CURTAIN CALL IN CANNES -- WSOP EUROPE MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE ALL SET
Outfoxing the Competition in Cannes

New Yorker Elio Fox Leads the Pack as Finale Table Players Take Their Seats

Curtain Call in Cannes:  WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table All Set

2011 WSOP Europe Main Event Championship Continues on French Riviera

Final Eight Players Set to Play for Nearly $2 Million Top Prize

Final Table Action Begins Thursday – Live Stream Running from Start to Finish

 
Cannes, France (20 October 2011) – In a city that’s most famous for its international film festival, the award for “Best Performance by a Poker Player” will be up for grabs on Thursday at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Championship.

Nearly a week ago, the red carpet rolled out for an all-time record 593 poker players who jammed into the ultra-chic Hotel Majestic Barriere, nestled along the fabulous French Riviera.  After five days of mixed performances by those players – some bad, some good, and a rare few, great -- the finale table nominations have rolled in. 

The final eight players are now set.  All that remains is the big show to be played and the winner to be unveiled in front of a global viewing audience, when the world will discover the new champion of what has been Cannes’ greatest poker festival, ever.

The nominees for “Champion of 2011 World Series of Poker Europe” are as follows:

SEAT 1:  Max Silver               
HOMETOWN:  London (England)
CHIP COUNT:  1,825,000
Max Silver is a 21-year-old professional poker player.  He once worked in marketing.  Silver previously won the UK and Ireland Poker Tour championship played in Dublin as well as a European Poker Tour event played in London.  He took fourth place in the Shootout event at this year’s 2011 WSOP Europe and hopes to improve on that performance in what is his second final table appearance here in Cannes.

SEAT 2:  Elio Fox
HOMETOWN:  New York, New York (USA)
CHIP COUNT:  3,990,000
Fox is a 25-year-old professional poker player.  He was previously a college student at prestigious Bard College in New York.  Fox won the Bellagio Cup championship earlier this year, played in Las Vegas.  For that victory, he won about $680,000.  He stands to win three times that amount here in Cannes, should he win this championship.

SEAT 3:  Dermot Blain
HOMETOWN:  Dublin (Ireland)
CHIP COUNT:  2,405,000
Blain is a 27-year-old professional poker player.  He is the 2009 Asian-Pacific Poker Tour champion, held at Macau.  Blain has numerous cashes on his poker resume over the past six years as a pro and has accumulated about $800,000 in career live tournament earnings.  He has a chance to triple that today, with a victory here at WSOP Europe.

SEAT 4:  Jake Cody
HOMETOWN:  Leeds (England)
CHIP COUNT:  2,685,000
Jake Cody is a 23-year-old professional poker player.  He won his first WSOP gold bracelet earlier this year in the $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up World Championship, which earned him a payout totaling $800,000.  He also won an EPT event in Deauville and a WPT event in London, giving him what some call “Poker’s Triple Crown.”  It’s pretty amazing that in just two short years, Cody has already won more than $2.6 million.

SEAT 5:  Shawn Buchanan
HOMETOWN:  Abbotsford, British Columbia (Canada)
CHIP COUNT:  1,015,000
Buchanan is a 29-year-old professional poker player.  He is widely-regarded as one of the top, if not the top player in the world who has yet to win a WSOP gold bracelet.  But he’s come very close, two times in fact this year alone in WSOP tournaments.  Buchanan’s three second place finishes over the past two years in WSOP tournaments have made him one of the most watched and feared players in the game.  He has $3.8 million in career tournament earnings, to date.  He’s also still in the running for the 2011 WSOP “Player of the Year.”

SEAT 6:  Moritz Kranich
HOMETOWN:  Hamburg (Germany)
CHIP COUNT:  1,660,000
Kranich is a 31-year-old professional poker player.  He has two major tournament wins – at EPT Deauville and WPT Bellagio.  His EPT win paid over $1 million.  He has in excess of $2.1 million in career tournament winnings.  He hopes to become the first German player in history to win a WSOP Europe gold bracelet. 

SEAT 7:  Chris Moorman
HOMETOWN:  Limassol (Cyprus), but originally from Basildon (England)
CHIP COUNT:  2,230,000
Moorman is a 26-year-old professional poker player.  He holds a college degree in economics from Essex University, in England.  Moorman had second- and third-place finishes at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas.  He has nearly $1.4 million in live tournament earnings, but is still seeking his first major live tournament victory.

SEAT 8:  Brian Roberts
HOMETOWN:  Austin, Texas (USA)
CHIP COUNT:  2,000,000
Roberts is a 28-year-old professional poker player.  He has nearly two dozen major cashes in a wide variety of tournaments, mostly played in the American Midwest.  He is already guaranteed his second cash here at WSOP Europe and biggest payout with this final table appearance.  His online poker nickname is “Flawless Victory,” which he hopes to turn into reality at this final table.  Note:  Roberts is no relation to the late Brian "Sailor" Roberts, also from Texas, who won the 1975 WSOP Main Event.

…………………

This tournament is the biggest and richest WSOP Main Event ever in its five-year history.  The total prize pool amounted to 5,692,800 Euros – a new record.  The top 64 finishers collected prize money.  A full list of players who cashed in this tournament (EVENT #7) can be seen at wsop.com. 

All eight of the remaining finalists are guaranteed to receive at least 115,000 Euros.  The new champion will collect a whopping 1,400,000 Euros (equal to about $1,927,000 U.S. Dollars), plus the most coveted prize in all of poker – the WSOP gold bracelet.  The top cash prize is the second-largest in WSOP history for any tournament winner, aside from the 2009 Poker Players Championship and Main Event winners, played in Las Vegas.

This year’s WSOP Europe Main Event Championship attracted just about every top player in the game.  Indeed, if anyone ever needed a reason to visit the fabulous French Riviera, this was most certainly the perfect occasion.  Perfect weather, an exciting international city, and an exceptional venue have all contributed towards what many are labeling one of the best poker tournament series ever held, anywhere.
 
All the action is taking place at the Hotel Majestic Barriere, located on the famous Le Croisette esplanade facing the Mediterranean Sea.  The tournament is being played in the same ballrooms which customarily showcase movies nominated in the annual Cannes Film Festival.  The G20 Economic Summit is scheduled to take over the host hotel, after the WSOP ends.  Several national leaders are reported to being staying in the Hotel Majestic Barriere after the tournament concludes.
 
This year’s edition of WSOP Europe was record-setting in just about every way possible.  Event #1 was up 48 percent.  Event #2 was up 32 percent.  Event #3 was up 50 percent.  Event 5 was up 21 percent.  Event #7 was up 71 percent.  Event #4 and Event #6 were first-time additions to the schedule.  The total amount of prize money awarded for all events amounts to 10,620,330 (Euros), which is equal to about $14,740,285 (USD).
 
Live coverage of WSOP Europe continues on Thursday, 20 October, when the new Main Event Champion will ultimately be determined.  The finale will be televised and later shown around the world on ESPN and other networks. 
 
Be sure and tune in Thursday for the live stream of the Main Event Championship final table, which is scheduled to begin about 2 pm (Cannes local time).  For viewers in the United States, this will take place at 5 am (PST).  Play expected to run most of the day and night.