Seat 8: Talal Shakerchi -- 670,000
Talal Shakerchi is a European hedge fund manager from Surrey, England who was one of the 48 players to dip into the World Series of Poker $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop. Although this Super High Roller is quite that buy-in, €50,000 is nothing to sneeze at and is the largest tournament ever held in Spain — it's also one of the largest in the world.
Shakerchi's hobby was chess prior to poker, but nowadays the wealthy businessman turns to poker in his downtime, often seen at only the largest, most marquee events on tour.
Dating back to 2007, Shakerchi has amassed over $700,000 in live tournament earnings not counting this result here that's set to increase that number. His previous best year was in 2008, but Shakerchi's already pocketed more prize money in 2012 when you factor in this score.
In 2008, Shakerchi took third place in the €10,000 Grand Prix De Paris for €157,320. That's quite an impressive result, but not as impressive as the €223,000 he won for taking down the €10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max Turbo High Roller a few months ago in May at the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final.
Shakerchi will enter the final table sixth in chips with 670,000. He's already proven this year that he has the prowess to take on the best and win, but this event will be worth much more to Shakerchi if he's able to storm his way to the title.