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The World Series of Poker kicks off in a little over three weeks. Everyone will be keeping an eye on the poker world to see who will walk away with a bracelet from the 57 different events. Going into the series, I am going to make a few predictions.

1. Phil Hellmuth will get his 12th bracelet. Phil had an “off” year in some aspects, but still had a couple of great runs. Phil typically has a strong WSOP run the year after a mediocre WSOP run. Also, we must remember that one of his mentors, John Bonetti, passed away during the WSOP last year. This year he should be more focused.

2. Scotty Nguyen will not win $4 Million but he will win another bracelet. Scotty is playing fantastic poker right now and I see him taking down another bracelet. I would love to see him take the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event again.

3. Vanessa Rousso will have a strong WSOP. Rousso is hot right now having finished runner-up at the National Heads-Up Championship and winning the High Rollers Event of the EPT Monte Carlo. Expect big things out of her this summer.

4. Overall attendance will be down for the Main Event. Last year’s WSOP Main Event was lucky to show growth. Harrah’s chose to keep the number of entrants secret until the end and many felt it was because they thought they weren’t going to show growth. This year, they will not show growth. I expect a 10 to 30% decrease in participants.

I will be in Vegas for at least some of the WSOP. I will post again after the WSOP and to update on how many of my posts were accurate. I personally #4 is wrong, but time will tell.