The 2012 WSOP Main Event attracted 6,598 players and became the fifth-largest Main Event in history. Nearly 2 weeks and more than half a million hands after that the $10,000 buy-in event kicked off, only 9 players remain with the chance of winning the gold coveted bracelet that comes along with the $8.5 million first prize! Yesterday we presented 4 of the 9 finalists. Here is some brief information on the other October Niners (ranked according to stack size).
Steven Gee (16.86 million)
Steven Gee, 57, is the oldest member on the final table and he he joins Greg Merson as the only WSOP bracelet winners that remain. Gee basically made it to the final table thanks to hand during Day 7 in which a lucky river card gave him a straight in a 3-way all-in with only 20 players left. Just like most of the other October Niners, Gee is a cash game player, so he will need to work very hard on his tournament game before the final table.
Michael Esposito (16.26 million)
Michael Esposito is a 43-year-old commodity broker from New York. He has lifetime tournament earnings of just over $170,000 heading into the 2012 Main Event final table, where he's now guaranteed to take home at least $754,798. This is not the first time he's been on the WSOP stage. In 2006, he finished 540th in the Main Event, and in 2009 he finished 142nd in a 6-handed $1,500 NLH event. However, his first tournament cash dates back to 2002 at in a Seven Card Stud event at the World Poker fInals at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, Esposito. The very next year he finished 16 in another Foxwoods event. It will be interesting to see if his tournament experience will help him on the final table.
Robert Salaburu (15.15 million)
Robert Salaburu, 27, from San Antonio, Texas, started playing poker at the age of 16. He started playing poker online during college and decided to drop out and try to make a living from it. He also played a lot of live cash games in the beginning of his career, but eventually he switched to online tournament. However, since Black Friday he has been forced to play live again. Besides poker, he is trying to start a car lot business to make some extra money. In total, he had less than $50,000 in live tournament earnings before entering the main event, so the prize money he will win on the October Nine final table will defiantly come in handy.
Jacob Balsiger (13.11 million)
Jacob Balsiger is the 21-years-old student who used to play $5 tournaments back in middle school and get really happy when he won $30. Now he can win a bit more than that since he's already guaranteed $754,798 - with the chance of taking home the first place prize of amazing $8,527,982. Also, if he wins, he will become the youngest Main Event winner in WSOP history. No matter what happens on the final table, Balsinger will return to Arizona State University this fall and be one of the most popular kids on campus.
Jeremy Ausmus (9.8 million)
Many wish they were in Jeremy Ausmus shoes at the moment. Not only does he have the final table to look forward to this fall but also he and his wife's second child in early November. Ausmus, 32, had 9 cashes at the 2012 WSOP and 14 throughout his career. Even though he has the smallest stack of all finalists his tournament experience might be a great advantage.
