October 30 2012, PokerNews Staff

After a 109-day hiatus, the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table recommenced at the Rio’s Penn and Teller Theater in Las Vegas Monday night. It took nearly nine-and-a-half hours of play, but the final nine players of a 6,598-player field was reduced to the final three. Greg Merson, Jacob Balsiger and Jesse Sylvia will return on Tuesday to compete for the $8,527,982 first-place prize.

Here’s how things stacked up at the start of the final table:

It took nearly two hours for the first elimination to occur, and it finally happened on Hand #30. It began when Steve Gee opened to 900,000 under the gun, Merson called, and Russell Thomas came along from the button. On the flop, Gee led out for 1.6 million, Merson folded, and Thomas called, bringing about the on the turn. Again Gee fired another bullet – this one was worth 3.25 million – and Thomas called.

The completed the board and Gee moved all in for 11.35 million. After over five minutes in the tank, Thomas called. Gee stood up from the table and turned over , but it was no good as Thomas turned over to eliminate Gee in ninth place for $754,798.

The next elimination occurred on Hand #65 when action folded to Sylvia in the small blind and he raised all in to put the pressure on a short-stacked Robert Salaburu in the big blind. The latter quickly called off to put himself at risk with , and he was ahead of Sylvia’s .

The flop kept Salaburu in front, as did the turn; however, when the river completed the board with the , the Penn & Teller Theatre went ballistic. Sylvia made the best hand on the river to put an end to Salaburu’s night in eighth place for $971,360.

Five hands later, Merson opened to 1 million under the gun, and short-stacked Michael Esposito moved all in for 10.7 million. Action folded back to Merson and he snap-called.

Showdown
Merson:
Esposito:

The flop was uneventful, but the gave Esposito an ace-high flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the river did not complete it and he was eliminated in seventh place for $1,258,040, while Merson took over the chip lead.

Merson put it too good use, albeit hours later on Hand #109 when action folded to him on the button and he raised to one million. Sylvia then reraised to 2.6 million from the small blind, and Andras Koroknai four-bet to 5.3 million from the big. Merson responded with a five-bet to 9.2 million, Sylvia folded, and Koroknai moved all in. Merson quickly called and he had Koroknai dominated.

Showdown
Koroknai:
Merson:

Jeremy Ausmus

The board ran out and Merson’s cheering section erupted in joy as their man pulled away with 80 million in chips while Koroknai was eliminated in sixth place for $1,640,902.

The next to go was Jeremy Ausmus when he opened to 1.2 million on the button and Sylvia defended his big blind. The flop fell and both players checked. Sylvia checked the on the turn, opening the door for Ausmus to bet 1.5 million. Sylvia proceeded to check-raise to 3.6 million and then called when Ausmus moved all in for 14.5 million.

Showdown
Ausmus:
Sylvia:

Sylvia was ahead with a pair or nines, but Ausmus was drawing to an open-ended straight draw. The dealer burned one last time and put out the – the last card Ausmus would see before making his way to the payout desk in fifth place for $2,155,313 for his fifth-place finish.

On Hand #136, Sylvia was on the button, and the action folded to Thomas, who raised to 1.5 million from the small blind. Balsiger then moved all in from the big blind for effectively 15.825 million, and Thomas tank-called.

Showdown
Thomas:
Balsiger:

Russell Thomas

Balsiger’s rail exploded at the site of his hand, and became even louder after the flop fell . Thomas could double with a nine or running straight or flush cards. The took away a lot of Thomas’ outs, but he could chop with any queen or eight. The river was the and eliminated Thomas in fourth place for $2,851,537 while setting the final three: Merson (88,350,000), Sylvia (62,750,000) and Balsiger (46,875,000).

Tune in on Tuesday: A champion will be crowned Tuesday. Action resumes at 9 p.m. EDT on ESPN, so be sure to check your local listings. You can also check out hand-for-hand coverage right here on PokerNews.

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October 29 2012, PokerNews Staff

The 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table will take place on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 29 and 30, and we at PokerNews are understandably excited. We decided to take some time to make our predictions on this year’s October Nine. After a series of algorithms, some right, some wrong, we’ve finally come up with the best formula for making the right decisions. Well, we hope at least one of us did.

Elaine Chaivarlis, Editor in Chief

1st: Jeremy Ausmus
2nd: Steven Gee
3rd: Andras Koroknai
4th: Jesse Sylvia
5th: Jacob Balsiger
6th: Michael Esposito
7th: Russell Thomas
8th: Greg Merson
9th: Robert Salaburu

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Jesse Sylvia. He has enough chips to be active.

Who will be the tightest?

Jeremy Ausmus.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Jacob Balsiger. He’s young and his college friends will definitely be rowdy and the life of the party.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

13

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

3

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

132

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

Jeremy Ausmus. Hello! I picked him to win!

