World Series of Poker betting odds starting early with props

It’s almost time to shuffle up and deal at this year’s World Series of Poker.

The best poker players in the world will set up shop in Las Vegas later this month and most of them won’t budge until July. The first event on the 2014 WSOP slate, the dealers’ tournament, gets everything started on May 27.

There are 65 events in total at this year’s WSOP with the big one, the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em main event, set to begin on July 5.

With 6,000-plus players expected to sit down at the tables in this year’s main event (last year drew 6,352 players) another multi-millionaire will be crowned after the final showdown.

That showdown won’t happen until November, with the WSOP continuing with the November Nine again this year, holding over the final table of the main event until November 10.

The start of the main event may be nearly two months away and the actual crowning of the champion almost seven months in the future, but oddsmakers are already churning out the prop bets.

There are currently four WSOP prop bets available, according to OddsShark.com, and that number should grow as the tournament gets closer.

If you drop a few bucks on a WSOP prop bet you could rake in some big cash if a former champion reclaims the championship bracelet. A former winner making the Final Table is listed at +600, while the ‘no former winners’ in the November Nine at -1200.

To poker fans that should come as no surprise, as there hasn’t been a repeat champion in the main event since the late Stu Unger won his third WSOP main event title way back in 1997.

The birth country of the WSOP winner is another prop offering, with USA the favorite at -175 and the rest of the world thrown together at +135. A bet on the international field may be worth it; the WSOP bracelet has gone to Americans the last two years (Ryan Riess in 2013 and Greg Merson in 2012).

But before that it was two foreign players who cashed in, with Germany’s Pius Heinz winning in 2011 and Canada’s Jonathan Duhamel winning in 2010. Four of the last seven WSOP main event winners have been born outside the USA.

The prop with the biggest odds right now asks whether a female poker player will make it to the final table, with yes a longshot at +900 and no a big favorite at -1200.

No offense to the ladies, but history is heavily backing the No side here. In 44 years a female player has made the main event final table only once - Barbara Enright in 1995.

The young guns have completely taken over the main event in recent years and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that trend continue. The last six main event champions have all been 25 years of age or younger.

That last time someone over 27 years of age took home the WSOP bracelet was in 2007 when 39-year-old Jerry Yang turned the trick.