An Illinois reader laments the lack of well-known poker pros winning gold bracelets at this year's World Series of Poker. Let's see where things stand.

Q: Almost none of the players winning WSOP bracelets this year are big-time pros, and not a single woman has won, either. What gives? — John S. in Moline, Ill.

A: With the 2011 WSOP passing the halfway point over the weekend, your observations are pretty much on the mark, John.

The best-known pros to win bracelets through the first 26 events were John Juanda, his fifth, and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, his first. Other popular top-five finishers included Mike Sexton, Barry Greenstein and Phil Hellmuth, who narrowly missed extending his bracelet record to 12 but fell heads-up to Juanda.

The winning pros so far may lack star power, but they still were dominating the amateurs. Only two amateurs had broken through — the other 24 bracelets went to pros or semi-pros. That pace, if it continues, would yield the biggest disparity since such records were kept starting in 2005.

An even stranger stat: Six of the first 26 champions had never even cashed at the World Series before, much less won.

There's no way to explain this phenomenon with certainty.

It's tempting to point to the virtual elimination of online poker in the U.S. as a factor, thanks to the April 15 federal indictments. For sure, online pros forced to abandon their computers could be hitting the WSOP in larger numbers. Just as likely, though, is that a huge drop in online qualifying for WSOP events kept many players out of Las Vegas.

The safest answer, John, is that every WSOP produces quirky results of some kind during six weeks of action and 58 events.

Meanwhile, one streak that I'd like to see end soon is 187 consecutive male bracelet winners. The last woman to win a WSOP tourney open to both sexes was Vanessa Selbst in 2008. The longest previous shutout streak for lady champs in open events was 221.

No matter who's finishing first, the undeniable winner so far is the WSOP itself. Through 26 events, nine records in poker history had been broken either for the largest number of entrees in a live tournament or the largest prize pool for a specific event.

Q: At a recent $40 no-limit hold 'em casino tournament with 19 entries, I made the final four (they pay three), and we chopped for $142 each. I jumped on the deal because I was last in chips! — Bob R. in Davenport, Iowa.

A: As well you should have, Bob!

Sometimes, arranging a multi-player split at the end of a tournament can be a headache. Not this time, however.

"Two guys had at least twice the chips I did, and the woman who proposed the chop had more than me, too," you wrote. "I am a happy camper!"

My guess is that no one pushed for extra cash in the deal because all four of you were playing solid poker and the game had been congenial.

If the two players with larger chip stacks had asked for a slightly bigger cut of the prize pool — say an extra $20 each — you still would have been smart to take the deal, since fourth place paid zero.

E-mail your poker questions and comments to [email protected] for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.