Give us a bold prediction.

Contrary to my answer to “how many hours will it take to get to three-handed play,” if I’m going bold here, I’ll say we’re in and out on Monday in seven hours. A girl can dream right?

Sarah Grant, PokerNews Producer/Hostess

1st: Greg Merson
2nd: Robert Salaburu
3rd: Jesse Sylvia
4th: Russell Thomas
5th: Steven Gee
6th: Andras Koroknai
7th: Michael Esposito
8th: Jacob Balsiger
9th: Jeremy Ausmus

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Jesse Sylvia will probably be the most active. He has the most chips and he is already a very involved player. Shoving 35 bigs with is a boss move and four-betting preflop with is no slouch move either, but depending on how the chip lead shifts, this could change easily.

Who will be the tightest?

Michael Esposito. He is toward the bottom of the chip counts, so he can’t be too active. He seems to play relatively cautiously. Having been a guy working behind a desk in the financial world before, it makes sense that he will be able to weigh the decisions of each situation vs. the monetary opportunity cost.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Jesse Sylvia will have the best rail. He had an amazing rail before he even got to the final table. He clearly has a huge support system. Plus the nickname “Jesse James” should warrant some awesome outfits!

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

11 hours. Anything less than that will be amazing for the media.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

3 hours. The difference between being runner-up and finishing third is huge. So, this will take almost as long as heads-up.

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

3.5 hours. I don’t know how many hands that is. It’s a lot of money so it won’t go crazy right off but after three hours there must eventually end up an all in and a win situation. Please. Although if it is Greg Merson versus Rob Salaburu, which I predicted, then it won’t be long at all. It will be short and fantastic to watch 1.5 hours of play.

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

This is such a hard question because I could give reasons why any of them would be. Here are a few: Jesse Sylvia would be a great poker ambassador because he is very approachable. Moreover, he is very capable of being open and honest about his game. Steven Gee is so genuine and excited that I think he would bring a joyous innocence that many poker players don’t have anymore (even though he is one of two at the final table to already have won a bracelet). Greg Merson has always been so available to poker media and a gentle genius. He would be wonderful.

That being said, I love a little punk. I think Robert Salaburu would be pretty fun. He is wild and interesting to watch. I interviewed him at the WinStar this year and when I asked how he had been preparing he told me that he really hadn’t. He had just been partying. Now that is a great guy to throw deep into the poker world. And, in my opinion, the kind of guy that was originally attracted to this game.

Chad Holloway, Senior News Editor

1st: Jesse Sylvia
2nd: Greg Merson
3rd: Steven Gee
4th: Russell Thomas
5th: Jacob Balsiger
6th: Andras Koroknai
7th: Robert Salaburu
8th: Michael Esposito
9th: Jeremy Ausmus

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Robert Salaburu. He seems to have a “go-big-or-go-home” attitude. If so, his stay could be short lived, but then again it could prove wildly entertaining.

Who will be the tightest?

Andras Koroknai. He was involved in some controversial hands leading up to the October Nine, but now that he’s there with a decent stack, I expect he’ll sit on it until the short stacks fall.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Jesse Sylvia. I had the chance to interview him and I understand he’ll have between 200 to 300 people there. He has the chip lead, so that rail will likely be there for awhile. I’m not sure what their gimmick will be, maybe singing Cher’s Just Like Jesse James, but I’m sure it’ll prove entertaining.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

The stacks are deep, so players better settle in for the long haul on Monday. I’d be surprised if it took less than 12 hours.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

Ben Lamb busted in third fairly fast last year, but I don’t expect a repeat this year barring a cooler. Instead, think it’ll take a solid three hours for the third-place finisher to be determined.

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

Last year was a marathon, but I think this year will be relatively quick. I’ll say 22 hands.

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

There are a lot of guys who’d do a good job. I think Jesse Sylvia would be the most eager and enthusiastic, but I fear his win wouldn’t do too much for the game. He might end up getting lumped in with other young winners such as Joe Cada and Jonathan Duhamel. On the other hand, if Steven Gee were to win, it might resonate with the older generation, as well as the Asia Pacific region where poker is currently booming.

Give us a bold prediction.

Steven Gee is going to surprise a lot of people. Many of the players at the table consider him to be the fish, but if they’re not careful they may end up sending a lot of chips his way. You see, Gee has been playing poker for decades, and he has valuable final table experience from his bracelet win back in 2010. Granted that was in a $1,000 event, but it came after clearing a huge field.

Rich Ryan, Senior Staff Writer, Producer

1st: Greg Merson
2nd: Andras Koroknai
3rd: Steven Gee
4th: Russell Thomas
5th: Jacob Balsiger
6th: Jesse Sylvia
7th: Michael Esposito
8th: Jeremy Ausmus
9th: Robert Salaburu

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Jesse Sylvia. He’s been working with Vanessa Selbst, he has the chip lead, and did you see that cold four-bet with ?

