After seven days, dozens of hours, and hundreds of hands, it all comes down to this. For the final 14 players still alive on Day 7 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, the finish line is in sight. Tonight on ESPN, the final two hours of coverage before next week’s live final table airs and we discover which of this group will be returning to the Rio next Monday for the final table.
When we left off last week, Andras Koroknai found new life in this tournament thanks to a lucky double up through poker pro Danny Wong. This won’t be the last dramatic double up or come from behind victory we see before the final table. One player who desperately needs a double up is Gaelle Baumann, who is near the bottom of the counts with her hopes of the final table in serious jeopardy.
The other woman in the mix, Elisabeth Hille, isn’t in much better shape. Last week, she couldn’t seem to pick up many hands, but in order to lock up a spot in the final nine she will need to find a way to chip up and survive. Wong, Koroknai, Hille, and Baumann are the short stacks feeling the pressure, but even the big stacks are not safe from disaster. In past years, players like Billy Kopp, Matt Affleck, and Scotty Nguyen have all felt the pain of watching their pile of chips disappear in a flash and they can attest that even the big stacks like Marc-Andre Ladouceur and Russell Thomas can’t book their return trip to Vegas just yet.
It is going to be two hours of highs and lows as these players watch their poker dreams come true or come crumbling down. The pressure is on and the stakes are as high as they get. Which five players will be left on the outside looking in and which nine will be in the running for the $8.5 million first place payday and poker’s most coveted title? Tune in tonight and find out. Until then, here is a sneak peek of what is in store on tonight’s coverage:
You'll have to tune in to ESPN tonight to find out. If you do, you'll also have a chance to Watch and Win your own seat into the 2013 WSOP Main Event. Just listen for host Lon McEachern to give out the code word for this week, log in to the WSOP.com free play site, enter the code, and you'll be entered in a drawing for a trip to Vegas next summer. Full rules and regulations of the Watch and Win sweepstakes are available on WSOP.com.
And don't forget you can enhance your Main Event experience with our new WSOP ACTV8 app that allows you to basically play along with the WSOP, guessing flop colors, putting players on hands, and offering up your insight on all aspects of the Main Event. The app is available on Apple through the iTunes store.
Photo by Eddie Malluk for PokerNews/WSOP