Monday, October 29, 2012 4:06 PM Local Time
Jeremy Ausmus had the button to start this hand. Michael Esposito limped in from middle position after action folded to him, then Russell Thomas raised to 900,000 from the hijack seat. Action folded to Greg Merson in the big blind, and he made the call. Esposito reraised to 3.3 million. Thomas and Merson folded, giving Esposito the pot.
Monday, October 29, 2012 4:04 PM Local Time
Jake Balsiger had the button. The action folded to Jeremy Ausmus, who opened to 750,000 from the small blind. Steve Gee folded from the big blind, and Ausmus took the pot.
Monday, October 29, 2012 4:02 PM Local Time
| Jesse Sylvia | 44,565,000 | 690,000  |
| Andras Koroknai | 29,255,000 | -120,000  |
| Greg Merson | 28,605,000 | -120,000 |
| Russell Thomas | 21,790,000 | -3,010,000 |
| Steve Gee | 20,800,000 | 3,940,000 |
| Michael Esposito | 15,990,000 | -270,000 |
| Robert Salaburu | 15,035,000 | -120,000 |
| Jake Balsiger | 12,545,000 | -570,000 |
| Jeremy Ausmus | 9,385,000 | -420,000 |
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:59 PM Local Time
Russell Thomas began this hand with the button. Action folded to him, and he raised to 600,000. The two blinds folded, and Thomas won the blinds and antes.
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:57 PM Local Time
Michael Esposito had the button. Jesse Sylvia opened to 605,000 from middle position, and took down the pot.
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:56 PM Local Time
Andras Koroknai had the button to kick off the action at the final table. Steve Gee opened to 700,000, and action folded to Russell Thomas in the big blind. He called to take a flop of . Thomas checked, and Gee bet 850,000. Thomas called.
The was added to the board on the turn, and Thomas checked. Gee fired two million. Thomas made the call, and off to the river they went.
The river paired the board with the , and Thomas checked again. Gee fired 4.55, and Thomas folded.
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:51 PM Local Time
After a break of 103 days, the cards are now in the air for the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Let's get it on!
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:01 PM Local Time
Russell Thomas had $126,796 in live tournament earnings prior to this World Series of Poker Main Event run. The bulk of that money came from two large WSOP scores in 2010 and 2011. The first of the two was in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed event where he took fifth place for $84,256. The second was a 248th-place finish in the 2011 Main Event for $40,654.
Leading up to the final table, Thomas reached out to Jason Somerville for coaching. The two worked together on a short documentary series that chronicles Thomas' training leading up to the Octo-Nine. You can find all of those episodes here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
Thomas is 24 years old and from Hartford, Connecticut, although he grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before Black Friday, Thomas took a job as actuary for Aetna Insurance, so he isn't considered a professional poker player, although that may change with this score. When asked if Thomas would continue his professional life depending on what happens in October, he said the following:
"I am going to take a leave of absence for sure until October. If I got out in ninth place I would definitely go back to my job, because I don't think $750,000 is enough and because I don't have a 100 percent of myself anyways. But If I got third or something I would quit for sure and just play poker."
And despite being an actuary and regularly working with numbers, Thomas doesn't think it relates to poker as much as people think:
"Well, to be an actuary you have to pass a bunch of exams. One of them was called probability. So I have studied probability pretty intensively. The math helps, but it doesn't correlate as much as people think. Playing poker makes you better at poker."
Thomas will enter the final table fourth in chips with an above-average stack of 24.8 million. He has a good chance to make a deep run, but not as good as his former roommate Jesse Sylvia, who starts the final table with a big chip lead. Those two shared a residence before, and we'll see if they can share two of the three final spots on Tuesday.
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:01 PM Local Time
In 1989, Phil Hellmuth became the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event at age 25. In 2008, Peter Eastgate broke Hellmuth's record, winning the tournament at age 22, and in 2009, Joe Cada broke Eastgate's record, winning at age 21.
Jake Balsiger, 21 years and 9 months, has a chance to best Cada and become the youngest Main Event winner. Like Cada, Balsiger enters the final table short on chips – he has 13.115 million, which is just over half of the average stack.
