Event #8
Championship Final
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $4,900 + 250
Number of Entries: 314
Total Prize Money: $1,538,600
The Final Table:
Seat 1: Rick Austin
Hometown: Lansdale, PA
Chip Count: 704,000
Rick Austin is a 49-year-old retail store owner from Lansdale, PA. He has been married for 30 years and has two grown children. Rick is also a huge fan of Philadelphia's sports teams, including the Eagles and Phillies. Hopefully, he will perform better than those two teams at today's final table. Rick has six cashes at major poker tournaments, along with a win at the Summer Poker Open in 2006 – good for $24,000. He also finished second in one of last week's tournaments here at Caesars Atlantic City. He is the chip leader coming into Day Three.
Seat 2: Grant Lang
Hometown: Danbury, CT
Chip Count: 190,000
Grant Lang is a 40-year-old poker professional from Danbury, CT. He is married and has three children. Grant is perhaps the most famous face at today's final table, for having appeared on ESPN's coverage of the 2005 World Series of Poker and Tournament of Champions. He finished 6th at the 2005 TOC and also took fifth place in the WSOP Circuit event championship event at the Rio in Las Vegas. That was his best cash ever – good for $116,000.
Seat 3: Frank Vizza
Hometown: Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Chip Count: 246,000
Frank Vizza is a 40-year-old commodity trader from Cold Spring Harbor, NY. He has a wife and five sons. Frank cashed three times at the 2005 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He also finished 8th that same year in the finals at the United States Poker Championships – which was best cash to date, good for $44,000.
Seat 4: David Fox
Hometown: Coram, NY
Chip Count: 637,000
David Fox is a 30-year-old professional poker player from Corum, NY. He says the most interesting thing about himself is that he "never wins a hand with Ace-Queen." He does arrive with the second-highest chip count today. David has an impressive list of cashes and final table appearances on his poker resume. Yet, he has never won a major tournament. He did take second place at the East Coast Poker Championships last November and fifth at the Trump Poker Classic in December.
Seat 5: Chuck Norris
Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
Chip Count: 87,000
Chuck Norris is a 37-year-old general contractor and land developer from Fayetteville, NC. He is married and has one son. Chuck is also a U.S. Army veteran. He was in the special forces and served in the Persian Gulf War.
If this final table were an ass-kicking contest, the favorite would certainly be Chuck Norris. Instead, he comes in with the biggest challenge of anyone – as the lowest player in chips. This will be his second time to cash at the Caesars Atlantic City Circuit event.
Seat 6: Eugene Fouksman
Hometown: Manalapan, NJ
Chip Count: 513,000
Eugene Fouksman is a 28-year-old investment analyst from Manalapan, NJ. He arrives third in the chip count at this final table. A few days ago, Eugene finished second in an event here at Caesars Atlantic City. He also took second place at last year's Harrah's Atlantic City Circuit event – good for $68,000 in prize money.
Seat 7: Matt Brady
Hometown: Upper Darby, PA
Chip Count: 122,000
Matt Brady is a 26-year-old professional poker player from Upper Darby, PA. He is a graduate of West Virginia University. This former Mountaineer has quite a mountain to climb at this final table, as he starts eighth in the chip count. However, he is the most accomplished player in today's finale over the past two years – with 15 cashes to his credit. This includes 7th place here at Caesars Atlantic City last week. His biggest cash was 4th place for $51,000 at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in 2006.
Seat 8: Danny Yousefzadeh
Hometown: New York, NY
Chip Count: 360,000
Danny Yousefzadeh is a 40-year-old jewelry store owner from New York City. He hopes to add a WSOP gold ring to his jewelry collection with a win here today. He is married and has a 2-month old daughter. Danny cashed in the main event at the 2005 World Series of Poker.
Seat 9: John McMahon
Hometown: Riverdale, NJ
Chip Count: 293,000
The senior player at today's final table is John McMahon, a 57-year old project manager from Riverdale, NJ. He had the chip lead during much of yesterday's play. John is a former U.S. Marine and served proudly in Vietnam. Remarkably, this is the first tournament John has ever played in and he is certainly a threat to win given his background and with what appears to be an average number of chips.
Note: Play resumes at 2:00 pm EST on Wednesday, March 14, 2007.
Blinds at 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante – 31 minutes left in round. Button in Seat 4.
Prize Money Payouts:
1. TBD $488,828
2. TBD 268,858
3. TBD 137,484
4. TBD 106,932
5. TBD 91,656
6. TBD 76,380
7. TBD 61,104
8. TBD 45,828
9. TBD 30,552
10. Harvey Layton 18,331
11. Vincent Devita 18,331
12. Abraham Korotki 18,331
13. Norman Rodriguez 15,276
14. Jonathan Rapp 15,276
15. Robert "Wiz" Wisiak 15,276
16. Eric "Sheets" Haber 12,221
17. Jorge Hugunet 12,221
18. Todd Rebello 12,221
19. Mike Leah 9,166
20. Joe Renzi 9,166
21. Mark Zulkiewicz 9,166
22. Johnny Price 9,166
23. Michael Chrysanthopoulos 9,166
24. Henry Rondon 9,166
25. Larry Vance 9,166
26. John Brock "tsoprano" Parker 9,166
27. George Anagostou 9,166
All material may be freely quoted and/or reprinted by media
by Nolan Dalla – World Series of Poker Media Director
Send inquiries to [email protected] or call (702) 358-4642
Executive Staff, World Series of Poker Circuit – Caesars Atlantic City
Vice President of Table Games – Fred Niceta
Director of Table Games – Paul A. Natello
Table Games Manager (Poker) – Thomas McDonough III
Poker Pit Manager – Jake Devries
John Arthur – Harrah's Atlantic City Poker Manager