Seat 6: Samuel Bifarella, 36, Marseille (9,300,000)
Excitement is at its peak for Samuel Bifarella! You might say it’s the same for all the other finalists, but Samuel has an extra reason to be even happier: in ten days, his wife is due to give birth. One happy event could lead to another, as he now finds himself at yet another prestigious final table.
We’ve seen Samuel on the live circuit for nearly a decade now, from smaller events to the biggest stages, watching his résumé grow with each standout performance. We first spotted him in 2017 when he finished 24th at the WPO Dublin. In 2022, he added another deep run in a Winamax event, finishing 15th at WPO Madrid.
That same year marked a turning point, as he came close to winning a WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 event, finishing runner-up for $225,000. The breakthrough victory would come later, in 2025, when he took down a $1,100 event at the Venetian for $142,000. The same year he also won the Winamax KING5 alongside Erwann Pecheux, Florian Ribouchon, and former WiPT winner Pierre Merlin.
That adventure earned them a freeroll entry into the WSOP Main Event, an experience he still cherishes. “It had nothing to do with the money, because we would have played the WSOP anyway. We really lived something special together,” he recalls.
More recently, he added another near-miss to his record at the WSOP Circuit in Marrakech, finishing runner-up again for an additional $100,000.
On the eve of the final table, Samuel says he has never had any job other than poker, which he has been playing since he was 18, half his life. “I started while studying at business school in Lille. When I was younger, I was in a tennis sports program. When that ended, I went back to normal life and… I got bored! With poker, I found competition and excitement again. As a kid, I used to play tarot with adults. I’ve always loved games.”
Primarily a live player, Samuel isn’t exactly a globe-trotter. Paris, Marrakech, Las Vegas in the summer, and tournaments near Marseille, where he has lived for the past year and a half, make up most of his yearly schedule.
Last week, he made it through Day 1b of the Grande Finale on his second bullet. Now, he stands on the brink of his first Winamax Main Event final table, though he will start it with a shorter stack after losing ground late on Day 3, having spent much of the day among the chip leaders.
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