Balsiger is a political science major entering his senior year at Arizona State University. He currently lives in Tempe, Arizona, and was born in Portland, Oregon. Prior to the Main Event, Balsiger cashed in Event #2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, finishing 100th for $3,531, and he also cashed in one of the popular $235 Rio Daily Deepstacks, finishing in 75th for a whopping $353.
When asked how he felt about making the final table, Balsiger told WSOP.com, "It feels amazing. Best I've ever felt in my life. It's like the highest high there is."
He also added:
"I've wanted to play since I was 13 years old, watching it on TV. This is my first one and it's totally surreal. When I was 18, I wasn't any good. I wouldn't say I was any good until this year. I've made a couple of minimum cashes. I won't have to worry about money for a long time I would say, hopefully for the rest of my life. I guess I can do whatever I want. This is pretty nice. I started out grinding low stakes online, eking out a very meager living, but I was happy to not have a real job. Then when I started playing live, which I really liked because I could take as long as I wanted and other things which suited me a lot better. I want to play poker for a living, but once I'm gone from this tournament, I don't want to give it up for an office job."
Like Russell Thomas and Jesse Sylvia, Balsiger reached out for an established professional for coaching; Mike "Timex" McDonald. McDonald has some great coaching results, including Pius Heinz (winner of the 2011 WSOP Main Event) and David Einhorn (third in the $1 Million Big One for One Drop).
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:01 PM Local Time
Every final table has to have a short stack, and this year it's Jeremy Ausmus. He's the only player under 10 million in chips, but that doesn't mean he can't run it up to become champion.
Ausmus is a professional poker player who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born in Colorado and achieved his bachelor's degree from Colorado State University. Married to his wife Adria, Ausmus has a son and a daughter.
Here's what Ausmus had to say about how he got into poker:
"Just in college. It's funny. I watched Rounders, and I was wondering — cause I've always been into games, video games, chess, just strategy, thinking games and poker –- and I watched the movie and was wondering if you could really make a living with poker. I didn't know if it was all luck or skill. So, I went and bought a book. I watched the movie like five times in a week, me and my roommate. Then I went and bought a book from Barnes & Noble, and it said, "Yeah, you can make a living playing poker." So, I was really intrigued and bought more books about, like, how to play poker for a living basically. And then, you know, it was blowing up then, and I met some people that liked to play, and then I got into some games around town. Then I went to travel to Black Hawk (casino in Colorado where he was living) on the weekends. And it just escalated more and more into playing a lot, winning and improving."
Prior to this final table, Ausmus had $427,105 in live tournament earnings. He's had several five-figure scores, but only one six-figure score. That score came in 2011 when Ausmus took third in The Big Event in Los Angeles for $190,000. He also has 13 other WSOP cashes.
With this large score, Ausmus doesn't think he'll be making any big purchases to splurge. He said he might pay off his house, and make some other "responsible" purchases, but that he "probably won't go and buy a nice watch." At the end of the day, Ausmus said, "I'll probably just add it to my bankroll. I'm going pay down some debt. We've been talking about doing some remodeling on the house."
Monday, October 29, 2012 3:00 PM Local Time
Greg Merson isn't the only player at this World Series of Poker Main Event final table with a gold bracelet... enter Steven Gee. Gee is also the oldest player at the final table at age 57.
In 2010, Gee won his first gold bracelet for $472,479. He conquered a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event with 3,042 players, meaning his knows how to maneuver his way through large fields. Getting to this final table, Gee had to do just that, and he now has the experience of winning a WSOP event under his belt.
Outside of his bracelet win in 2010 and this final table appearance, Gee has never had a score over $4,500. He does, though, have a total of five WSOP cashes to his credit.
Gee was born in China, but resides in Sacramento, California. He considers himself a professional poker player, but formerly worked as a Formerly a Manager of Software Projects for the California Public Employees Retirement System.
