I would have thought that some of the more well known players would have lasted through the perils and pains of battling a field of 7,874 hungry participants at the Main Event of the 49th Annual World Series of Poker. However, most of the participants weren’t poker stars or big money-makers prior to the Main Event, with the exception of Joe Cada, of course, who won the Championship in 2009. We watched anxiously as the field was whittled down to ten players. After Yueqi Zhu was eliminated in 10th place, the final nine players were set, and when all the congratulatory slaps on the back were done, it was time to begin the race to grab the much-coveted Main Event Championship title, the Gold Bracelet, and $8,800,000 to party with. Here is your Final Nine:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Artem Metalidi | Ukraine | 15,475,000 | 26 |
| 2 | John Cynn | United States | 37,075,000 | 62 |
| 3 | Alex Lynskey | Australia | 25,925,000 | 43 |
| 4 | Tony Miles | United States | 42,750,000 | 71 |
| 5 | Nicolas Manion | United States | 112,775,000 | 188 |
| 6 | Aram Zobian | United States | 18,875,000 | 31 |
| 7 | Michael Dyer | United States | 109,175,000 | 182 |
| 8 | Joe Cada | United States | 23,675,000 | 39 |
| 9 | Antoine Labat | France | 8,050,000 | 13 |
….and here is a quick video of how a wild three-way hand decided the final nine….
We will keep you all posted as the nine get eliminated one by one until the final player is crowned. In the meantime, we thought it only right to tell you that good ol’ Phil Hellmuth, has done it again. He secured his 15th Gold WSOP Bracelet in Event #71: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em and took home another $485,082 to add to his ever-expanding net worth. He may be “the brat,” but he sure can play poker!
There were also a couple other events that were completed in the last couple of days:
Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed was taken down by Ronald Keijzer for his very first bracelet and $475,033 to ease the pain of such hard work over three days of battling 900 other players.
Event #70: $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Handed after three days of play, Yaser Al-Keliddar emerged victorious with pocket 4s and took home his first bracelet and $154,338 bucks to play with.
Until next time, the battle for the Championship will be on ESPN tonight, Friday night and Saturday, so I know what we’ll be doing. And I’m sure we’ll all keep practicing at our favorite poker tables; maybe next year we’ll see you at the 50th World Series of Poker.
Send us your comments or thoughts!
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