WSOP November Nine Profiles, Part Three
Having already looked at the top six players at the World Series of Poker Main Event’s “November Nine” final table, today it is the turn of the three shortest stacks remaining in the tournament.
Pius Heinz (16,425,000) is playing in his first WSOP. The twenty-two year old comes from Cologne in Germany, where he is a student. He first learned poker playing in home games against friends, and the $83,286 he picked up for coming 7th in one of the $1,500 NL Hold’em events earlier in the series is his first listed live cash. He has had some notable successes online, however, including a $61,000 win on Full Tilt in July 2010, and a $29,000 win in the PokerStars $150K guaranteed tournament.
Although he is the first German ever to reach a Main Event final table, he seems very relaxed about the whole affair, telling journalists: “I don’t feel any pressure at all. The field left is really strong [and there are] a lot of really good players left. My tournament went pretty smoothly for the most part and I’m just happy to be here. Whatever happens, happens.” Reflecting this laid-back attitude, his PocketFives profile lists his hobbies as “playing unlimited Hold’em donkaments, partying, and what not.”
Sky Bet has Heinz at 9/1, but better odds are available at both Bodog and Sporting Bet where he is currently 11/1.
Anton Makiievskyi (13,825,000) is the youngest player left in the tournament and would become the youngest Main Event winner ever if he should triumph in November. He comes from Dniepropetrovsk in the Ukraine, a country that has already produced four bracelet winners at this year’s WSOP. At 21 this is obviously his first WSOP and, with the exception of a small cash on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2008, all his live cashes, totalling just under $60,000, have come in his native country.
Makiievskyi hit the top of the leaderboard on Day 7 after winning a huge cooler against Chris Moore which netted him twenty million chips. He managed to build on that for a while but began to suffer as the final table drew near, with his stack declining to its current level of just under 14 million. He only got his visa to come to the USA at the end of June, and in an interview with ESPN he said: “I just don’t believe everything that’s happening now. I understand that I may not have any other chances in life like this, but I don’t feel it. I just play my game.”
Makiievskyi almost certainly plays online, but he hasn’t revealed his online moniker yet, so there is no way of knowing of his success level there. He is available at 9/1 with Sky Bet and Sporting Bet, while Bodog has him at 12/1.
Sam Holden (12,375,000) will come to the final table with the shortest stack. He is the sole remaining British player left, being a resident of Canterbury in Kent, and having graduated from Canterbury University with a degree in Forensic Science last year. He learnt to play the game in home games and at the university’s poker society. The twenty-two year old is also in his first WSOP, and this is his first cash. He warmed up for the tournament by winning the NL Hold’em 6 Max event at the Newcastle leg of the UKIPT in mid-June, following a couple of small cashes in other live events in Scotland and Ireland, but his career live winnings total little more than $10,000. He has enjoyed considerable success online, however, having earned more than $285,000 in tournaments on Full Tilt and PokerStars, playing under the handle of “SamDMND”.
His short stack and relative inexperience is reflected in his price; he can be backed at 12/1 at both Sky Bet and Sporting Bet, while Bodog makes him the outsider at 16/1. He has successfully nursed a short stack for some time, however, and could be a threat if his cards improve in November. As with all the British players, he is virtually guaranteed to bring a group of noisy railbirds with him.
Looking at the field as a whole, the three most experienced players would seem to be Eoghan O’Dea, Matt Giannetti and Ben Lamb, and the odds must be that the winner will come from those three. O’Dea has a considerable chip advantage but his odds of 9/2 don’t seem particularly generous. Giannetti has recently recovered from a being short-stacked, making two critical, and correct, decisions in doing so – will this give him confidence ahead of the final table? His live poker record suggests he is a top five finish is more likely than an outright win but 7/1 isn’t a bad price, and if his odds should lengthen he must be worth a flutter. Finally there is Ben Lamb. Can he top an already incredible WSOP by taking down the biggest tournament of the lot and take his winnings for the series past $10 million? His phenomenal run must come to an end eventually, but there looks to be no sign of that happening at the moment. He currently has a healthy chip-stack, even if he has recently lost chips to some of the other players. With several inexperienced players still at the table, Lamb will doubtless be looking to continue his aggressive play, hoping to pick up enough chips to put him in a dominant position early on in November. Should he achieve this, odds of 7/1 would seem generous.
(All odds correct at the time of writing, as ever, prices may vary and those interested in backing a player should check the market for the best price before placing a bet.)
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on Jul 24 2011. Filed under Latest News.
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