Romanian players won over 100,000 USD at WSOP 2012
Two weeks into the Main Event Championship WSOP 2012, we know who is going to be sitting around the Final table in October. Romanian players managed to go home with money from this mega-tournament.
A 2-week poker super-tournament at Rio Hotel in Las Vegas
Mihai Manole, Dan Murariu and Ionel Anton are the Romanian players who cashed in at World Series Of Poker Main Event 2012. They won over 100,000 USD together. Mihai Manole placed the best of all, on a quite good position of 128.
Over a million hands to be played
For almost two weeks, Rio Casino in Las Vegas hosted this poker championship. The Main Event Championship WSOP 2012 had a buy-in of 10,000 USD, with 6,598 registered players and over a million hands that were played. We now know the names of the 9 finalists who will be back to Rio Casino in October (seven of these nine will be cashing in prizes of over 1 million USD and the winner will go home with a staggering prize – 8.5 mill USD. The Final Table game will resume on October 29, and the last three players will go on the next day, when the winner is chosen. Here is what they will be playing for at the Final Table:
1. 8,527,982 USD
2. 5,292,889 USD
3. 3,797,558 USD
4. 2, 850,494USD
5. 2,154,616USD
6. 1,640,461USD
7. 1,257,790USD
8. 971,252USD
9. 754,798USD
The hopeful October players
Most players who reached to the Final Table at WSOP 2012 are the ones who were successful during the live and online tournaments. Out of the nine players, eight are Americans and the ninth is Hungarian. Average age is 31.4 years. Let’s meet them and see their number of chips:
1. Jesse Sylvia – 43,875,000 chips
2. Andras Koroknai – 29,375,000 chips
3. Greg Merson – 28,725,000 chips
4. Russell Thomas – 24,800,000 chips
5. Steven Gee – 16,860,000 chips
6. Michael Esposito – 16,260,000 chips
7. Robert Salaburu – 15,155,000 chips
8. Jake Balsinger – 13,115,000 chips
9. Jeremy Ausmus – 9,805,000 chips
Jesse Sylvia is 26 and has won 23,777 USD so far. He is a very good friend with another member at the Final Table, namely Russell Thomas. The two were roommates during WSOP 2010.
Andras Koroknai is 30 and has earned 1,841,013 USD from the poker tournaments. He is one of the most experienced players at this Final Table, as he holds an important title – WPT LA Poker Classic 2012, where he won 1,700,000 USD.
Greg Merson is 24 and cashed in 1,319,704 USD from tournaments. He is the only player at the Final Table who won a bracelet this summer. He was the winner at the event # 57 and received 1,100,000 USD.
Russell Thomas is 24 and his winnings amount to 126,796 USD. He works as a statistician from Connecticut and declared that there is a slim chance he would go back to his daily job after playing at the Final Table.
Steven Gee is 56 and won 498,422 USD from the poker tournaments. He is the oldest player at the Final Table. This year, he has managed to get a WSOP bracelet at a 1,000 USD No-Limit Hold’em event.
Michael Esposito is 43 and has earned 172,806 USD. He is a broker and for a long time he had been playing poker as a hobby. The Final Table at Rio Casino in Las Vegas is his second cash at a WSOP main event.
Robert Salaburu is 27 and his earnings amount to 42,411 USD. Currently, he is focused on live playing, bringing in his great online experience. He was extremely thrilled when joined the Final Table.
Jacob Balsinger is 21, with winnings of 3,884 USD. He is the youngest player at the Final Table, a student at Arizona State University, majoring in Political Sciences.
Jeremy Ausmus is 32 and collected 427,145 USD from the poker tournaments. He has played 8 times cashes at the WSOP events. His results in the online poker tournaments are impressive.
