Seat 2: Kalidou Sow, 37, France
French player Kalidou Sow has already notched several decent results on the live felt, most of them coming in his home country. Sow's best score was €72,000 for a third place in the France Poker Series (FPS) Season 5 Main Event in Enghien-les-Bains. He's now guaranteed a bigger prize here in the Main Event.
Sow, who lives just outside of Paris, didn't look to be a favorite to getting to the final table. He came back for Day 5 with the third-shortest stack but he gained much-needed traction, knocking out Sergii Popovych in an aces-over-jacks cooler. Sow then continued crushing, scooping two large chunks off Michal Mrakes, turning up with the nuts on both occasions. Suddenly, the 37-year-old climbed through the leaderboard.
Sow won three live tournaments so far but none of them could match the difficulty and prestige of this Main Event. Sow's wins include the 2016 Belgian Poker Challenge Namur High Roller for €41,460 as well as the 2016 Barrière Poker Tour Toulouse Main Event for €32,100. He also notched a third place in the PokerStars Festival Lille €2k High Roller. Sow now seems ready to make the step to the spotlight on the world's prime poker circuit. A top-five finish would let him sneak inside the top 100 on the French all-time money list.
Sow's Main Event run:
| Chips | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Ended Day 1 with | 110,000 | 50 / 415 |
| Ended Day 2 with | 405,000 | 9 / 140 |
| Ended Day 3 with | 550,000 | 22 / 49 |
| Ended Day 4 with | 640,000 | 13 / 15 |
| Ended Day 5 with | 8,135,000 | 1 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
8,135,000 |