When talking about his lengthy poker background, here's what Gee had to say:
"I'm from Sacramento, California but originally from China. I was a professional poker player in the 1970's, back when I was in my 20's playing draw lowball. At 22, I was playing the biggest games around. At that time, I was the only young guy at the table. Poker was not popular back in those days like it is today. Being a poker player was a lot like being a pool hustler. We played at the Oaks card club, $60/120 limit. I was the only 20-something year-old there. There were some guys in their 30's, some in their 40's. Everybody else was in their 50's. But the world's changed now. Look at a poker room in a casino today and the whole lineup is in their 20's. I went back and got my college degree, got married, worked a corporate job, you know 8 to 5. Then, in 2008 I quit my job to play poker full time. Poker was so popular at the time, I wanted to win a WSOP bracelet and I wanted to do it now. I didn't want to wait until I was 70."
If he's able to take down this title, Gee will become the second Chinese-born winner of the Main Event, alongside Johnny Chan. He can also become the oldest person to win the Main Event since Noel Furlong won at the age of 62 in 1999.
Monday, October 29, 2012 2:59 PM Local Time
A lot of eyes will be on Greg Merson at this final table, as he's widely regarded as the most skillful player to reach the Octo-Nine. Stack-wise, Merson has just under 29 million and sits behind only Andras Koroknai and Jesse Sylvia.
Earlier this year, Merson won his first-ever World Series of Poker gold bracelet in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed event for over $1.13 million. If he's able to place in the top seven here, he'll earn his second seven-figure score of the year, and his career.
Prior to his run here, Merson held over $1.3 million in live earnings. Like Jesse Sylvia, Merson took to WSOP Europe, but also came home empty handed after giving it a go in several events.
Not only can Merson win the WSOP Main Event and the greatest title in poker history, he can also claim the WSOP Player of the Year honor. To do so, Merson must win the event and that will allow him to overtake the current front-runner Phil Hellmuth.
Merson has come a long way in his short career. Coming from an online background, he fell into a lot of money from poker and picked up a drug addiction. He's fought hard against that to get his life back in order and has been working on that for quite some time now. It's a feel-good story for sure, and here's what Merson had to say about his struggles:
"Yeah I thought I had it all figured out at a young age. I thought I had my s*** together. I let the lifestyle get the best of me. It was a good experience to go from being at the top of online cash games to six months later struggling to beat $1/2 Six-Max. I worked really hard to get all the way back to the highest games again, almost to where I was before I came here. I definitely have a way more positive mind set about everything. I am way more comfortable about everything. I don't spend money nearly as much. I'm not flashy."
Merson should have the most pro-filled rail of supporters at the final table, including the likes of Phil Ivey and Michael Phelps. Hopefully, they'll help channel some of that championship heritage over to Merson.
Monday, October 29, 2012 2:59 PM Local Time
Coming into the final table as the chip leader is Jesse Sylvia, with 43.875 million in chips. Hailing from Massachusetts, Sylvia finished Day 7 with 22.1% of the chips in play and 14.5 million than the next closest player. He considers himself a professional poker player and currently resides in Las Vegas.
Upon initially moving to Las Vegas, Sylvia roomed with fellow Octo-Niner Russell Thomas, making for an interesting twist to this final table. The two of them had dinner together from Day 2 on in the Main Event before stretching their runs all the way down to this Final Table.
When asked about discussing this dream scenario with Thomas, Sylvia had the following to say:
"Of course. After Day Two, Russell and I had dinner together every night. We would talk about our chip counts and hands we played over dinner. Then, his family came out and my girlfriend came and when all of us would get dinner I would be like, "I hope you're the one I get to play heads up. When we got down to ten-handed, we just looked at each other. I was shaking my head and he was shaking his head back and forth. It was apparent we were both going to make it. Then, we went out and partied last night, afterwards. I was sitting with him and I said, 'Like, oh my God, – this is incredible!' So yeah, we've talked about it but it's always been a joke."
Prior to this final table, Sylvia had $58,478 in live tournament earnings. He almost increased his live winnings by cashing in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, but became the exact bubble boy.
