The World Series of Poker has revealed the top 9 players who will sit around the final table to win the grand prize of around $8 million. The November 9 will all walk away with a hefty pay check of at least $700 000.
Thousands of contestants battled their way through the main event but the final 9 are JC Tran- 36 year old from California, Amir Lehavot- 38 year old Israeli residing in Florida, Marc McLaughlin- 25 year old from Quebec, Canada, Jay Farber-28 year old from Pennsylvania, Ryan Riess-23 year old from Las Vegas, Sylvain Loosli- a 26 year old Frenchman, Michiel Brummelhuis- 32 year old from Amsterdam, Netherlands, Mark Newhouse- 28 years old from North Carolina and David Benefield- 27year old part time poker player from Texas. Carlos Mortensan, winner of the 2001 WSOP, was eliminated by JC Tran on the final hand and lost his place at the November 9 table.
Mortensan was looking for the title of first ever player to win the WSOP in the modern era of poker. Only a few players have won the championship bracelet but they were all awarded before 2000. JC Tran has a strong lead over the other 8 players with the large chip lead of 38 million and has already earned himself two WSOP bracelets as well as the titles: 2006 WCOOP main Event winner and World Poker Tour Champion. It seems the youngsters and online players have dominated this year’s table with 6 of the competitors aging in their 20s, the youngest being Ryan Riess, 23. 26 year old, Sylvain Loosli also graces the main table for the first time, labeling himself an “online poker cash game specialist” but has yet to receive any money at the world poker series.
So far, the chip count stands as follows:
JC Tran– 38 000 000
Amir Lehavot– 29 700 000
Marc McLaughlin– 26 525 000
Jay Farber– 25 975 000
Ryan Riess– 25 875 000
Sylvain Loosli– 19 600 000
Michiel Brummelhuis– 11 275 000
Mark Newhouse- 7 350 000
David Benefield– 6 375 000
The series will take a 4 month break and return in November under ESPN cameras
