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Poker

And then there were 9

Comment: 0 July 30th, 2011 by: admin

IT’S all systems go for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event championship on November 5-7 at the Rio in La Vegas where fame, fortune and poker greatness awaits the Grand Champion.

From the mammoth field of 6,865 players who vied for spots in the final table, only 9 (nine) survivors were left to fight it out for the ultimate prize.

Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic and Eoghan O’Dea of Ireleand emerged as the top 2 chip leaders but 7 (seven) other qualifiers will challenge them in the finals.

The 35-year-old Staszko is the first player from his country to advance to the main event, while O’Dea, 26, is a veteran of several European tournaments. He is the son of famous Irish poker player and gambler Donnacha O’Dea.

Staszko had 40,175,000 chip counts while O’Dea had 33,925,000. The other finalists with their corresponding chip counts were Matt Gianetti (24,750,000), Phil Collins (23,875,000), and Ben Lamb (20,875,000), all of the United States; Badin Bounahra of Belize (19,700,000), Pius Heinz of Germany (16,425,000), Anton Makievski of Ukraine (13, 825,000) and Samuel Holden of the United Kingdom (12,375,000).

Each of them will get a guaranteed prize money of $782,115.

Chip leaders posted a record of 1-for-2 (wins) in the last 2 (two) years of the prestigious meet. Darvin Moon of the US won the event in 2009, while French-Canadian Jonathan Duhamel prevailed in 2010.

When the smoke of battle clears, the eventual champion will bring home a jaw-dropping bounty of $8,711,956. The winner also stands to wear the custom-designed WSOP gold and diamond bracelet.

Making it to the WSOP finale is every poker player’s dream come true because reigning supreme in this event is synonymous to getting the enviable tag of “world poker champion.”

When play resumes in the November attraction, there will be 34 minutes and 57 seconds left in Level 36, with the button starting in seat 9.

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