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Alistar Melville
The only player at the final table not from the United States, 47-year-old Alistar “Al” Melville calls Toronto, Canada home. Having been in Boston for work (a little more than an hour’s drive away), Melville decided to make the trip to Mohegan Sun on a whim, with no intention of playing the Main Event. Now that he’s in the money and has reached the final table, he considers the rest of it “all a bonus.” Melville is a hobby player, who works in sales by occupation. He’s a big hockey fan and loves to travel, so needless to say he’ll be able to enjoy a whole lot more of both were he to take down the Main Event. Melville enters the final table with a healthy 2,940,000 in chips.
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Jonathan "FatalError" Aguiar
Known to the online poker community as ‘FatalError,’ 26-year-old Jonathan Aguiar has compiled an impressive resume thus far in his short poker-playing career. A very capable mixed-game player, Aguiar recently took down the eight-game championship at the LAPC. He’s also the only player who has cashed in all three NAPT Main Events this season (42nd - PCA, 22nd - Venetian and now Mohegan Sun - TBD). A self-proclaimed “degenerate gambler,” Aguiar has career earnings of more than $740,000 and has cashed in seven WSOP events. Aguiar resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and has been playing poker for eight years. He’ll unbag 1,535,000 in chips to start Sunday’s final table.
donpeters
Michael Woods
Michael Woods is an amateur poker player, hailing from a small town in Virginia called Cana. The 53-year-old has been playing poker for 35 years – longer than most of our final tablists have been alive! At 53, Woods is the senior-most member of the final table. Woods is self-employed and considers himself a hobby poker player. Woods has his work cut out for him at a final table with several seasoned pros, but with 2,950,000 in chips to work with, anything is possible.
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Mike Beasley
A 20-year veteran of the game, Mike Beasley is no stranger to tournament poker. Throughout the course of his career, Beasley has amassed a career earnings total of over $350,000. When he’s not playing cards, the strip club owner from Hollywood, Florida enjoys hitting the links for an occasional round of golf. The 46-year-old has won several small-mid buy-in tournaments over the years and most recently took down a $1,000 buy-in side event at the Borgata in February. Beasley also cashed in the NAPT Venetian Main Event, posting a 91st place finish, good for a $9,643 payday. Beasley stole the chip lead from Vanessa Selbst on the last hand of the night with the elimination of tenth place finisher Brandon Hall, and enters the final table with 4,985,000 in chips.
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Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond graduated from Georgetown University and has been playing poker for the past seven years. The 25-year-old has career live earnings of just over $250,000 – the bulk of which he won last year at the WSOP, claiming a bracelet in a $2,500 buy-in Omaha Hi-lo event ($229,192). A native of Portland, Maine, Raymond plays golf and basketball in his spare time. Raymond enters the final table as one of its short stacks with 1,545,000 in chips.
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Vanessa Selbst
Vanessa Selbst has been playing poker for the past seven years, though it wasn’t until the summer of 2007 that she first started making headlines. Selbst finished eighth in the WSOP ladies event that summer, and nine days later took home third place money ($128,968) in the $5,000 buy-in World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP, mowing over the likes of Doyle Brunson, Layne Flack, Peter Jetten, Paul Wasicka and Shannon Shorr in the process. Since then, Selbst has established herself as one of the top female poker players in the business, winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008 and climbing all the way up to 17th on the women’s all-time money list, all the while earning her undergraduate degree at Yale University. Currently, Selbst is working toward a law degree (also at Yale) and of course plays a little poker on the side. The 25-year-old New Haven, Connecticut native enters the final table with 4,545,000 in chips.
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Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy
Better known in the poker world as “JohnnyBax,” 44-year-old Cliff Josephy has been a fixture in the game, both live and online, since 2005. One of the most respected tournament players in the world, Josephy has accumulated more than $3.3 million in online tournament earnings over the past five years. Josephy has experienced success in the live game as well, having won a WSOP bracelet in 2005 and posting several five and six figure scores at various venues around the world since. A father of three from Syosset, New York, Josephy admits he’s missing a “very good friend’s daughter’s Bat Mitzvah to play this” event, so he’s hoping to notch a victory on Sunday so that all will be forgiven. Josephy enters the final table fifth in chips with 1,940,000.
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Scott Seiver
Despite his undeniable success in the tournament arena, 24-year-old poker pro Scott Seiver considers himself a cash game player. Last February alone, Seiver accumulated more than $640,000 in prize money from a pair of high roller events – one of them being the inaugural $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout, held at NAPT Venetian – which helped bring his career earnings total up to $1.9 million. A resident of the famed Panorama Towers just off the Las Vegas Strip, Seiver is known to dabble in the occasional Magic the Gathering card game with Panorama comrades David Williams and Justin Bonomo. Seiver has flirted with the chip lead several times throughout the week, at one point taking turns at the top with Vanessa Selbst. He enters the final table as its short stack, with 1,125,000 in chips.
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