The final table of the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event is set!
The chip leader is Dan Fleyshman, from San Diego, CA (USA). He has a number of small cashes in various tournaments dating back to 2005. But this is his first time to cash at the WSOP. He is a 29-year-old executive for an online poker company. It will be interesting to watch how Fleyshman fares versus a formidable lineup of top international talent.
The Main Event began five days ago with 346 entrants. The total prize pool amounted to £3,460,000, which is equal to about $5,475,363 (USD). The top 36 finishers will collect prize money. First place will pay £830,401, equal to about $1,314,176 (USD).
The final nine players are as follows:
SEAT 1: ROLAND DE WOLFE
HOMETOWN: London, UK
CHIP COUNT: 1,377,000
Roland De Wolfe is a 37-year-old professional poker player. He is the only player at the final table who is a former WSOP gold bracelet winner. He was victorious in the $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha championship in Las Vegas in 2009. De Wolfe started out at a poker writer and enjoyed his first big in-the-money finish back in 2005. Since then, he has cashed in numerous big tournaments around the world and has earned $2.5 million during his poker career. In fact, De Wolfe is one of a very select group who has won in tournament poker what is often referred to as poker’s Triple Crown – with wins at the WSOP, WPT, and EPT.
SEAT 2: MARC INIZAN
HOMETOWN: Pluguffen, France
CHIP COUNT: 349,000
Marc Inizan is a 24-year old former student who is now a professional poker player. He is enjoying a very big year in tournament poker. He has achieved six major cashes, including a third place finish in the EPT Berlin Main Event. But this marks his first time to appear at a WSOP final table. He did take 13th place in this year's $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha championship.
SEAT 3: NICOLAS LEVI
HOMETOWN: London, UK
CHIP COUNT: 428,000
Nicholas Levi is a 27-year-old poker pro. He says he enjoys windsurfing, snowboarding and dragging in big pots. He also likes to wear a hat. Levi was formally a student studying computer science and found he could make more money playing poker online. He has numerous cashes over the past five years in every major tour stop in Europe. He also cashed in the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event. Levi final tabled the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout earlier this year in Las Vegas, where he finished fifth.
SEAT 4: FABRIZIO BALDASSARI
HOMETOWN: Monte Carlo, Monaco
CHIP COUNT: 697,000
Fabrizio Baldassari is a poker pro from Monaco. He has several cashes in major tournaments throughout Europe the past three years. But this marks his first cash ever in a WSOP event. Baldassari was asked if there is anything special about him he wants the audience to know. He stated on his bio sheet – “I love my girlfriends.” We are sure that Fabrizio did not mean to write an “s” on the word “girlfriends.” The fun loving Italian-born poker pro starts this final table in the middle of the pack.
SEAT 5: BRIAN POWELL
HOMETOWN: Louisville, KY (USA)
CHIP COUNT: 842,000
Brian Powell is a 28-year-old poker player from Kentucky. This marks his fifth time to cash at the WSOP. His best previous finish was 13th place in the $10,000 buy-in Mixed event two years ago. Powell also cashed in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, finishing in 66th place out of more than 6,000 players.
SEAT 6: DANNY STEINBERG
HOMETOWN: Fairfield, IA (USA)
CHIP COUNT: 1,520,000
Danny Steinberg is a 22-year-old professional poker player. He has a twin brother who plays poker, and according to Danny – "is just as successful as me.” Well, that won’t be true if Danny manages to win a gold bracelet at this final table. He cashed twice at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas, including an in-the-money finish in the Main Event. He begins this final table ranked third in chips.
SEAT 7: JAMES BORD
HOMETOWN: Stanmore, UK
CHIP COUNT: 1,331,000
James Bord is a 29-year-old professional poker player. Prior to playing for a living, he worked in banking. This is only the second WSOP Europe event Bard has entered, but he is well on his way to achieving his highest live major tournament finish ever. Bord has now cashed seven times at the WSOP, including a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas earlier this year in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball championship. Bord is far better known as a cash game player. When he is in Las Vegas, he routinely plays 300-600 and 400-800 in the biggest poker rooms in the city.
SEAT 8: RONALD LEE
HOMETOWN: Jericho, NY (USA)
CHIP COUNT: 1,899,000
Ronald Lee is a 24-year-old professional poker player. He was a student before turning pro. Lee’s first big cash was in the 2008 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. He cashed in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He also cashed in the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship earlier this year in Las Vegas. He is currently ranked second in chips.
SEAT 9: DAN FLEYSHMAN
HOMETOWN: San Diego, CA (USA)
CHIP COUNT: 1,946,000
Dan Fleyshman is a 29-year-old executive for an online poker company. This marks his first time to cash in a WSOP event. He has previously cashed numerous times in other smaller tournaments. This marks the first time he has appeared at the final table of a televised major poker tournament. Prior to joining the poker industry, Fleyshman was the founder of a multi-million dollar company which produced the energy drink called “Who’s Your Daddy.” When he had his own company, he was -- at the time -- the youngest owner of a publicly-traded company at the age of 23.
The final table will be played at the Empire Casino in London. This is the fourth consecutive year WSOP Europe has come to London. Each of the nine finalists hopes to add his name to a list of former champions that includes Annette Obrestad (2007), John Juanda (2008), and Barry Shulman (2009).
Play in the final day is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, September 28th at noon.
Day Four began with only 22 players remaining. It took about eight hours to play down to the final nine. Former gold bracelet winners who cashed so far include -- Phil Ivey (USA), Hoyt Corkins (USA), Roland de Wolfe (UK), and Greg Mueller (Canada).
Indeed, there's some great poker to be played -- and you have the ability to watch it all for the first time ever, in a web stream broadcast from the World Series of Poker Europe.
The stream will be available will on Tuesday at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time in the United States -- which is 5:00 PM in London, where the event will be played at the Casino at the Empire.
Stay tuned to WSOP.com for more news and information. Live tournament updates can be seen HERE.
In other news….
Four events have been complete this year at WSOP Europe. The four previous winners were:
EVENT #1: Phil Laak (£2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em)
EVENT #2: Jeffrey Lisandro (£5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha)
EVENT #3: Scott Shelley (£1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em)
EVENT #4: Gus Hansen (£10,000 buy-in High-Roller Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship)
For more information about WSOP Europe, please click HERE.