Paul Hails is the shortest stack to make the final with 164,000, but that doesn't mean he can't run it up and take this thing down. He's a 55-year-old compliance analyst from Gig Harbor, Washington and is married with four children.
Those children were surely on his mind as Hails wrote on his bio sheet that his goal in poker is to make a televised table so both his children and grandchildren can see him play. This final table is not televised, but he'll be getting plenty of coverage right here on PokerNews for making this final table.
Hails served proudly in the U.S. Navy, which he is now a veteran of. We were unable to find any results for Hails on record, but you have to start somewhere, right? What better than making a World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event final table!
Coming into the final table second in chips with 640,000 is Hayden Fortini from Vero Beach, Florida. He is a 21-year-old student, but also has students of his own as Fortini's a poker instructor at Deep Stacks University. He knows a thing or two about the game having already amassed over $163,000 in career earnings at such a young age.
Back in March 2009, Fortini had a great month at the Battles at the Beach in Pompano. He won the $900 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em for $50,000 and also the $900 Championship Event for $59,044. His third largest score came in November 2010 when he placed second in the $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2010 Isle Open Poker Championship for $40,527.
Fortini was able to play those events listed above prior to turning 21 as the legal age to play poker in Florida is 18 for most casinos. He's now legal to play anywhere and this final table could be the first of many we start seeing him at.
Shaun Walker is making his first World Series of Poker Circuit final table in this event and enters third from the bottom in chips with 233,000. He's 29 years old from Huntington Beach, California and has three cashes on record. Out of those three, his largest score was in February 2008 at the L.A. Poker Classic where he won $2,220 in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. That said, this final table is Walker's largest score yet as he's earned a minimum of $6,335 by making it this far.
Hailing from Milton, Ontario, Narinder Khasria comes into the final table third in chips with 628,000. He is 39 years old, married and boasts a record with $332,535 total career winnings in poker tournaments. Khasria's best result came in January 2010 when he placed second in the C$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Canadian Poker Tour in Fallsview, Ontario. That finish netted him C$94,371, or just over $91,000.
On top of that great run Khasria made, he has five World Series of Poker cashes on his record, including a finish in the money in last year's Main Event for $24,079. A few years back in 2007, Khasria placed 18th in the WSOP Circuit $5,000 Championship Event in Tunica for $18,175.
[user66118]
Seneca Easley leads the pack into Day 3
From our starting field of 188, just nine players remain in the hunt for this WSOP-C Main Event title and the gold Circuit ring that comes along with it.
It's been three days since the starting field streamed in through the double doors, and we've seen plenty of notables come and go. In fact, our final table is full of relative unknowns. That doesn't mean we're dealing with amateurs here, though.
We'll confess we didn't remember the name Michael Simon, but a quick check finds that he's a WPT champion from 2006 with more than $1 million in his tournament cash column. We've also got Alexandru Masek, a part-time player, with a chance to collect his fourth gold ring, tying him with Chris Reslock, Men Nguyen, and Mark "Pegasus" Smith for most ever. Quick bios for the rest of the field will follow, but suffice it to say we've got a table full of players who are poised to become much more notable over the course of the coming months and years.
Starting with today. The lucky man or woman who escapes this table with all the chips will earn their first WSOP-C Main Event title, a shiny gold-and-diamond-encrusted ring, and an entry into the $1 million National Championship freeroll in May.
Here's how the field stacks up for this final day:
Seat
Player
Chips
1
Patrick Karschamroon
585,000
2
Michael Simon
172,000
3
Seneca Easley
856,000
4
Lori Nunes
236,000
5
Alex Masek
246,000
6
Paul Hails
164,000
7
Hayden Fortini
640,000
8
Shaun Walker
233,000
9
Narinder Khasria
628,000
Our final table is set to begin in about 45 minutes, at noon local time, so don't wander off. We've got a champion to crown here at Harrah's Rincon.
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