Merulla Making Good
Current chip leader Robert Merulla has tasted success at the World Series of Poker before. Last summer the New Yorker made an impressive run in the Main Event, ultimately finishing 303rd for a $41,967 payday. The previous year Merulla had three cashes at the WSOP, the largest being for a 24th-place finish in a $1,500 no-limit hold'em event.
His largest win overall, comprising the majority of his lifetime tourney earnings, came in early 2009 in the $3K NLHE Championship Event at the Borgata Winter Open in Atlantic City. Merulla's third-place finish in that event (out of 1,107 entrants) earned him $236,452. He'll top that amount if he were finish in the top three here.
First prize for this event is $808,538. That's the third-biggest through the first 40 events of this summer's WSOP, topped only by the $874,116 won by Allen Bari in Event No. 4 ($5,000 NLHE) and the $851,192 by Jake Cody in Event No. 2 ($25,000 Heads-Up NLHE Championship).