Event #1 - Player Bios by Change100

Change100 is one of the experienced PokerNews reporters who has been covering Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em) from the start, and she wrote some fantastic bios for the final nine players. To save you the effort of digging through the live updates, Change100 gave me permission to reprint them below.

Also, Gene Bromberg (who writes for PokerNews under the screenname "MeanGene") reports that last night, Mike Sexton pointed out that there were four players at the final table who have won at least $1 million in a single tournament. Here they are, with their million-dollar paydays (listed in descending order based on their prize and how long ago they won):

Nenad Medic
2006 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals
1st place - $1,717,194

Andy Bloch
2006 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event
2nd place - $1,029,600

Kathy Liebert
2002 PartyPoker Million
1st place - $1,000,000

Mike Sexton
2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions
1st place - $1,000,000

Amazingly, those four finished in exactly that order: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively. Now for the final table bios.

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Final Table Bios for Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em)
by Change100

Seat 1 - Mike Sowers
Started: 675,000 in chips
Finished: 8th place ($99,264)

Known as "SowersUNCC" online, 21 year old Mike Sowers hails from Charlotte, NC. A prolific online player, Sowers won a combined total of $319,000 from four separate tournament wins last July-September with victories in the limit hold'em WCOOP $1,050 buy-in event on Poker Stars, the $1,060 $250K guarantee on Poker Stars, the $109 rebuy on Poker Stars, and the $1K Monday on Full Tilt. His largest live cash came when he beat Tom "durrrr" Dwan heads-up to win the $5,000 NLHE event at the Borgata Winter Open this past January for a $399,000 score. Most recently, he cashed in 17th place at the EPT San Remo. This is Sowers' first WSOP final table.

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Seat 2 - Chris Bell
Started: 455,000 in chips
Finished: 6th place ($157,168)

A professional poker player from Raleigh, NC, Chris Bell came into the public eye in 2005 with his final table appearance at the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown where he finished 3rd. He's no stranger to a star-studded final table, having finished 5th in last year's $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event which boasted a lineup that included Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Annie Duke, David Benyamine and 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider. This is Bell's 6th WSOP cash and his second final table.

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Seat 3 - Amit Makhija
Started: 525,000 in chips
Finished: 5th place ($198,528)

Known online as "amak316", 23 year-old Amit Makhija comes to the WSOP from Brookfield, Wisconsin. Primarily an online player specializing in high-stakes heads-up sit-n-goes, Makhija has also enjoyed tournament success, winning the Poker Stars $109 rebuy multiple times. Most recently, he cashed in 20th place at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. This is Makhija's first WSOP final table.


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Seat 4 - Patrik Antonius
Started: 230,000 in chips
Finished: 7th place ($124,080)

Don't hate him because he's beautiful. Blessed with model looks, former tennis champion Patrik Antonius comes into today's final table as the short stack, but I don't think anyone would dare count him out. Antonius dominates nosebleed stakes cash games both live and online and has cashed 10 times at the WSOP. Antonius made the final table of last year's $10,000 World Championship pot-limit Omaha event where he finished 3rd. Residing in Monte Carlo, Monaco with his girlfriend Maya and his baby daughter Mila, Antonius is also makes frequent appearances on NBC's Poker After Dark. Antonius just announced a deal with Full Tilt Poker earlier today, becoming the 14th member of Team Full Tilt.

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Seat 5 - Andy Bloch
Started: 2,115,000 in chips
Finished: 2nd place ($488,048)

Andy Bloch is smarter than you will ever be. He attended MIT, where he was a member of their infamous blackjack team and graduated from Harvard Law School to boot. Bloch's biggest splash at the World Series was his runner-up finish to Chip Reese in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament in 2006 after the longest heads-up battle in the history of the WSOP. He also finished 2nd in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and finished 3rd in the recent Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Heads-Up World Championship. With over $3.2 million in career earnings, this is Andy's 6th final table at the WSOP and he's going for his first bracelet today. Bloch goes into the final table as the runaway chip leader and... it's his birthday!


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Seat 6 - Mike Sexton
Started: 1,130,000 in chips
Finished: 4th place ($248,160)

Mike Sexton has been one of the most instrumental figures in the poker boom, from consulting for Party Poker in the early days of the online game, to helping develop the idea World Poker Tour on a boat in the middle of the Amazon with Steve Lipscomb and Linda Johnson. Sexton won the 2006 WSOP Tourament of Champions for $1 million and gave half of it to charity without batting an eye. With 43 WSOP cashes, 19 final tables and one bracelet in seven card stud, Sexton is the grizzled veteran of this formidable group of poker players. In a previous life, he was also a champion ballroom dancer.


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Seat 7 - Phil Laak
Started: 424,000 in chips
Finished: 9th place ($74,448)

Phil "The Unabomber" Laak first burst onto the televised poker scene with his hooded sweatshirt and wacky table antics on his way to winning the 2004 WPT Invitational. He also finished 2nd to Johnny Chan in the $2,500 PLHE event in 2005, where Chan captured his tenth bracelet. With 6 WSOP cashes, this is Laak's second WSOP final table. Though he's a familiar face on the tournament circuit, Laak specializes in high-stakes NLHE cash games and even had his own TV show, MOJO network's "I Bet You" co-starring his best friend, Antonio Esfandiari. He's hoping to take home his first bracelet today to match the one his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Tilly sports from her win in the 2005 WSOP Ladies' Event.


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Seat 8 - Nenad Medic
Started: 1,200,000 in chips
Finished: 1st place ($794,112)

Often the most imposing figure at the table in terms of his sheer size, 6'5 Nenad Medic was a college basketball star in his native Canada. As the legend goes, he parlayed a $75 online deposit into more than $100,000 in winnings. Medic made his first televised final table when he finished 6th at the 2005 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. In November 2006, he won the WPT Foxwoods for $1.7 million, besting a final table that included one of his opponents today-- Kathy Liebert, who finished 5th. Foxwoods has been good to Medic-- he returned to the same event one year later and finished 3rd for a $483,000 payday. This is his 4th WSOP cash and his first final table.


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Seat 9 - Kathy Liebert
Started: 285,000 in chips
Finished: 3rd place ($306,064)

Kathy Liebert has made a living playing tournament poker for well over a decade and is #1 on the all-time womens money list with over $4.4 million in earnings. She won her first WSOP bracelet in 2004 in the $1,500 limit hold'em shootout after coming in second in two previous tries. With 23 WSOP cashes,this is Liebert's 7th final table at the World Series. She is also one of the most successful women on the World Poker Tour with 3 televised final tables.