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Czech player leads WSOP Main Event

Comment: 0 July 29th, 2011 by: admin

A competitor from the Czech Republic currently holds the largest chip lead among the final nine Main Event finalists at the 2011 World Series of Poker tournament.

35-year old Martin Staszko, a professional poker player, will head to the November Nine, the competition’s final stage, holding a chip total of 40,175,000.

This number puts him at 7 million ahead of his nearest competitor, Eoghan O’Dea (Ireland), who currently holds almost 34 million in chips.

Following O’Dea is Matt Giannetti from the United States with 24,750,000; Phil Collins, also from the US, holds fourth place at 23,875,000.

Staszko’s participation in the final leg makes him the first ever player from the Czech Republic to reach the Main Event final of the WSOP.

The Czech’s trail of poker victories involves a recent 11th place win in the Deauville Event of the European Poker Tour. He currently holds an “expert” rating in the game, just one notch below master level.

The November Nine remain among a total of 6,865 players all vying for a shot at the WSOP gold bracelet, as well as the US$8.7 million first prize, to be determined in Las Vegas on November 5.

Also in the finals at 5th place and 20, 875,000 is Ben Lamb (US), who took first, second, and eighth place in earlier events in this year’s competition.

The group also features the first representative from the Ukraine, 21-year old Anton Makiievskyi. He currently sits at 8th place, with 13,825,000 chips.

Overall, a total of seven different countries are represented in the November Nine, with the US leading the number with 3 representatives; aside from the Czech Republic and the Ukraine, the remaining countries are Belize, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

The finalists were decided after a total of 2 weeks and about 500,000 hands.

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