![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Chips: 219,000 (9th place, 37 big blinds)
Hometown: Berkley, California via Palm Harbor, Florida
Occupation: Professional poker player
Accomplishments: Has earned more than $1.5 million playing online, also has more than $400,000 in career live earnings including three WSOP cashes, one of them a runner-up showing in the 2008 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event
Miscellany: Graduated from Emory University in Georgia
Chips: 759,000 (1st place, 127 big blinds)
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania via Camden, New Jersey
Occupation: Professional poker player
Accomplishments: Has earned more than $2 million playing online, also has more than $1.6 million in career live earnings including a gold ring for his championship in the WSOPC Main Event right here at Harrah's Atlantic City in 2009 and ten WSOP cashes, one of those a 12th-place finish in the 2008 Main Event for more than $600,000
Chips: 579,000 (4th place, 97 big blinds)
Hometown: Marina del Rey, California
Occupation: Professional poker player
Accomplishments: More than $200,000 in career earnings including a WPT final table and one WSOP cash
Miscellany: Graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, hobbies include rugby and the outdoors
Chips: 230,000 (8th place, 38 big blinds)
Hometown: New York, New York
Occupation: Professional poker player, formerly an equity derivatives trader in Wall Street
Accomplishments: More than $1.1 million in earnings in 2010 alone including a WPT title and a fifth-place WPT cash two months later
Miscellany: Graduated from Duke University with degrees in Economics and Russian, his hobbies include running, tennis, and playing the piano
Chips: 307,000 (7th place, 51 big blinds)
Hometown: Hoboken, New Jersey
Occupation: Professional poker player, formerly a criminal defense attorney
Accomplishments: More than $1.5 million in career earnings, including five WSOP cashes with two final tables, and one WPT final table, largest score was more than $400,000 for taking second place in the 2009 Borgata Winter Open last January
Chips: 332,000 (6th place, 55 big blinds)
Hometown: Costa Mesa, California
Occupation: Professional poker player
Accomplishments: Earned more than $3.5 million playing online under the screen name "agriffrod", also boasts just shy of $200,000 in career live earnings including 3 WSOP cashes in 2010 with one final table
Chips: 377,000 (5th place, 63 big blinds)
Hometown: Piscataway, New Jersey via New Delhi, India
Occupation: Project Manager
Accomplishments: Rumored to have won an FTPOPS $1,000 event playing as "yahoo33" for more than $300,000, has more than $40,000 in career live earnings as an amateur including a second-place finish in a $1,500 event at the Borgata here in Atlantic City just five days ago for more than $33,000
Miscellany: Married with two children, describes himself as a loving husband and caring father who is ready for the poker world
Chips: 594,000 (4th place, 99 big blinds)
Hometown: New York, New York
Occupation: President of both a software company and a direct marketing company
Accomplishments: More than $700,000 in career earnings, 2 WSOP cashes, won the $1,500 Deep Stack event at the Borgata here in Atlantic City last August for more than $320,000
Miscellany: Graduated from Baruch College with a degree in Business Administration
Chips: 706,000 (2nd place, 118 big blinds)
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Occupation: Professional poker player, formerly a real estate investor
Accomplishments: More than $2.5 million in career earnings, 3 WPT final tables and many near-misses, 14 WSOP cashes, won his first bracelet in 2010 Event #46, the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event
Miscellany: Graduated from North Carolina State in 1994 with a degree in business, now married with twin daughters
We're less than an hour away from the start of our final table here at Harrah's Atlantic City as the $10,000 East Regional has been played down to just nine players. The paperwork said this was the "Northeast", but the TV-table arena is bordered by four banners reading "East" on the four corners of the set. So we'll go with that.
In any event, we've got ourselves some poker to play today. Klodnicki is gunning for his second title in this building in two years. Last year's big-buy-in event here at the WSOPC was the $4,900 Main Event, and Klodnicki outlasted the 195-player field to earn himself more than $200,000 and his first gold ring. He is the chip leader to begin the day today, but the average chip stack of more than 75 big blinds means it truly is anyone's game. Chris Bell is about 50,000 behind Klodnicki, and none of the nine players are in the chip danger zone yet -- or even close to it. The smallest stack belongs to Seth Fischer, but his 219,000 chips still give him 36 bigs to work with at the opening 3,000/6,000/1,000 level.
Here's how the table will set up when the players return for this final showdown:
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Bell | 706,000 |
| 2 | Micah Raskin | 594,000 |
| 3 | Ketan Pandya | 377,000 |
| 4 | Nick Mitchell | 332,000 |
| 5 | Todd Terry | 307,000 |
| 6 | Andy Frankenberger | 230,000 |
| 7 | Jason Burt | 579,000 |
| 8 | Chris Klodnicki | 759,000 |
| 9 | Seth Fischer | 219,000 |
We're set for noon start time, but the production may push us back by a few minutes. In any event, we've got some quick bios coming for you next, and we'll be back as soon as the cards go in the air.
