WSOP Main Event final table
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
The starting field of 6,598 at the 2012 World Series of Poker has been whittled down to a final table of nine with eight Americans and a Hungarian set to battle it out for a the first prize of $8.5m when play resumes on 29 October.
Jesse Sylvia is the man in pole position, returning as he does with 43,875,000, 14.5m ahead of closest rival Andras Koroknai who has 29,375,000. Koroknai, who won the 2010 LA Poker Classic is probably the best known player amongst this year's October Nine which is lacking in big name pros.
The 2012 final table will be an all-male affair with the two women amongst the 27 day seven starters falling tantalisingly short. Norway's Elisabeth Hille busted in 11th, losing a flip with AQs against Koroknai's pocket sevens. Gaelle Baumann was the bubble girl with Koroknai was again the eliminator, sending the Frenchwoman to the rail when his AJ held against Baumann's A9.
And with that we had our final table. The Main Event is once again proving to be a young man's game with five of the final nine in their twenties with Jacob Balsiger the baby of the bunch at just 21. There are two players in their thirties with one forty-something. 56-year-old Steven Gee is the veteran at the table.
Greg Merson, who pocketed over $1.1m after winning the $10k six-max bracelet earlier in the World Series, nudged ahead of Phil Ivey in the WSOP player of the year standings. Merson, who returns in third, is already guaranteed at least $754,798 which would take his 2012 WSOP earnings to almost $2m. It could of course be an even bigger return.
The final table chip counts are as follows:
1 Jesse Sylvia 43,875,000
2 Andras Koroknai 29,375,000
3 Greg Merson 28,725,000
4 Russell Thomas 24,800,000
5 Steven Gee 16,860,000
6 Michael Esposito 16,260,000
7 Robert Salaburu 15,155,000
8 Jacob Balsiger 13,115,000
9 Jeremy Ausmus 9,805,000
This is what they'll be playing for.
1 $8,527,982
2 $5,292,889
3 $3,797,558
4 $2,850,494
5 $2,154,616
6 $1,640,461
7 $1,257,790
8 $971,252
9 $754,798