Who will be the tightest?

Steven Gee or Michael Esposito. The older players at the Main Event final table always find a way to climb up the pay ladder.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Robert Salaburu. Everybody I’ve talked to the past two weeks seems to have a piece of Salaburu – some of them for potentially life-changing money. Remember Johnny Bax cheering on Joe Cada in 2009? As they say, money talks.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

Knowing the way I run while covering final tables, I’ll set the line at 11 hours…and I like the over.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

If it’s four-handed, four hours. If it’s three-handed, two hours.

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

I’ll guess 222 hands. Buckle up.

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

It’s a toss up between Greg Merson and Russell Thomas. I think both players have demonstrated during the break that they’re ready and willing to take the torch. I also think that The Final Table could be huge if Thomas wins.

Give us a bold prediction.

Andras Koroknai is going to wake up with aces facing a cold four-bet jam, but before he can call, Gaelle Baumann and Elisabeth Hille are going to run out of the tunnel WWE style and DDT him through the table. While he’s knocked out, the clock will be called on him and his hand will be declared dead.

Donnie Peters, Global Live Reporting Manager

1st: Greg Merson
2nd: Jesse Sylvia
3rd: Russell Thomas
4th: Michael Esposito
5th: Jeremy Ausmus
6th: Robert Salaburu
7th: Andras Koroknai
8th: Steven Gee
9th: Jacob Balsiger

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Jesse Sylvia should be the most active player to begin with given his big chip lead, but Robert Salaburu could take some shots at reraising or shoving against him as he has position on Sylvia, which could slow him down. I also expect Andras Koroknai and Greg Merson to take roles as aggressors at the table, but not as much as Sylvia, unless either of them can take a good chunk of chips from the chip leader.

Who will be the tightest?

This one’s a toss up between Steven Gee and Michael Esposito. I think there will be spots where Gee opts to fold hands when he would end up being at risk, which makes me think he’ll be the tighter one. Esposito seems like the type of guy to just shrug things off and stick his chips in.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Greg Merson or Robert Salaburu will have by far the best rails. Merson will have a bunch of top poker players in his corner along with the one and only Michael Phelps. Salaburu’s rail should be a bit more rowdy, and the longer he stays in the mix, the better the atmosphere will be. With Salaburu’s rail, I hope the Rio doesn’t run out of alcohol.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

9 hours.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

I’ll say two hours, but this is extremely hard to gauge as you don’t know the three-handed chip counts.

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

Once again, I’m not so sure because you don’t know what the chip counts will be like, or who have made it down to this point. I’ll say 48, though. Shot in the dark.

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

I don’t like this question. Why? Well, all players who make the WSOP Main Event Final Table have a few months to turn themselves into poker ambassadors. I’m afraid none of them really seemed to do so. Russell Thomas came out with a small YouTube series on his training leading up to the final table, and Greg Merson said on the PokerNews Podcast that he’d like to embrace the game more through being an ambassador, but something tells me they will be nothing like a Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem or Jonathan Duhamel. Heck, even Dennis Phillips is world’s better as a poker ambassador than I feel any of these players would be.

During the months off, you can be an ambassador to the game of poker leading up to the final table. There are nine of these players that could put forth a little effort for the betterment of the game, but none really have. That said, I’m not sure they really have what it takes to really be an ambassador to the game.

Give us a bold prediction.

There will be a four-way all-in during the final table that results in a three-player elimination.

Mickey Doft, Senior Tournament Reporter

1st: Greg Merson
2nd: Russell Thomas
3rd: Robert Salaburu
4th: Jesse Sylvia
5th: Andras Koroknai
6th: Michael Esposito
7th: Steven Gee
8th: Jeremy Ausmus
9th: Jacob Balsiger

Who will be the most active player at the final table?

Jesse Sylvia. If the ten-five off-suit hand on the final table bubble was any indication, nothing is going to stop him from playing fast with the big stack.

Who will be the tightest?

Jeremy Ausmus. Even though he has 30 big blinds, he’ll have to be selective with Merson and Sylvia to his left.

Who will have the best rail and why?

Going with Merson here. I covered his final table when he won his bracelet. It was rowdy as hell then and it’ll be multiplied this time around.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to three-handed play on Monday?

9 hours.

How many hours do you think it will take to get to heads-up play?

Well, it took four hands last year. I think another big hand will happen early three-handed, so less than an hour.

How many hands will heads-up play consist of?

It’s going to take a while with so much on the line. Lets go with the same as last year, 119.

Who do you think would make the best poker ambassador if they were to win?

Tough to answer. I see a great poker ambassador continuing to play many events and have success. For that reason, I will go with Merson.

Give us a bold prediction.

A fight breaks out in the audience. Just a feeling.

Have picks of your own? Let us know below, and as always, follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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