Event 55: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop
Day 3 Started
2012 World Series of Poker
Event 55: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,000,000
Prize Pool
$42,666,672
Entries
48
Level
22
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
100,000
The Big One for One Drop Final Table Almost Set to Start
The World Series of Poker $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop event, the largest buy-in tournament in poker history, is down to its final table. A charitable group of 48 players put up the $1,000,000 buy-in, $111,111 of which was set aside for One Drop.
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, the Chair, describes One Drop as “a charitable organization that develops integrated, innovative projects with an international scope, in which water plays a central role as a creative force in generating positive, sustainable effects for local and foreign populations and in the fight against poverty.”
Laliberté is among the final eight players, each looking to capture the largest first-place prize in tournament poker history, $18,346,673, as well as the platinum WSOP diamond bracelet. He sits in third place to start the day while Antonio Esfandiari tops the bunch. Twelve-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth has also made it and will be on the hunt for lucky number 13.
Here are the seating assignments and chip counts for the final table:
| Seat | Player | Country | Age | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guy Laliberté | Canada | 52 | 21,700,000 |
| 2 | Brian Rast | USA | 30 | 11,350,000 |
| 3 | Phil Hellmuth | USA | 47 | 10,925,000 |
| 4 | Antonio Esfandiari | USA | 33 | 39,925,000 |
| 5 | Bobby Baldwin | USA | 62 | 7,150,000 |
| 6 | Sam Trickett | UK | 26 | 37,000,000 |
| 7 | Richard Yong | China | 54 | 7,475,000 |
| 8 | David Einhorn | USA | 43 | 8,375,000 |
The cards are expected to be in the air at 12:45 PM local time. PokerNews will have bios for each player up shortly.
Poker history is going to be made today and PokerNews is proud to have the privilege of providing you hand-for-hand coverage of the action.
Seat 8: David Einhorn — Hedge Fund Manager (8,375,000)
David Einhorn is a 43-year-old hedge fund manager from Rye, New York. He is the Founder and President of Greenlight Capital, which is a "long-short value-oriented hedge fund." Started in 1996 with $900,000, Greenlight’s annualized return for investors is about 22 percent.
When not running his successful business, Einhorn has been known to play cards, and play them well. In the 2006 WSOP Main Event — the largest poker tournament in history with 8,773 entrants — Einhorn finished in 18th place and went on to donate his $659,000 in winnings to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
An active philanthropist, Einhorn has stated his intent to donate all of his winnings from this event to the City Year Foundation. City Year is an education-focused non-profit that partners with high-need public schools to provide full-time targeted student interventions.
Along with Einhorn's 2006 WSOP Main Event cash, he finished in the money in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship at the New England Poker Classic in 2004 and won an event for nearly $90,000 at the 2008 World Poker Finals held at Foxwoods.
Seat 7: Richard Yong — Businessman (7,475,000)
Richard Yong is a businessman from Asia and often seen along the tournament circuit in the largest events held in Asia and Australia. Yong is also rumored to be one of the players from the famed Macau cash game that regularly takes place in Macau and has become the most talked about live game in the world over recent years.
Yong will bring 7.275 million in chips to the final table and that's good enough for seventh place out of the final eight. Yong's showed some great play throughout this event and he's a force when he has chips. If he's able to heat up early, Yong could easily make a run at this title.
Seat 6: Sam Trickett — Professional Poker Player (37,000,000)
Sam Trickett is a 25-year-old professional poker player from East Retford, England, is well-positioned with a second-place chip count of 37,000,000.
Arriving at the final table second in chips, Sam Trickett is without doubt one of the best players in the world and one of the favorites at this final table.
In 2010, Trickett had one of the best years of any player as he collected six World Series of Poker cashes including two final tables in a $5,000 No-Limit Holdem and the $25,000 No-Limit Holdem Six-Handed. A fourth place in the European Poker Tour Vilamoura Main Event saw Trickett close out the year with over $1 million in earnings.
