This year’s edition of the World Series of Poker Main Event is an event which will leave its mark in the history of poker. For the first time since the beginning of the championship, there will be two poker pros making a second appearance at the final table.
It has been 10 days since the beginning of the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event and the final table configuration is already established. The two players returning to the Main Event’s final table are Antoine Saout and Ben Lamb, both well-known in the poker field and bringing their extensive experience with them. Saout made his first visit to the final table in 2009 when he finished third and claimed $3,479,669. Ben Lamb was also third at his final table in 2011, but he managed to win $4,021,138 for his efforts and deep run in the tournament.
It can be recalled that this year’s Main Event commenced on the 8th of July with a total of 7,221 poker players at the tables. As of this moment, there are only nine of them left, and all of them are proven to be some of the best poker players of poker’s modern era. They proved their position as some of the best players by defeating the vast field of players and amassing an impressive amount of chips. As for the leaderboard, Antoine Saout is currently in seventh place, whereas Ben Lamb occupies the ninth position.
Speaking of former November Niners, there would have been another poker player who has been on the final table before. Michael Ruane made it to the final table at last year’s Main Event, where he finished 4th and received $2,576,003. This year, however, he managed to reach the 10th place, which left him out of the final table team of players. If he had the good fortune to make it through the last player, he would have become the second player to make an appearance at the final table in two consecutive years. The first one to achieve this feat was Mark Newhouse, who made it this far in both 2013 and 2014.
There will also be a new name for the nine remaining players on the final table since they will not return in three months for the final battle, as it was in previous years. The waiting game is removed and they will come to grab the championship prize after a break of just two days. The new king of the World Series of Poker will be announced after the last part of the tournament. It will happen from the 20th of July through the 22nd and it will all be filmed for ESPN, which provides the live streaming of the event.
