This year’s World Series of Poker winded down to it’s final 9 players a few hours ago, culminating into what is being called the “October Nine.” These 9 players are all that remain after a week-long 2012 Main Event that saw history nearly get made as two women finished in 11th and 10th, respectively.
The final table itself is full of relative unknowns, marking the first time in several years the Main Event final table didn’t have a “name” pro or known online superstar in its ranks. It shouldn’t make it any less dramatic as most of the field is within striking distance of each other as far as chips are concerned. “Octo-9″er Greg Merson is looking to add a second bracelet to his collection this summer as he recently took down $1.1 million and 1st place in Event #57 just a few weeks ago.
The big storyline though leading up to the final nine was undoubtedly that of Elisabeth Hille and Gaelle Baumann’s run at becoming the first woman in 17 years to make it to the Main Event final table. Hille would be on the short stack for most of the final day, with Baumann making moves and picking her spots just as carefully. Unfortunately, Hille would go out in 11th, falling just short of the 10-handed final table.
The last player (and woman) to be taken out of the running was Gaelle Baumann, a female player from France. Baumann was sent to the rail in 10th place, nearly becoming the first female ever to sit at the Main Event final table since the feat was accomplished by Barbara Enright way back in 1995.
The worst part of her eventual demise is that on day 4 of the event, a floor person made what might go down as one of the most controversial calls in the Main Event’s history. A call that could’ve quite possibly costed Gaelle her seat at the final table and her place in the record books. Read on for more context on the situation (*hint: it’s in one of the Octo-9’s player background).
2012 October 9 WSOP Final Table Chip Counts
- Jesse Sylvia 43,875,000
- Andras Koroknai 29,375,000
- Greg Merson 28,725,000
- Russell Thomas 24,800,000
- Steven Gee 16,860,000
- Michael Esposito 16,260,000
- Robert Salaburu 15,155,000
- Jacob Balsiger 13,115,000
- Jeremy Ausmus 9,805,000
Player Descriptions for the “October Nine”
Jesse Sylvia – 2012 WSOP Final Table Chip Leader
The chip leader going into Final Table play will be 26 year old Jesse Sylvia. Sylvia is a 26 year old poker player, that’s made the money in two World Series events already this year, not counting his imminent Main Event cash.
Sylvia began the day in a good place, not really having any significant chip lead, and not really short stacked either, he was comfortably in the middle of the field as far as chip counts went.
Andras Koroknai (the man behind the Baumann controversy leading up to the final table)
Hungarian poker player Andras Korknai who if he wins the World Series will become the number 1 cashing player in the entire country of Hungary according to the Hendon Mob poker player database has a couple of World Series of Poker cashes under his belt already. In addition to his WSOP cashes, the Debrecen resident who’s 2nd to Denes Tas Kalo in lifetime cashes thus far, also won a WPT bracelet in the L.A. Poker Classic, grossing $1.7million for his troubles, before tips and taxes of course.
If Koroknai does pull off a win here, he’ll probably also make history as the luckiest player in the world when it comes to rulings by the tournament staff.
During an earlier hand, Koroknai mistakenly mucked his hand after shoving all of his chips into a pot. After realizing his mistake, and seeing that there was indeed another player remaining in the hand, Koronai yanked one of his cards back, since the other card was unrecoverable.
A floor person, after much deliberation, decided that Koroknai would lose only $60k of his chips, the amount that Gaelle Baumann min-raised preflop.
The damning part of that situation you ask? Gaelle Baumann reportedly flashed pocket Kings to one of the players seated next to her. It could’ve been a very big turning point and quite possibly would’ve ended with Baumann doubling up at a very critical day in the tournament and sent Koroknai to the rail.
On top of all of this, Koroknai would later take out the last female out of the WSOP, oh wait no, the last TWO women, one of which was the same woman that should have taken him out earlier on when the floor person allowed him to retain his chips after declaring he was all in and mucking his hand.
After all of that mess, which included him also being penalized an orbit late in the tournament (this was after another hand in which he misread his cards and his stack resulted in him getting saved again by the tourney director), Koroknai still managed to become one of the 2012 “October Nine.”
Greg Merson
United States poker player Greg Merson is from Laurel Maryland. Merson has also made the money in a couple of recent World Series of Poker events already in 2012. He’s also the only one at this year’s final table with a gold bracelet already around his wrist.
Merson took down $1.1 million in the 6-Handed NL Event #57 just a few weeks ago en route to riding his momentum to what is now the 3rd biggest chip stack at this Main Event final table.
Russell Thomas
Wallingford Pennsylvania poker player Russell Thomas is one of the few poker players in the world that can brag about that day they pushed with pocket aces right before making it to the World Series of Poker final table. Thomas found himself doing quite a bit of pushing, and shoving on the felt, as he made a spot for himself at this ears final table.
Thomas isn’t new to cashing in World Series of Poker events either, his most recent cash was 2 years ago when he took 5th place in a $1500 buy-in six handed NL event and cashed for $84,256.
Steven Gee
Steven Gee of Sacramento California is holding it down for the older generation, proving that you don’t have to be 25 with 4 32” monitors on your desk with 20 tables open at an online poker site to make it as a pro poker player.
Gee captured his first World Series of Poker Bracelet in 2010 in a No Limit event where he won nearly half a million.
Michael Esposito
The other remaining player in the over 40’s age group is Michael Esposito. Esposito’s initially from the Seaford New York community. Not only has he made the Final Table of the WSOP 2012, he’s also cashed in a WSOP event, and a Mega Stack Series Event over at Caesar’s Palace
Michael Esposito is a well-known poker player in the Atlantic City area.
Robert Salaburu
Robert Salaburu is from San Antonio Texas in the United States. He’s played in many World Series of Poker Main Event tournaments, but until now, is yet to cash. Salaburu is no stranger to tournament wins in other arenas however, in fact, he cashed for just over $17,000 in the North American Poker Tour’s Mohegan Sun Event last year.
Jacob Balsiger
The youngest player in the 2012 World Series of Poker Final Table line-up is a 21 year old named Jacob Balsiger who like our CEO here at 4flush, is from Arizona. Balsiger, of Tempe, Arizona cashed in 1 event thus far, not including his WSOP win. Not bad for a guy that’s only this year old enough to get into most casinos.
Jeremy Ausmus
The shortstack this year is a pretty well-known poker player by the name of Jeremy Ausmus, he posts on Twitter as jeremyausmus. Ausmus, who recently moved from Colorado to Las Vegas has made his way into the money in 8 other WSOP events this year.
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