The final table of the WSOP's record-breaking Main Event kicks off tonight, with 10,112 players in the starting field and only 9 players currently in the field, each with at least $1,000,000 already in the bag and up to $10,000,000 awaiting the champion. This is the poker resume of each of them so far.
Seat 1: Boris Angelov
Boris Angelov, a 27-year-old Bulgarian player, will start the final table with a stack of 52,900,000, which is 33 blinds. His poker journey began in online waters and after the pandemonium, he has moved into the live tournament scene as well. His first major live tournament was the WSOPE Mini Main Event in November 2021, where he finished 179th. He went on to the WSOPE Main Event, where he finished 40th, and an EPT Prague stop in March 2022, where he finished 59th in the Main Event, wasn't missing from his list. Since then, he has played every EPT stop and his biggest live tournament win came just a few weeks before the WSOP, at EPT Monte Carlo, where he finished second in the Main Event for €620,500. His previous live tournament winnings have been worth $903,109. However, by sitting at the WSOP Main Event final table, he has already surpassed those winnings outright. Aside from poker, Boris is currently working on his thesis.
Seat 2: Malo Latinois
Malo is a 28-year-old French player who will enter the final table with a stack of 25,500,000, representing 16 blinds. His hendonmob shows a first cashout in 2022 when he finished 44th at the France Poker Open in Paris and his biggest cashout came a year later at the EPT Paris Main Event where he finished 16th with a €49,550 payday. The Latinois has had live tournament cashes worth $96,515 to date, and became just the sixth French player to make a WSOP Main Event final table. Before starting his poker career, he managed to earn an engineering degree from the Grenoble Institute of Technology, a master's degree in business management and business administration from Grenoble IAE, and he also studied as an exchange student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Seat 3: Brian Kim
This California poker player will start the hand with a stack of 94,600,000, which is 59 big blinds. Brian has been known for years as a quality player, both in tournaments and cash games. He can be seen mainly at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. He doesn't play WSOP tournaments often, but when he does play something, he almost always finishes in an interesting position. He has cashed 5 times in WSOP Main Events since 2012 and finished 23rd in 2022. He has more than $7.3 million in winnings and is not short of a WSOP Online bracelet. His highest career win came this past March at the Triton SHR Jeju, where he took home $954,000 for third place. Another nice achievement came in May at the Triton SHR Montenegro stop, where he finished second in the GGMillion$ Live for $609,000.
Seat 4: Niklas "Lena900" Astedt
The 33-year-old online legend Niklas Astedt, known as "Lena900" in online waters, will start tonight with a stack of 94,200,000, representing 59 blinds. The Swedish player is currently at the top of the all-time leaderboard with over $48 million in online winnings. He has 9 SCOOP titles, 7 WCOOP titles and is considered by many to be the best online player of all time. His highest live tournament win came in 2015 at EPT Barcelona, where he earned €336,700 for finishing 4th in the €10,300 High Roller. His live tournament winnings are worth $3 million, and despite these achievements, Niklas doesn't have a single WSOP bracelet to his name yet.
Seat 5: Joe Serock
American player Joe Serock has been in the poker world for almost 20 years and tonight he will start with a stack of 83,600,000, which is 52 big blinds. In 2009, he almost won a bracelet when he finished second in a $2,500 NLH tournament for $341,783, his highest payday to date. A year later, he finished second again, this time in a £5,200 PLO tournament at the WSOPE in London. However, it wasn't until 2023 that he won his first bracelet, when he won a $500 PLO tournament at the WSOP Online. In total, he has 200 tournament cashes, more than $4.5 million, and he also won the WPT Player of the Year title in 2012. He qualified for the WSOP Main Event from the $1,000 online satellite on GGPoker, so if he manages to win, the organizers will add another $1 million to his $10 million prize.
Seat 6: Jordan Griff
The 30-year-old Jordan Griff will enter the final table as chipleader with a stack of up to 143,700,000, which is 90 blinds. He also has the smallest tournament winnings of the finalists at just $47,192. His highest win came just before the WSOP and that was in the WSOPC Main Event where he took home $18,104 for 9th place. So Griff has already achieved his biggest career accomplishment, but his goal will surely be to become a winner.
Seat 7: Jonathan Tamayo
Stack 26,700,000 (17BB) is held by 38-year-old American player Jonathan Tamayo, whose tournament winnings are worth more than $2.3 million. He also has 4 WSOPC rings to his name and in 2009 he battled his way to a respectable 21st place finish in the WSOP Main Event worth $352,832, his highest tournament win to date. He will be getting advice from Joe McKeehen and Dominik Nitsche ahead of the final table.
Seat 8: Andres Gonzalez
This 30-year-old Spanish player will sit at the final table with a stack of 18,300,000 (11BB). Andres has already come close to his first bracelet once this summer and that was in the $1,500 NLH Freezeout, where he finished in third place for $201,518. His highest payday to date came just recently and that was at the Wynn Casino where he also finished third in a $3,500 NLH tournament, but now it was worth $500,602. This is the fifth WSOP Main Event for Gonzalez.
Seat 9: Jason Sagle
The last player to start is Jason Sagle from Canada, who will start with a stack of 67,300,000 (42BB). Jason has nearly $1.7 million in winnings to his credit, and the highest came back in 2006 when he finished second in the WPT North America Championships for $600,455. In 2004, he finished 23rd in the WSOP Main Event, which was then worth $120,000. Late last year, he finished 8th in the WPT - Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open for $94,500. He has made a few cashes at the current WSOP, but making the final table of the Main Event is definitely the most exciting.
Who do you think will be among the top three players going into the final day, and who do you think will be the new champions? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
Source - pokernews, hendonmob, pgt.com
