2009 World Series of Poker

Event 8 - $2,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw
Day: 3
123
Event Info

2009 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Prize
$96,361
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Entries
147
Level Info
Level
22
Blinds
8,000 / 16,000
Ante
4,000
Sort
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Final Table Bios - Seat 6: Elia Ahmadian (136,900)

donpeters
donpeters
Elia Ahmadian - 136,900
Elia Ahmadian - 136,900
Hailing from Fairfax, Virginia, Elia Ahmadian is a 31-year-old stock trader by profession. Ahmadian comes into today with 136,900 chips and is making his fourth cash in a WSOP event. Back in 2005, Elia made his only other final table appearance at the WSOP where he was featured on the televised final table. He began playing poker in 2004 and won the Party Poker Sunday Million online.

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Final Table Bios - Seat 5: Yan Chen (159,000)

donpeters
donpeters
Yan Chen - 159,000
Yan Chen - 159,000
Yan Chen was born in China. He now resides in Irvine, California and is a professional poker player. He began playing poker in 1997 and is 44 years old. Yan has cashed twice in the World Series. ONce back in 2006 and once this year in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.

According to Barry Greenstein, Chen is a deuce-to-seven lowball specialist. This will be his largest WSOP cash to date and he comes into today with 159,000 chips.

Tags: Yan Chen

Final Table Bios - Seat 4: Rodeen Talebi (94,500)

donpeters
donpeters
Rodeen Talebi - 94,500
Rodeen Talebi - 94,500
Rodeen Talebi was born in Dallas, Texas and resides in Los Angeles, California. This professional poker player has won over $800,000 from tournaments over the years. Talebi has seven WSOP cashes and this will be his first of the year. Back in 2005, he made two WSOP final tables, making this his third to date.

Talebi's biggest win came back in 2004 when he took down a preliminary event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic for over $160,000. He comes into today as the short stack with 94,500 chips.

Tags: Rodeen Talebi

Final Table Bios - Seat 3: John Monnette (259,000)

donpeters
donpeters
John Monnette - 259,000
John Monnette - 259,000
John Monnette is the chip leader for the final table today. Monnette hails from Palmdale, California and is a professional poker player. He began playing poker eight years ago. Since then, he's accumulated over $325,000 in tournament earnings. His largest wins came with an eighth-place finish at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars back in March of this year and a twelfth-place finish at the Doyle Brunson Classic back in 2007. For those finishes, Monnette earned $90,000 and $96,355 respectively.

Monnette has nine WSOP cashes to date, including one already this year. With 259,000 chips, John is the chip leader for the final table and will be loking to ride his way to his first gold bracelet.

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Final Table Bios - Seat 2: Eric Kesselman (119,400)

donpeters
donpeters
Eric Kesselman - 119,400
Eric Kesselman - 119,400
Eric Kesselman is the only other player at the table besides Phil Ivey to capture a WSOP gold bracelet. Kesselman did so back in 2006 when he won the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event to the tune of over $300,000.

Kesselman hails from New York and is one of the more unknown faces that regularly travels the tournament circuit. He's amassed over $450,000 in career tournament winnings. This tournament marks his fifth WSOP cash and second final table.

Tags: Eric Kesselman

Final Table Bios - Seat 1: Raphael Zimmerman (238,000)

donpeters
donpeters
Raphael Zimmerman - 238,000
Raphael Zimmerman - 238,000
Raphael Zimmerman is from MIssoula, Montana, but was born in New York. His occupation is a poker professional and previously was a student.

The 27 year old highlights his poker accomplishments with a second-place finish in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the L.A. Poker Classic earlier this year. He also won a WCOOP event in 2006 playing razz.

Zimmerman began playing poker online at the age of 18. He enjoys writing poetry and also has six unpublished books written. He'' come into the final table second in chips with 238,000.

Tags: Raphael Zimmerman

Event #8 Final Day

donpeters
donpeters
Chip leader, John Monnette
Chip leader, John Monnette
Event #8, $2,500 No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball, is set to began its final table at 2:00 PM local time today. After Day 1, 35 of the 147 entrants remained and then yesterday saw 28 more get knocked off on our way to the final table.

Phil Ivey tops the list of most well known competitors in the final seven, but he doesn't top the leaderboard. That honor goes to John Monnette, who will come into the final table with 259,000 chips. Raphael Zimmerman is the only other player to eclipse the 200,000 mark and is hot on Monnette's heels with 238,000. Here's the official seating chart and chip counts for today.

Seat 1: Raphael Zimmerman - 238,000
Seat 2: Eric Kesselman - 119,400
Seat 3: John Monnette - 259,000
Seat 4: Rodeen Talebi - 94,500
Seat 5: Yan Chen - 159,000
Seat 6: Elia Ahmadian - 136,900
Seat 7: Phil Ivey - 106,300

Only Phil Ivey and Eric Kesselman have ever tasted WSOP gold before, but they won't be giving up easily. Both of them would love to return to the winners' circle. Everyone else at the table is clawing and scratching just as hard to get their first gold bracelet wrapped around their wrist and pocket the nearly $100,000 first-place prize money.

Stay tuned as we'll return back here at 2:00 PM local time for all the live action from the final table!