Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

6,674 down, 8 to go for World Series of Poker champ — whoever that will be

WSOP Plays to Final Table

Steve Marcus

Members of the November Nine reach for the championship bracelet after making it to the Final Table during the World Series of Poker $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em Main Event at the Rio on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. Players from left: Billy Pappaconstantinou of Lowell, Mass.; Felix Stephensen of Norway; Jorryt van Hoof of the Netherlands; Mark Newhouse of Los Angeles, who now lives in Las Vegas; Andoni Larrabe of Spain; William Tonking of Flemington, N.J.; Daniel Sindelar, originally from Columbus, Neb., now living in Las Vegas; Martin Jacobson of Sweden; and Bruno Politano of Brazil.

The 45th world champion of poker will emerge Tuesday night at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio.

The 2014 World Series of Poker concludes five months after it began, when the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which began with 6,683 players, plays down from nine to one. For the seventh straight year, the tournament serving as poker’s world championship went on a planned hiatus after the final table was determined in mid-July.

The break allows fans to familiarize themselves with the finalists on ESPN’s weekly episodes airing the tournament. ESPN will air the two nights of the final table, Monday and Tuesday, live to show the winner becoming one of the biggest in WSOP history.

This year’s $10 million first-place prize is the second-largest ever. In 2006, Jamie Gold earned $12 million.

One of the following nine players will earn the eight-figure bounty to go with the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet and a place in the game’s lore.

    • Seat 1: William Pappaconstantinou (17.5 million chips, 6th)

      Age: 29

      Hometown: Lowell, Mass.

      Odds to win: 10-to-1

      Bio: One of the world’s best foosball players, “Billy Pappas” was supposed to be in Austria competing in a tabletop-soccer tournament this summer during the Main Event. He changed his mind when a friend offered to stake him $10,000, and he managed to glide through his first-ever WSOP event.

      How Pappaconstantinou wins: He keeps getting the cards. Pappaconstantinou is the first to admit he’s not as seasoned as the other players but describes the rush of cards that came his way over the summer as otherworldly.

    • Seat 2: Felix Stephensen (32.77 million chips, 2nd)

      Age: 23

      Hometown: Oslo, Norway

      Odds to win: 7-to-2

      Bio: A professional for less than five years, Stephensen has made his money playing in high-stakes online cash games. His track record of success online far exceeds his tournament results, which totaled just $22,000 before the Main Event.

      How Stephensen wins: He keeps his opponents guessing. Behind Pappaconstantinou, Stephensen is the most unfamiliar player at the table and could use that to his advantage by switching up his strategies.

    • Seat 3: Jorryt van Hoof (38.37 million chips, 1st)

      Age: 31

      Hometown: Einhdhoven, Netherlands

      Odds to win: 5-to-2

      Bio: Cited with last year’s seventh-place finisher Michiel Brummelhuis as one of the forefathers of poker’s growth in popularity in the Netherlands, van Hoof has played professionally for more than a decade. He has moved all around Europe and pursued a career in industrial engineering before poker.

      How van Hoof wins: He does exactly what he did on the final day this summer. Van Hoof couldn’t explain exactly how he multiplied his chip stack more than 10 times to go from 15th to first, but it’s in his best interest to retain the momentum.

    • Seat 4: Mark Newhouse (26 million chips, 3rd)

      Age: 29

      Hometown: Chapel Hill, N.C.

      Odds to win: 4-to-1

      Bio: The consummate grinder, Newhouse had forged a living traveling on the poker circuit and playing cash games in Los Angeles since the mid-2000s before his major breakthrough last year. He now is one of the most well-known players in the world after becoming the first person to advance to the November Nine twice, in back-to-back years.

      How Newhouse wins: He takes advantage of his position at the table. Newhouse has the enviable seat to the left of the two chip leaders, meaning he’ll almost always get to act after they’ve sacrificed some information.

    • Seat 5: Andoni Larrabe (22.55 million chips, 4th)

      Age: 22

      Hometown: Basque, Spain

      Odds to win: 7-to-1

      Bio: A tournament specialist, Larrabe went professional shortly after graduating from high school. He’s the first Spaniard to make the final table since Carlos Mortensen won the bracelet in 2001, though Larrabe lives in London, where he spends most of his time playing online tournaments.

      How Larrabe wins: He stays selectively aggressive. Larrabe was far from the most active player as the Main Event field whittled down, but he showed no passivity and frequently raised when he was in hands to put pressure on his opponents.

    • Seat 6: William Tonking (15.05 million chips, 9th)

      Age: 27

      Hometown: Flemington, N.J.

      Odds to win: 12-to-1

      Bio: A University of South Carolina graduate, Tonking earned a degree in economics before deciding to play poker full-time. Tonking sticks mostly to cash games and prefers to play online.

      How Tonking wins: He remains unfazed by the moment. Tonking looked among the most unflappable of the nine players over the summer and later told reporters that he focused on not letting the magnitude of the opportunity influence him.

    • Seat 7: Dan Sindelar (21.2 million chips, 5th)

      Age: 30

      Hometown: Columbus, Neb.

      Odds to win: 7-to-1

      Bio: An avid golfer, Sindelar’s friends believe he has a future on the PGA Champions Tour for seniors in a couple of decades. He’ll be hard pressed to equal his poker accomplishments, which have mounted ever since he dropped out of the University of Nebraska six years ago to move to Las Vegas to play cash games, primarily at Bellagio.

      How Sindelar wins: He finds a way to use experience to his advantage. Sindelar likely has played more hands than all of his competition, having worked his way up to high-stakes games 10 years ago.

    • Seat 8: Martin Jacobson (14.9 million chips, 7th)

      Age: 27

      Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden

      Odds to win: 15-to-2

      Bio: Aside from Newhouse, Jacobson is the most recognizable player at the final table. Before the Main Event, he already had notched more than $4 million in career tournament earnings, including $1.2 million at the World Series of Poker.

      How Jacobson wins: He simply outplays everyone. It’s a real possibility given Jacobson’s reputation and standings, which include a final-table best No. 17 ranking in the Global Poker Index, which tracks tournaments to rate players.

    • Seat 9: Bruno Politano (12.12 million chips, 8th)

      Age: 31

      Hometown: Fortaleza, Brazil

      Odds to win: 15-to-1

      Bio: One of only two non-professional poker players at the final table, Politano lists his occupation as “administrator” in his native Brazil. He gambles as a hobby and took vacation days to come to Las Vegas for the Main Event.

      How Politano wins: He feeds off the atmosphere. Politano by far had the most raucous fans of the November Nine over summer and promised his rail of supporters would multiply tenfold for the final table. Expect a decidedly Brazilian flavor in the Penn & Teller Theater.

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