An Emotional David Baker Looks To Etch His Name On the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy
In the life of a poker professional there are only a select few events that will evoke a whirlwind of emotions like the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship does, and chip leader David "ODB" Baker currently finds himself in the eye of the storm.
With $3.2 million in live tournament earnings, Baker is no stranger to poker success, but the chance he'll get Thursday is something most pros can only dream of fulfilling. Baker leads the final six of the biggest test of skill in all of poker, as a mix of 10 different games will determine who will etch his name onto the David "Chip" Reese Memorial Trophy.
Baker has been a poker professional for many years, and his first World Series of Poker cashes date back to 2006, when he made the money in five separate events to earn a total of $55,000. As he should, he understands that tomorrow is the biggest day of his career.
"I'm so elated and ecstatic," Baker said about reaching the final table. "This is the tournament for me. There is no tournament in the world that I would rather win than this one. I'm a mixed-game player, so to play a mixed-game championship against the best of the best, and to have this opportunity to win a marquee event for all the money after 15 years of working very hard, is something I hope to be able to deliver on."
This year marks the 10th edition of the PPC, and ever since the tournament was first won by poker legend David "Chip" Reese, the bracelet means more than any of the other tournaments to most pros. Therefore, the pressure is on Baker, who owns one WSOP bracelet and has cashed in the PPC once before.
"I feel pressure because I want this so badly," he said. "I'm just going to approach this the way I approach every tournament. I'm going to play my best, and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. If it's not meant to be, then this tournament has been a great success for me; since in the worst-case scenario, I'm already guaranteed a lot of money.
"Best-case scenario, I get to etch my name on the trophy with the greatest and maybe take that next step in my career and also put a lot of money in the bank."
The Auburn University alumnus found himself eighth in chips after both Day 1 and Day 2, followed by coming into Wednesday's Day 3 10th in chips with 19 players remaining. Baker's tournament was going smooth for the most part, and he elaborated on his impressive run so far.
"I got off to a good start today," he commented. "I won the first few pots, and once I got over a million, I hit the accelerator and won most of my hands. I played really solid and I picked my spots well, and the bubble was fantastic for me. We had several short stacks at the table, and the only one that wanted to play pots with me was Abe [Mosseri], and I didn't lose a pot against him."
The bubble ultimately burst with the elimination of Joe Cassidy, and Baker went on to rake in more chips as the night fell in Las Vegas.
"I'm so excited about tomorrow and hopefully I'll manage to get three to four hours of sleep tonight," Baker smiled before going over the opponents he'll be facing in the final.
Baker showed respect for all of those remaining and voiced sympathy for Jason Mercier, who busted in seventh place.
"I didn’t want [Mercier] to bust because he's a super great guy, but on the flip side it's kind of good that he's gone,” Baker said.
Mike Gordinsky, Dan Kelly, and Chris Klodnicki are all highly regarded mixed-game players, and Baker said, "I don’t know too much about Ben [Sulsky], but I know he crushes everyone online.”
The odd one out at the final table is Jean-Robert Bellande, one of the most colorful characters in poker.
"And then there's Bobby, the wild card; flatting bets in limit hold'em, drawing three in badugi and betting pot in PLO," Baker said. "We're just going to have to see what develops with him, but everyone else has played real solid."
Daydreaming of raising the trophy after beating a final table that also includes former runner-up in this event Chris Klodnicki had Baker fighting back tears, as he spoke to what the win would mean to him.
"It's just amazing that I'm in this spot," he said. "I couldn't be happier. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it, and I've had a sick feeling about this tournament already, in a good way, leading up to it."
Baker explained how he always sells action for big events like this, but that he has a significantly bigger piece of himself this year due to the good feeling he carried into the tournament.
"I'm fully expecting to win," Baker said with confidence. "If I don't, like I said, I have a good consolation prize because this has already been a massive success."
After a bit of a pause, he went on.
"But I don't know," he continued, "I feel like this is going to be my breakout tournament, but there are still a lot of great players left. You can only control so much, as we're playing massively huge limits, and a few hands here and there can change everything.
"I'm just going to approach it like I have all tournament and play my hands to the best of their ability. I'm emotional about it now, and I can imagine how I'll be about it tomorrow if I'll be so fortunate to close it out."
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