Seat 2: Jeffrey Hakim, 26, Beirut, Lebanon - 895,000
Since playing his first EPT in 2008, serial qualifier Jeff “jeff710” Hakim has attended around 30 EPTs. “I almost always win my seat online," says Hakim. "But now I come regardless, even if I don’t qualify. I’m not going to miss any EPTs.”
Hakim’s first EPT Main Event cash was at EPT Snowfest in Austria in Season 6, and his best result so far — out of six EPT cashes — was 16th at EPT Berlin in Season 7.
“I’ve definitely won more money online (he won the PokerStars 500 in 2008 for $91,500) but winning a live event means everything,” he says. “I don’t think I will ever move on from poker, I won’t feel complete as a player, until I’ve won a major title.”
He is the short stack going in to the final. But he also started Day 5 as virtually the shortest stack, then managed to turn 24 big blinds into more than 1.7 million in the space of 90 minutes.
*Bio courtesy of PokerStars