Finally, after a long and rough journey, the 45(th) annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2014 has entered the home stretch. On November 10, the final nine players of the WSOP 2014 will walk into the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino for a fight to the finish. The reward: the WSOP bracelet and a prize of $10 million.
The final table of the main event this year is a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em championship. The WSOP this year had a field of 6,683 players from 87 different countries. These players are from six different countries: Brazil, Norway, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the United States, representing completely the immense diversity that the WSOP has come to be known for.
Aged between 22 and 31 years, each of these fab 9 are already guaranteed a minimum of $730,725 from the competition. Here is a look at the November Nine and their seating at the main event.
1. Seat 1 – William Pappaconstantinou: From Lowell, Massachusetts, this
29-year old is also a world foosball champion. Also known as Billy Pappas, his poker tournament experience is a severe handicap, with just over $81,000 in winnings since 2012. His chip stack of 17,500,000 still makes him a force to reckon with in the competition.
2. Seat 2 – Felix Stephensen: This 23-year old from Oslo, Norway, is in his second WSOP main event now, and that is a surprise given that his resume has just one 92(nd) place finish in the EPT Barcelona main event to show as big match experience. His experience may be lesser than Billy Pappas, but his chip stack certainly isn’t, at 32,775,000.
3. Seat 3 – Jorryt van Hoof: This 31-year old from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is a poker pro. He is the leader of the pack so far, heading into the home stretch with a 38,375,000 chip stack. He has had final table appearances earlier on the European Poker Tour and also at the Master Classics of Poker.
4. Seat 4 – Mark Newhouse: with a chip stack of 26,000,000, this Chapel Hill, North Carolina man has been around, and his $2.7 million in tournament earnings are proof of that. He is the first man since Dan Harrington to make back-to-back final tables at main events.
5. Seat 5 – Andoni Larrabe: At 22, he is the youngest of this November Nine and also the first Spaniard since Carlos Mortensen won in 2001 to make the main event here. A native of Basque, Spain, he has an 11(th)-place finish at the EPT Grand Final main event in 2012 on his resume.
6. Seat 6 – William Tonking: He is a 27-year old from Flemington, New Jersey. This online poker player has a 15,050,000 chip stack at this WSOP main event final table.
7. Seat 7 – Daniel Sindelar: A 30-year old from Columbus, Nebraska and a Vegas resident now, Daniel is a professional poker player with $527,000 in career wins. He has a 21,200,000 chip stack in this tournament.
8. Seat 8 – Martin Jacobson: Originally from Sweden, he is now a resident of London and a poker pro. This 27-year old has the most live tournament experience in this lot, with two runner-up finishes on the EPT and a sixth place finish at the WSOP 2013 One Drop Hill Roller. He has a chip stack of 14,900,000 coming into the main event here.
9. Seat 9 – Bruno Politano: This 31-year old is the first Brazilian to get to the final table of a WSOP main event. He plays poker only as a hobby and is based out of Fortaleza. His chip stack in this event is the lowest of all the nine, at 12,125,000.