the best heads-up players ever.

His first two bracelets at the WSOP were his two PPC wins.

Answer: Daniel Negreanu

Negreanu's popularity stems both from his skill and his charisma at the poker table. In the $1,000,000 buy-in 2014 Big One for One Drop, one of the highest buy-in poker tournaments ever, he finished second, taking home over eight million dollars. He has over 50 million dollars in live tournament earnings, and his 2024 PPC win moved him into first place in the WSOP tournament earnings leaderboard, ahead of both Antonio Esfandiari (winner of the biggest buy-in WSOP tournament ever) and Phil Hellmuth (most WSOP bracelets).