Sylvia enters the final table with the big lead, but only one recent winner (Jonathan Duhamel) was able to turn the chip lead into a win. The WSOP asked Sylvia if he were offered a guaranteed second-place finish, if he'd accept the offer. Here's his answer:
"Honestly, I would have to think about it a bit more. But my gut instinct is that I would not take second. I think the way I think about this is unique to me because I am different than a lot of people who get to this stage. There is a common thread that poker players do not care about money when it comes to playing. But I do not really care that much about money even away from the table. I have taken months off and traveled. I lived in Costa Rica for three months, where I lived on like $1,200 the entire time. I can live on no money and be very happy. Of course, we have already made a lot of money (by finishing at least ninth) – but it's not like that's enough money to do whatever you want the rest of your life. So, 25 thinking about it a bit more, I might accept the five million dollars. But I still think I would be a little more
inclined to go for the glory."
Whether or not Sylvia will turn his chip lead into a win, or top-three finish, is left to be determined, but he's got quite the lead to make that happen.
Monday, October 29, 2012 2:58 PM Local Time
Robert Salaburu is a Texas native and a professional poker player. He's been playing poker for six years, and this is by far his biggest poker achievement to date. Salaburu got interested in poker during high school, where he'd play home games in his buddy's garage. From there, he transferred to online play and claims he got "hooked."
Prior to this Main Event run, Salaburu had $42,411 in live tournament earnings. His largest score was a win back at the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun for $17,261 in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em side event.
Since reaching the Octo-Nine, Salaburu has cashed twice on the circuit. He placed in the money in The River Poker Series, and then he took eighth place in the Daytona Beach Heartland Poker Tour. Those scores netted him $5,381 and $14,796, respectively.
Salaburu held the chip lead at points during the Main Event, but it was when there were about 100 players left that he really felt he had a shot. Here's what he had to say when asked about when he thought he had a legitimate chance at making the Octo-Nine:
"Probably with about 100 players left. I continued to hold the chip lead for about two days. Whenever I get a chip lead in a tournament, I am pretty hyper-aggressive. I tend to just go for it and try to maintain. When you have chips late in a tournament like that and you see them breaking to ten tables, then nine tables, then eight tables, then fifty people then 25. Right around there, I knew I had a legitimate shot of getting there and making a good run at it."
Salaburu will start the final table with 15.155 million in chips and is seventh overall. He does have direct position on the chip leader, Jesse Sylvia, which could work to his advantage if he has some good timing.
Monday, October 29, 2012 2:58 PM Local Time
By making the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, Andras Koroknai has become the first Hungarian player to do so. That also makes him eligible to become the first Hungarian Main Event champion the WSOP has ever seen, and he's got a solid chance to earn that honor as he stands second in chips with 29.375 million.
Entering this final table, Koroknai has over $1.84 million in live tournament earnings. The bulk of that comes from one major score. Back in 2010, Koroknai won the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic for nearly $1.79 million after topping a field of 745 players. Other notable cashes on his record include two in-the-money finishes in previous WSOP events. One of those was the 2010 Main Event where Koroknai placed 339th for $36,463.
Koroknai surged into the final table on Day 7 by busting Elisabeth Hille in 11th place, then Gaelle Baumann in 10th place. Interestingly enough, both were women and one (Baumann) was a player Koroknai had a little bit on controversy with prior.
Koroknai and Baumann were involved in a pot where Baumann had raised, Koroknai had announced she was all in, and then Koroknai mucked his hand before Baumann could act. You can read about the hand here, and it generated a lot of chatter from the community. What's even more interesting is that Koroknai told Robert Salaburu, "The French girl is mine," upon reaching the 10-handed final table. If anyone's going to be the bad guy at this final table, it's surely Koroknai.
When asked about eliminating both females from the event, Koroknai said:
"I hadn't thought about it. When I sit down at the table, I don't care if it's a male or female player, everybody is equal and everybody wants to win. Everybody is each other's opponents. There is no friendship at the poker table."
Koroknai is 30 years old and considers himself a professional poker player.
Monday, October 29, 2012 2:57 PM Local Time
Hailing from Seaford, New York, Michael Esposito is the second oldest player at this final table at 44 years old. His occupation is a commodity broker out of New York City, and poker isn't Esposito's full-time gig. In fact, Esposito claims he plays only a few times a year as a hobby.
Coming into this final table, Esposito had $173,299 in live tournament earnings. Those earnings came from cashes that have stretched back several years to 2002.
