Sailesh Verma is a professional poker player based out of Hong Kong who is generally regarded as a cash game specialist. The 34-year old has played in several Macau poker tournaments over the past 7 years but his first major final table is by far his best career result already.
Verma's lack of live tournament success prompted a friend to lay 14-to-1 odds on a HK $20,000 wager that he couldn't finish in the Top 3 within 24 months dating back to October 2013.
The APPT Macau title and more than HK $2.7m should be enough incentive for any poker player. But a long-term prop bet has added yet another layer of excitement for Verma who could win an additional HK $280,000 on Sunday.
The man known as "The Croc", Billy Argyros is one of Australia's all-time greats. This Australian Poker Hall of Famer has a tournament history dating back to 1989, but has been in a rich vein of form in more recent times. Just last September, Argyros claimed victory at the APPT in Melbourne, and since then has followed up with final tables at major championships in Macau and Noumea. Those results boosted Crocky's career earnings to over US$1.3 million.
Argyros has results all over the world but his biggest pay day came at the 2008 World Series of Poker where he finished 4th in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha championship for a collect of US$268,605.
Away from poker, Argyros says he enjoys golf, backgammon and eating, and he'd love nothing more than to become the first person in history to win two APPT titles.
Thomas Mcgarrity is a 23-year old from Glasgow in the United Kingdom who has six years experience in the game. Mcgarrity describes himself as a "wannabe poker pro". Mcgarrity started playing £2 sit and gos with his brother and friends before progressing up the limits to now play $5-10 online and HK$100-200 live.
With just one result on his record, which was a small cash in a local tournament back in Nottingham, this will be Mcgarrity's best poker result regardless of where he finishes on the APPT Macau final table. Away from the tables, Mcgarrity enjoys rugby, golf, reading and hitting the gym.
Carlos Chang is one of Taiwan's most successful tournament players with over seven years experience in the game. Chang has a number of results in Macau including a victory in the 2012 Asian Poker Tour Macau and a cash result in the 2009 APPT Macau Main Event. His career earnings of over $285,000 place him fifth on the all-time money earners for Taiwan.
Chang likes to stay fit with swimming and running and also enjoys acting, which is a skill that might come in very handy if he has to portray a few stories on this final table.
This is it ladies and gents, the final day of the 2014 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event!
Only nine players remain from a starting total of 494 with United Kingdom’s, Thomas Mcgarrity leading the way. Following Mcgarrity is Jiajun Liu, while some prominent names who will be hitting the felt are Billy “The Croc” Argyros and Cyril Andre.
Argyros will arguably bring the most experience to the table, with the Australian Poker Hall of Famer’s tournament history spanning back 25 years. Even though he is the short stack, Argyros will not back down as he hopes to become the first player in history to win two APPT titles.
Liu sits just behind Mcgarrity on the counts, and will be hoping to emulate fellow countrymen Alexandre Chieng who took out this event last year. Add the six others who are representing China, Chinese Taipei, France and Hong Kong, and we’re in for an exciting final table.
Be sure to join PokerNews in just under an hour at 2:00pm local time as we bring you all the action from the final day of play here at the City of Dreams, Macau!
