NOVEMBER NINER PROFILE: MICHAEL RUANE

Michael Ruane

Age: 28
Hometown: Hoboken, New Jersey
Occupation: Professional Poker Player
Marital Status: Single
WSOP Earnings: $24,438
WSOP Cashes: 3
WSOP Final Tables: 0
Best Previous Main Event Finish: N/A
*All stats are prior to the 2016 Main Event

Michael Ruane is headed to the Main Event final table in the dead middle of the pack. The 28-year-old New Jersey native will start the final table fifth in chips with a stack just below the average. Ruane plays poker professionally and plays on WSOP.com Real Money Gaming in New Jersey. He has three WSOP cashes prior to this Main Event. Of those three cashes his best finish was 37th place in 2012 in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. He earned $13,934 for that finish. Also in 2012 Ruane finished 49th in the Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Circuit Main Event for $3,280.

Road to the Final Table:

Ruane got off to a hot start and doubled his 50,000 chip start stack on Day 1 of the tournament. On Day 2 he managed to only add 8,500 chips to his stack and he fell below the tournament average.

The money bubble hit on Day 3 and Ruane crushed it. He increased his stack to just shy of one million chips and he bagged 41st out of the 800 players remaining. On Day 4 Ruane played well enough to add to his stack, but did not collect enough chips to stay above the tournament average. Ruane fought his way to an above average stack by the end Day 5 and kept his momentum through Day 6. Ruane hit a rush early on Day 6 and eliminated Caufman Talley and Cole Jackson in back-to-back hands. From there his chip stack continued to grow and he became the chip leader midway through the day. He finished the day second in chips, only behind fellow November Niner Vojtech Ruzicka.

Ruane entered Day 7 with a big stack and a good shot of reaching the November Nine, but he had a tough table draw with one of the best players in the game on his direct left in James Obst. Ruane arguably played the hand of the tournament against Obst. Ruane turned a straight flush and won a pot worth about 25 million chips against the Australian. After that hand Ruane had about 38 million chips and the chip lead. He crossed the 40 million chip mark, but ended the day headed in the wrong direction. He finished Day 7 with 31,600,000 chips (63 bbs) – good for 5th place.

Final Table Position:

Ruane is situated between two big stacks. To his right is Cliff Josephy, who holds the chip lead with 74,600,000 (149 bbs). On Ruane’s left is Gordon Vayo, who will enter the final table third in chips with 49,375,000 (98 bbs).

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