Prior to this big run, where he has already locked up over $750,000 like his eight opponents, Esposito's largest score was for $47,310. That cash came back in 2005 when Esposito took ninth place in the World Series of Poker Circuit Atlantic City event. He also had another big score for $33,600 in Atlantic City at the 2003 United States Poker Championships $4,000 Seven Card Stud Event.
When it comes to the WSOP, Esposito has three others cashes on record besides this one. Two of them are small, but in 2006 he did manage to get into the money in the WSOP Main Event where he finished in 540th place for $22,266.
When asked what was more important to him, the $8.5 million or the gold bracelet, here's what Esposito had to say:
"Trust me, the money is more important than the bracelet. If you wanted to tell me that I could come in second and get the $8.5 million and the other guy could have the $5 million, I'd sign up for that deal right now. I don't need any of the stuff that goes with it. Realistically, my year to play poker next year will probably be very similar to my year to play poker this year. I'll play in a few small tournaments during the year. If something works work-wise I might play something else next year. Maybe I'll play two or three small tournaments and the Main Event next year. It's really not going to make that big of a difference. But, I'm hoping this can get me in the Ironman World Championship in October because they have a big media thing, so maybe they'll give me a slot to go. I'm going to try to see if I can do that. I'm going to try to play that card."
Esposito is bunched in the bottom half of the group of players with 16.26 million in chips. He's right behind Steven Gee in sixth place overall, but not too far ahead of Robert Salaburu and Jake Balsiger.
Monday, October 29, 2012 12:25 PM Local Time
Good afternoon from here in Las Vegas, folks. Today marks the kickoff the of the greatest final table in poker as it belongs to the World Series of Poker Main Event!
Just about three and a half months ago, the nine finalists etched their name in the poker history books by becoming the nine members of the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table. Not only that, but they also became the first group called the "Octo-Nine". Headed by big chip leader Jesse Sylvia, everyone remaining has locked up a minimum of $754,798, and it's the top seven spots that will become millionaires.
Speaking of Sylvia, he'll be looking to achieve what Jonathan Duhamel did when he came into the final table as chip leader, and that's win the title. Other former chip leaders since the delay in action were Dennis Phillips (2008), Darvin Moon (2009) and Martin Staszko (2011), but they all failed to get the job done.
Trailing Sylvia are Andras Koroknai and Greg Merson with just about the same amount of chips. Koroknai could be seen as one of the dark spots of this final table, but to him it doesn't seem to matter how the public views him. There has been some controversy around Koroknai, and he even told Robert Salaburu, "The French girl is mine." upon making it down to the 10-handed final table, speaking of Gaelle Baumann.
Merson, on the other hand, has been to the dark side, but has since worked his way back. Having come into poker and money at a young age, Merson fell into a drug addiction, but has battled against it to get his life back in order. Doing so allowed him to win his first WSOP gold bracelet earlier this year, and can still see him win a second. He could also win the WSOP Player of the Year if he were to claim first place. Right now, Phil Hellmuth is set to take those honors.
Another feel good story alongside Merson's would be if Jake Balsiger won, but he'd have to do it coming from the second shortest stack remaining. Balsiger is just 21 years and 281 days old, and he could become the youngest Main Event champion in history. The 2009 champion, Joe Cada, was 21 years and 356 days old when he won the event.
Here's a look at the final table, and how the players will stack up in seat order:
| Seat | Player | Country | Age | Chip Count |
|---|
| 1 | Russell Thomas | USA | 24 | 24,800,000 |
| 2 | Jake Balsiger | USA | 21 | 13,115,000 |
| 3 | Jeremy Ausmus | USA | 32 | 9,805,000 |
| 4 | Steven Gee | USA | 57 | 16,860,000 |
| 5 | Greg Merson | USA | 24 | 28,725,000 |
| 6 | Jesse Sylvia | USA | 26 | 43,875,000 |
| 7 | Robert Salaburu | USA | 27 | 15,155,000 |
| 8 | Andras Koroknai | Hungary | 30 | 29,375,000 |
| 9 | Michael Esposito | USA | 43 | 16,260,000 |
The crowd here inside the Penn & Teller Theatre is heating up, and the electricity is in the air. There's going to be plenty of excitement on the way, and you won't want to miss a thing!