Adam Junglen (Stow, Ohio) 795,000
Junglen is a 20-year-old professional poker player. Due to not yet being age 21, which comes next month, Junglen is limited to playing in European and Canadian tournaments, where he has enjoyed considerable success. He recently made it to an EPT final table in Barcelona, Spain. Junglen has already amassed over $300,000 in tournament earnings during his short career and has won much more in cash games. He is certainly on the very short list of poker's youngest and brightest future stars. Today, Junglen hopes to become the first American player ever to win an event at WSOP-Europe. If he holds onto the chip lead, he would become the second-youngest gold bracelet winner in WSOP history.
John Dwyer (Dundalk, Ireland) 511,000
Dwyer is a 44-year-old accountant from Dundalk, Ireland. He has two children, ages 2 and 4. Dwyer has staged perhaps the most impressive comeback of the tournament so far. At the end of day one, he was one of the lowest stacks and was outchipped by more than 60 players. Now just a day later, entering his first final table ever, he arrives second in the chip count. We shall see if the "luck of the Irish" casts its spell on today's finale.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko (Mukilteo, Washington) 345,000
Timoshenko is a 20-year-old American professional poker player from Mukilteo, WA. He is originally from the Ukraine and immigrated to the US at the age of ten. Timoshenko has won two live tournaments and a number of other tournaments, as well. He is one of the top-ranked new pros to emerge on the poker scene in the last year.
Daniel Nutt (Byfleet, England) 207,000
Nutt is a 29-year-old professional poker player from Byfleet, England. He has a fiancé and also has two children. Prior to making his living at the poker tables, Nutt worked in a warehouse. He had a bit of luck getting into this tournament as he played the roulette wheel just before the start and managed to turn 50 (UK pounds) into just enough money to pay the 1500 entry fee. Today, we will see if his wheel of fortune continues.
Neil Channing (London, England) 199,000
Channing is a gambler from London, England – who admits to being 40 years old, but says he looks "much younger." The former legal bookmaker has an impressive trail of tournament finishes, including an 800,000 Euro win at this year's Irish Poker Championship. Channing also cashed seven times at this year's WSOP of in Las Vegas, which ranked him in the top ten. He says he staked nine players who entered this tournament. They are all busted out now, so he needs to finish at least eighth to get his money back.
Ian Woodley (London, England) 153,000
Woodley is a 48-year-old professional poker player from London, England. Prior to becoming a poker pro, he worked as a market trader, but ultimately decided that poker was a more stable occupation. That turned out to be a wise decision for Woodley, who finished as the runner-up at the 2005 Irish Open and the 2007 World Poker Open. In fact, he was ranked third amongst all European tournament players in the world just two years ago. Woodley also had some good fortune elsewhere, as a contestant on a television game show. He was the first person in the world to ever win 1-million English Pounds on a TV game show.
Linda Lee (Las Vegas, Nevada) 121,000
Lee is a 36-year-old executive, who currently works for one of the top gaming publishers in the world, Cardoza Publishing – which has put out books by Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Avery Cardoza, and other top pros. She says that she is around poker books all day, and decided to read a few – and now here she is at her first WSOP final table. Lee was born in Saigon, Vietnam. She has two boys named Xyzlo and Zachary, and one daughter named Sara. Lee was one her way to a vacation in Italy and decided to stop over and play in this tournament. That turned out to be a great decision, as she is now seventh in the chip count.
Jesper Hougaard (Copenhagen, Denmark) 89,000
Hougaard is a 24-year-old former student, who is now a poker pro living in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was also a former member of the Danish Junior Table Tennis National Team. Hougaard is the only player at today's final table who has ever played at a WSOP final table in the past. In fact, he is the only former WSOP gold bracelet still competing in the tournament. Just three months ago, Hougaard won over $600,000 in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship at the Rio in Las Vegas. He won his way into this event by winning a preliminary tournament hosted by Betfair and Ace magazine.
Fuad Serhan (Cobham, England) 61,000
Serhan is a 58-year-old retiree from Cobham, England. He has played in a number of local poker tournaments around London. Exactly two years ago to the day, Serhan took second place in one of the European Poker Tour events. He paid cash to enter this tournament. However, Serhan faces the biggest challenge of any finalist today as he begins with the lowest chip count. But this is still quite an accomplishment, cashing for the first time ever in a WSOP event.
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