2019 WSOP Main Event Final Table Profile: Alex Livingston

4 min read
2019 WSOP Main Event Final Table Profile: Alex Livingston

Brought to you by the WSOP-C Playground, hosted by Playground Poker Club and partypoker LIVE. Last year's long-awaited return to Canada of the WSOP Circuit smashed attendance records. The $1,100 Main Event with a huge $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and the $330 Colossus with a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool of its own are two of the seven events on tap for this year's edition, which is expected to attract even larger fields than last year's record-breaking series.


Final Table Profile Alex Livingston

Seat:9
Chip Count:37,800,000 (5/9)
Big Blinds:38
Age:32
Hometown:Halifax, Canada
Twitter:@rumnchess

Alex Livingston's Main Event Story

Going deep in the World Series of Poker Main Event with the massive fields the event draws in the modern era is a highly unlikely feat, no matter how good you are at the game. But going deep twice is even more against the odds.

Alex Livingston lived a poker dream going deep in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, eventually finishing in thirteenth place for a career-high score of $451,398. Now, he's re-living that dream. The Canadian poker pro has already bested his incredible run from six years ago and guaranteed to cash for much more money.

"I'm obviously super lucky to be here again in this situation, but the experience has been a lot easier because I've been here before. That's an advantage I have over the other players."

"I think that having been in this situation before, I'm just playing a poker tournament."

Having been here before, Livingston has dealt much better this time around with the pressure that naturally comes with a deep run under the lights and cameras with large pay jumps on the line.

"The first time I went through it, I lost a lot of weight. I didn't eat well, and I didn't sleep well. I'm still not eating great, but I'm sleeping better and just feeling better."

With all the hype and messages pouring in, Livingston is making sure to stay dialed in so he can play his best.

"I'm trying to just stay focused on the tournament...just stick to my close friends and focus on what needs to be done, which is just playing a poker tournament. At the end of the day, it's just a poker tournament."

Livingston isn't sweating the result, but rather just playing his game, controlling what he can control. "I'm just taking it a hand at a time, a decision at a time and what happens, happens - can't control the rest."

How Alex Livingston Got to the Final Table

DayEnd-of-Day Chip CountRank
1b159,00094/1,417
2ab360,60092/1,087
3681,000223/1,084
4660,000281/354
53,935,00054/106
62,800,00034/35
737,800,0005/9

Alex Livingston's Key Hands

As Livingston well knows, "You gotta get lucky to go deep in this thing," and he got found lady luck to be on his side in some critical moments on Day 7.

"I got super lucky twice today. I got all in with fives against jacks and hit a set, and I got a huge triple up with ace-ten of clubs against ace-king and tens... So those were the two big hands for sure."

"You gotta get lucky to go deep in this thing."

Livingston got short-stacked on several occasions during the day, but always found a way to stay afloat, winning each time his tournament life was at risk. He doubled up several times on the day, more than once through Milos Skrbic.

His final critical hand was the final one of the night, when he eliminated the tenth-place finisher Robert Heidorn, his pocket eights flopping a set against Heidorn's king-queen suited and holding up to set up the official 2019 WSOP final table.

What to Watch For

Livingston still remembers watching the Main Event on ESPN as a kid and particularly admiring Phil Ivey who was "the guy" at that time. Now, he's the one in the spotlight.

With his 2013 run already well surpassed, Livingston is looking to use his experience to close it out this time and will have plenty of ammo to maneuver, coming in with 38 big blinds. Having been under the late Main Event pressure before, and with ample poker experience under his belt, Livingston will be a force to be reckoned with at the final table.

"I think that for a lot of these players, they're letting the amount of money and the pressure kind of affect their play and I've sure I've done that to some extent. But I think that having been in this situation before, I'm just playing a poker tournament."

Alex Livingston

2019 WSOP Main Event Final Table Seating

SeatPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1Hossein EnsanGermany177,000,000177
2Nick MarchingtonUnited Kingdom20,100,00020
3Dario SammartinoItaly33,400,00033
4Kevin MaahsUnited States43,000,00043
5Timothy SuUnited States20,200,00020
6Zhen CaiUnited States60,600,00061
7Garry GatesUnited States99,300,00099
8Milos SkrbicSerbia23,400,00023
9Alex LivingstonCanada37,800,00038

There is 1:31:35 remaining in Level 37 (500,000/1,000,000, with a 1,000,000-big blind ante).

2019 WSOP Main Event Final Table Payout

PositionPrize
1$10,000,000
2$6,000,000
3$4,000,000
4$3,000,000
5$2,200,000
6$1,850,000
7$1,525,000
8$1,250,000
9$1,000,000

2019 WSOP Main Event Final Table Player Stats

PlayerFirst CashWSOP CashesCareer EarningsBiggst CashGPI Ranking
Zhen Cai200821$213,995$46,90012,632
Hossein Ensan20133$2,673,206$860,0917,331
Garry Gates201015$243,129$64,53025,386
Alex Livingston200917$732,874$451,3983,866
Kevin Maahs20161$61,213$20,6257,005
Nick Marchington20191$12,415$12,41530,643
Dario Sammartino200838$8,044,479$1,608,29578
Milos Skrbic20116$1,670,572$1,087,603457
Timothy Su20181$2,467$1,08059,081

Stats courtesy of WSOP.com and HendonMob.com.

2019 World Series of Poker Main Event infographic depicting the chip counts of the final nine

The 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event returns to action Sunday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. local time. A Main Event Day 7 recap can be found here. You can follow the action via the PokerNews Live Reporting Blog where we'll detail all the hands in our exclusive WSOP Main Event Live Updates.

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