In 2011, things got even better for him, if you can believe that. Trickett earned over $4.5 million and grabbed not one, not two, but three million-dollar scores. He started of the year winning the Aussie Millions A$100,000 Challenge for A$1.525 million. He then finished runner-up in the Aussie Millions A$250,000 Super High Roller for A$1.4 million. Both of those were in the month of January in Melbourne. Later that year, Trickett scored first in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for a smooth €1 million. He also final tabled the €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOP Europe in October of 2011 for another €77,642.
Seat 5: Bobby Baldwin — Chief Design & Construction Officer, MGM Resorts Int'l (7,150,000)
Bobby Baldwin is a 62-year-old resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, and a longtime casino industry executive. In 1978, he cemented his standing as a premier poker player by winning the $10,000 World Series of Poker World Championship . In all, Baldwin has nearly $1 million in lifetime tournament winnings and is the owner of four WSOP gold bracelets, a rare distinction among the world’s millions of poker players.
Baldwin, who served for a time as a consultant for the Golden Nugget Casino, was named its president in 1984. He has also headed The Mirage and was named president of the Bellagio in 1998. He served under Steve Wynn as Chief Financial Officer of Mirage Resorts from 1999-2000. He now serves as President and CEO of City Center.
Biggest Cash: 1978 WSOP Main Event Championship — $210,000
Seat 4: Antonio Esfandiari — Professional Poker Player (39,925,000)
Antonio Esfandiari is a 33-year-old professional poker player. Known to the poker community as “The Magician,” the Las Vegas resident is a former magician turned poker player. With nearly $5 million in lifetime earnings, including one WSOP gold bracelet and two other titles, Esfandiari is one of the game’s most recognized and entertaining personalities. In fact, if he fails to make this final table, you will hear him commenting the event as part of ESPN’s live television coverage.
Biggest Win: Won 2004 WPT L.A. Poker Classic — $1,399,135
Seat 3: Phil Hellmuth — Professional Poker Player (10,925,000)
Phil Hellmuth is arguably the most well known poker player in the world, let alone at this final table. The 12-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner will enter the final table fifth in chips with 10.925 million.
The 47-year-old poker pro from Palo Alto, California has a laundry list of cashes, but really broke onto the scene back in 1989 when he defeated Johnny Chan heads up to win the WSOP Main Event title for $755,000. Eleven more bracelets followed over the course of his career, including his 12th this year in the $2,500 Seven Card Razz event.
Last year, Hellmuth finished runner-up three separate times, including once to fellow final table player Brian Rast in the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship. Surely some redemption will be on his mind, but also will bracelet number 13 and over $18 million in first-place prize money.
Seat 2: Brian Rast — Professional Poker Player (11,350,000)
Brian Rast is a 30-year-old poker professional who was raised in Denver. He will begin the final table with 11.35 million in chips, good enough for fourth place on the leader board.
Last year, Rast won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet by taking down the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for over $227,000. He then went on to win his second in the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship for over $1.72 million after defeating Phil Hellmuth heads up.
Rast and Hellmuth will be neighbors at this final table and have had some interesting dynamic for most of the event. Seeing them battle it out a bit more under the bright lights of the ESPN Main Stage with the possibility of a rematch will be as exciting as ever.
With over $2.8 million in live tournament earnings, Rast can nearly double that with a finish in the top four.
Seat 1: Guy Laliberté — Cirque de Soleil/OneDrop.org Founder (21,700,000)
Guy Laliberté is the 52-year-old Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Canada’s famous Cirque du Soleil circus troupe. Originally a street performer, Laliberté currently owns 95 percent of the company. According to Forbes Magazine, his net worth is $1.5 billion, making him the 654th richest man in the world.
His most notable tournament success came in the form of a fourth-place finish in the 2007 World Poker Tour Championship for $696,220. He became Canada’s first private explorer and the first to engage in a Poetic Social Mission in space. He is also the founder of the One Drop Foundation, a philanthropic foundation to fight poverty in the world by giving everyone access to water and, of course, the beneficiary in this great event.
Laliberté was the man behind this event from the get go and has done extremely well to find his way to the final table. Not only did he work extremely hard to make the Big One for One Drop happen successfully, but Laliberté buckled down and was all business at the tables for the past two days. For both, he's now reaping the benefits. He'll enter the final table third in chips with 21.7 million.