Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

An introduction to the final 22 players in the World Series of Poker Main Event

Ben Lamb and Phil Collins headline notable players still alive

World Series of Poker - Bubble

Sam Morris

A competitor plays with his chips during play at the 2011 World Series of Poker Friday, July 15, 2011.

2011 WSOP Main Event Final Payouts

  • 1st — $8,711,956
  • 2nd — $5,430,928
  • 3rd — $4,019,635
  • 4th — $3,011,665
  • 5th — $2,268,909
  • 6th — $1,720,000
  • 7th — $1,313,851
  • 8th — $1,009,910
  • 9th — $782,115
  • 10th-12th — $607,882
  • 13th-15th — $478,174
  • 16th-18th — $378,796
  • 19th-21st — $302,005

Notable Day 7 Eliminations And Payouts

  • J.P. Kelly (26th) — $302,005
  • Erika Moutinho (29th) — $242,636
  • David Sands (30th) — $242,636
  • Tony Hachem (37th) — $196,174
  • Erick Lindgren (43rd) — $196,174
  • David Bach (45th) — $196,174

A 21-year-old Ukrainian playing in his first ever World Series of Poker tournament seized the chip lead of the 2011 Main Event early Tuesday morning at the Rio.

With 22 players remaining from a starting field of 6,865, Anton Makiievskyi is at the top of the leader board with 21 million chips. Makiievskyi stole the lead after winning the tournament’s biggest pot in the final level of play during Day 7.

Makiievskyi got all of his chips in with King-Jack against opponent Chris Moore’s Ace-Jack after a flop of King-Jack-Jack.

“My friends on the rail were like, ‘yeah, you’ve got King-Jack — nice,’” Makiievskyi said. “But I was really, really nervous until the river came.”

The final two community cards didn’t improve Moore’s hand and Makiievskyi’s full house held up to win the massive pot. Makiievskyi has the same dream as the other 21 players left in the field — to make the November Nine final table for a shot at the first-place prize of $8.7 million.

Play will continue at noon Tuesday until nine players emerge. Makiievskyi has a major head start in reaching his goal, as the average current chip count is less than 9 million.

He’s a student in Ukraine who got his travel visa to come to the United States less than a week before the start of the tournament.

“I came here just to play Main Event and stay here for a month to play some cash games and little tournaments,” Makiievskyi explained, “but I for sure won’t play anything else now.”

Below are the other 20 players still alive in poker’s world championship, and their chip counts.

Eoghan O’Dea (19.05 million) is the son of Donnacha O’Dea, a member of the European Poker Players Hall of Fame and one-time WSOP bracelet winner.

Khoa Nguyen (16.43 million) is a 29-year old businessman from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who had never cashed in a WSOP tournament before the Main Event.

Andrey Pateychuk (16.24 million) hails from Moscow, Russia, and is the youngest player left in the field at 21 years old.

Ben Lamb (14.69 million) is the most established poker pro left, as he’s regular in some of Las Vegas’ biggest cash games and the current WSOP Player of the Year leader.

Phil Collins (13.80 million) established himself as one of the best online poker tournament players in the world with more than $3 million in earnings over the last three years.

John Hewitt (13.26 million) is a 23-year-old from Chicago who has hovered around the middle of the pack since the tournament reached the money.

Ryan Lenaghan (10.41 million) grew up in New Orleans and graduated from LSU before turning to professional poker a couple years ago.

Matt Giannetti (8.92 million) is a 26-year-old from Las Vegas who had the chip lead for a while Monday night before an attempted bluff failed Hewitt.

Konstantinos Mamaliadis (8.19 million) is a 34-year-old amateur who is looking to become only the second South African to ever reach the Main Event final table.

Pius Heinz (7.51 million) is a 22-year-old student from Germany who made one final table during this summer’s WSOP.

Aleksandr Mozhnyakov (7.07 million) works as a lawyer in Russia and has been near the top of the chip counts since Day 2.

Scott Schwalich (6.92 million) is going to increase his career WSOP earnings by at least 400 times, as his only previous cash was for $757 in a circuit event.

Bryan Devonshire (6.19 million) possesses one of the last recognizable names left at the Main Event with more than $1 million in career tournament earnings.

Martin Staszko (6.19 million) gives the tournament even more international flair as the 35-year-old is from the Czech Republic, a country that has never produced a member of the Main Event final table.

Sam Barnhart (4.93 million) is a 50-year-old amateur from Arkansas who recently won a bracelet by becoming the WSOP Circuit National Championship.

Samuel Holden (4.74 million) is a 22-year-old online player from England who had never played in the WSOP before the Main Event.

Gionni Demers (4.65 million) hails from New Jersey and doubled-up with pocket 6s against King-Queen late in Day 7 to keep a serviceable chip stack.

Kenny Shih (4.53 million) is a former stockbroker who came to Las Vegas this summer with $5,000, but won enough money to buy into the Main Event.

Lars Bonding (4.14 million) was a backgammon prodigy in Denmark before moving to Las Vegas to pursue a professional poker career.

Bounahra Badih (3.83 million) looks to become poker’s first champion from Belize and somehow survived Day 7 despite a desperately low stack for 10 hours.

Christopher Moore (3.04 million) is a 28-year-old professional who graduated from the University of Wisconsin.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy