Entering Day 2 of this event, Jesse Sylvia was second to last in chips with 38,400. He quickly ran that up to 300,000 before finishing the day with 580,000 — good enough for third place overall.
This final table marks the second World Series of Poker final table of Sylvia's career, and the first one was the biggest of them all as he reached the WSOP Main Event final table in 2012. It was there that the Massachusetts native entered with the chip lead before finishing second to Greg Merson for $5,295,149.
Prior to that life-changing result, Sylvia had just two WSOP cashes and a total of $58,478 in lifetime tournament earnings. Since then, he's earned at least another $165,000 and cashed in nine WSOP events. Being guaranteed no less than AU$85,027 in this one and sitting with a decent chip position, Sylvia has a good shot at winning a lot more.
Bringing up the rear at this final table will be Australian Sam Khouiss with 106,000 in chips. You may remember this 52-year-old poker player from a couple earlier results here at the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific where he reached the final table in both.
In the first, the AU$1,650 8-Game Dealer's Choice, Khouiss finished second to Rory Young for AU$26,402. He then made the final table in the AU$5,000 8-Game Mixed and took sixth for AU$13,310. Last year, Khouiss took seventh in the WSOP's AU$2,200 Mixed for AU$7,200.
All told, Khouiss now boasts $125,478 in live tournament earnings, and this result is already the largest of his career by a good margin.
The always-colorful man is married with seven kids and was born in Lebanon. He now resides in Sydney, Australia, and is a poker player by trade looking for his first gold bracelet. Khouiss will enter Day 3 with under five big blinds, so he'll certainly have his work cut out for him.
Arriving to Day 3 with 358,000 in chips is another Canadian poker player by the name of Jonathan Duhamel. You may remember Duhamel from a certain World Series of Poker final table that he reached in 2010 — you know, the Main Event that he won for a massive $8,944,310. That was clearly Duhamel's big breakout onto the poker scene, but over the years he's proven to be no one-hit wonder.
Duhamel has earned $12,485,554 in his live tournament career, including 17 WSOP cashes since his big Main Event victory and a total of nine other six-figure scores.
Shortly after winning the 2010 WSOP Main Event, Duhamel took down the European Poker Tour Deauville €10,300 High Roller for €200,000. He also finished fourth in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship for $125,000 that same year. Then in 2010, Duhamel had a ridiculous January. He took fourth in the $100,000 Super High Roller for $313,600, fifth in the $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Max Turbo for $17,990, won the $5,250 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Max for $239,830, and then placed second in the $25,500 High Roller for $634,550 all at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
As for WSOP events, Duhamel cashed twice in the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship — he finished eighth in 2013 for $207,630, and 13th in 2014 for $99,388. Here in Melbourne, Australia, last year, Duhamel took fourth in the AU$1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Accumulator for AU$71,870.
New Zealand's [Removed:17] may not be a regular face at big, televised final tables, but those of you in the poker community should recognize his voice as a regular commentating guest on EPT Live. Yan will be looking to apply all of that built up poker knowledge here as he enters Day 3 second in chips with 1,278,000.
Yan boasts $749,454 in live tournament earnings, and he also has $670,737 in online tournament winnings from PokerStars where he plays under the screen name "MissOracle." This run marks the second World Series of Poker cash for Yan and his first final table. His previous two WSOP results were a ninth-place finish in the 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific AU$5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em for AU$19,940 and a 40th-place finish in the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event for €20,250.
His largest live cash is a sixth-place finish from right here at Crown Melbourne in 2013 when he placed sixth in the Aussie Millions Main Event for AU$220,000.
Yan is just 21 years old and the youngest player remaining by far. He's a professional poker player and will deem winning this event as his greatest poker accomplishment if he's able to earn the title.
Today the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Event #10: AU$25,000 High Roller, a tournament that attracted 68 players and created a prize pool of AU$1,632,000, will award one lucky player a gold bracelet and a AU$600,000 first-place prize. Just six players remain in contention of the penultimate bracelet of the series with Mike Leah and his stack of 2,576,000 leading the way.
With more than half the chips in play, Leah is the clear favorite to capture the title, but it won't be easy as the other five players at the table, all of whom are guaranteed a minimum payday of AU$85,027, are accomplished pros in their own right. David “MissOracle” Yan, who begins second in chips with less than half that of Leah, finished sixth at the 2013 Aussie Millions right here at the Crown Casino, so one could say he has home-field advantage — or at least experience — on his side.
Others returning today are 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia; 2 Months, 2 Million star Brian Roberts; 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel; and local favorite Sam Khouiss. Both Duhamel and Khouiss are making their third final table of the WSOP Asia-Pacific.
Here's how the final table stacks up:
The High Roller Final Table
Seat
Player
Chips
1
Mike Leah
2,576,000
2
Brian Roberts
207,000
3
Jesse Sylvia
580,000
4
Sam Khouiss
106,000
5
Jonathan Duhamel
358,000
6
[Removed:17]
1,278,000
The final six players will return at 3:30 p.m. local time and play until a winner is crowned. Every hand of the final table will air on a 30-minute delay on ESPN2 beginning at 4 p.m. local time — 10 p.m. Vegas time Thursday night / 1 a.m. ET on Friday morning — so if you're near a TV tune in. If not, or if you're looking for complimentary coverage, then keep it tuned in right here as we bring you hand-for-hand coverage until a winner is determined.
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