DOWN TO THE FINAL NINE IN THE WSOPC MAIN EVENT AT HARRAH'S CHESTER

CHESTER, PA – It’s down to the official final table at the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Harrah’s Chester. The final table chip leader is Ramana Epparla, a business owner and amateur player from Reading, PA.

269 players competed in the three-day, $1580 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship Event, generating a total prize pool of $391,395. The tournament drew a host of known pros, including “Miami” John Cernuto, Ari Engel, Sirous Jamshidi, Allen Kessler and Chris Reslock.

However, many of these and other notables would not see the light of day two play after being eliminated by the end of level 16 late Sunday. The end of day chip leader was two-time WSOPC title holder, Huy Nguyen.

Nguyen had an up and down day two, ultimately ending up smack in the middle of the pack fifth in chips. Epparala, who has not cashed previously in a major tournament, went on a huge surge late in day two, leaving him with more than a third of the chips heading into the final stage.

Amateurs have dominated the final table stage through the first eight events here at Harrah’s Chester, accounting for nearly two thirds of all of the final tables.

The final nine will resume play promptly at noon EST Tuesday to play it out for first place prize, worth $94,901 and the diamond-encrusted WSOP Circuit Main Event Championship ring and an automatic seat into the WSOPC National Championship.

Pokernews is providing up-to-the minute live updates of the Main Event, which you can follow at pokernews.com or here at lnmandiya.com

With the current leader in the all-around Casino Points race, Christopher Wolfe, sitting at 62.5 points, the title of Harrah’s Chester Casino Champion will likely go to the second place finisher of the Main. However, Burak Temel, winner of event #3 has a chance to play spoiler if he can continue his deep run in event #10 which also concludes Tuesday.

While a bit of drama has built up in the Chester Casino points race, The WSOP Circuit National Points race was largely unaffected by the Main Event, as nearly all of the in-the-money finishers had already locked in a seat or were at few or zero points.  

The final nine players and their chip counts are as follows:

Seat 1: Huy Nugyen

Hometown: Norman, OK

Chip Count: 429,000

Huy Nguyen is a 25-year-old accountant from Norman, OK. After making his first cash in the 2010 WSOP, Nguyen went on in 2011 to win two WSOPC titles, one at the Circuit Events at Harrah’s St. Louis and one at the Choctaw Main Event near his hometown of Norman.

Seat 2: Robert Hwang

Hometown: Barnegat, NJ

Chip Count: 274,000

Robert Hwang is a 40-year-old poker pro from Barnegat, NJ. Hwang has numerous major tournament cashes since 2003, totaling over $1 million in lifetime earnings. His breakout performance came in 2005 at the WPT Borgata Open where he finished first in event #4 before final tabling the championship event for over $429,000 total.

Seat 3: Ed Cotter
Hometown: Westwood, NJ

Chip Count: 686,000

Ed Cotter is an amateur from Westwood, NJ. He comes to the final table second in chips and is poised to make big things happen at the Chester Main Event.

Seat 4: Ryan Waddell

Hometown: Downingtown, PA

Chip Count: 321,000

Waddell is from Downingtown, PA. He is looking to make his first-ever major tournament cash here at Harrah’s Chester.

Seat 5: Sean Knitter

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Chip Count: 226,000

The short stack heading into the final table, Sean Knitter is a poker player from Philadelphia, PA. Before poker, he was a D-1 standout on the Lafayette University basketball team and played professionally for seven years in Europe. He has a handful of major tournament cashes and is looking to make his biggest score to date here at Main Event final table at Harrah’s Chester.

Seat 6: Ari Engel

Hometown: Las Vegas, NV

Chip Count: 411,000

Ari Engel is a 27-year-old poker pro and coach from Las Vegas, NV, originally from Brooklyn, NY. He has numerous major tournament cashes since 2006, worth over $359,000. 

Seat 7: Ramana Epparla

Hometown: Reading, PA

Chip Count: 1,950,000

Ramana Epparla hails from Reading, PA by way of India. The 46-year-old business owner and married father of three is a recreational player looking to make his first major tournament cash here at Harrah’s Chester. As the overwhelming chip leader, his first lifetime in-the-money will be one he will not soon forget.

Seat 8: Kenny Nguyen AKA “SuperTuan”

Hometown: Lynwood, IL

Chip Count: 622,000

Kenny Nguyen is a professional poker player from Lynwood, NJ originally from Vietnam. After learning the game online, he went on to make his first major tournament cash in 2009. That year, he finished sixth in the WPT Borgata Open Main Event, taking home more than $156,000. “SuperTuan” as he is known on and offline, looks to build on his success over the past couple of years with a win here in the Main Event at Harrah’s Chester.

Seat 9: Robert “E-Dolo” Scott

Hometown: New York, NY

Chip Count: 467,000

Robert Scott is a 38-year-old entrepreneur from New York City, where he owns and operates a hair supply business. The married father of two made his first WSOP cash at the 2010 World Series of Poker, finishing in 3^rd in the $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Event #3. A self described “entrepreneur since birth,” E-Dolo focused his attention to poker after his granite and marble company went under during the recession. This is Scott’s second final table here at Chester. Just a couple of days ago, he finished in ninth in event #8.

Full payouts are as follows:

This year marks the first time that Harrah’s Chester has hosted the World Series of Poker Circuit. The inaugural series here at Chester is also the first WSOP Event ever held in Pennsylvania, which voted in January 2010 to allow table games in the state.