Kevin MacPhee started playing poker with college friends in 2003 after seeing Chris Moneymaker win the World Series Main Event. The former Magic: the Gathering player has been a pro for about five years, but first came to notice in April 2008 when he broke the PokerStars Tournament Leader Board record.
He then started competing in live events, qualifying for PokerStars tourneys all over the globe including APPT Macau, LAPT San Jose in Costa Rica and at least 14 EPTs.
In Season 6 he achieved his goal, winning EPT Berlin for €1 million -- one of the biggest EPT payouts ever. He crowned Season 6 by cashing in the Grand Final and winning the EPT Players’ Choice Award.
In July 2010, he cashed in four WSOP events; he also came ninth in the PokerStars.net NAPT Los Angeles $5,000 No-Limit Bounty Shootout tourney in November 2010 and ninth at EPT Prague the following month.
MacPhee will enter the final table as the shortest stack in eighth place.
There are few in the poker world that haven’t played with Barny Boatman, and even fewer that haven’t shared a drink with him at the bar after play. Boatman has been an ever-present face of the game in the UK since Late Night Poker hit television screens back in 1999.
The Londoner, who has $1,757,882 in tournament winnings, has a string of live results longer than most players online cashes, but that one big score has always eluded him. This time round, however, he feels things may be different.
“I know I’m playing right so I’m pretty confident about the final table,” said Boatman. “I’ve got myself deep in many occasions, but have always seemed to lose that big flip. There’s not much you can do about that.”
While Boatman admits that he ran very well on Day 2, he hit a grim period in the middle phase of the tournament losing every all in he had against short stacks, but, partly due to a strategy of avoiding big stacks, he always managed to grind back into contention.
“I’m only concerned about myself. I don’t want to lose concentration because a big strength of my game is reading people. I’ve got a lot of live experience,” Boatman added.
While that could rate as understatement of the tournament, the pressure of the final table and the glare of the spotlight is unlikely to trouble Boatman, who will rate his chances of spinning up his fifth-place stack. Not only is this Boatman’s first EPT final table, but in so reaching it he’s guaranteed himself his largest single tournament score – outweighing a 2002 WSOP runner-up spot.
Daniel Neilson has been playing poker for around five years, starting in home games, but swiftly graduating to playing online where he now mainly plays cash games. He has also had numerous successes in live events with nearly 40 cashes in the last three years, totaling more than $700,000.
His wins include the ANZPT Sydney High Rollers Challenge two years ago and the ANZPT Perth High Stakes event in March. He has also won two other major Aussie Main Events and, in 2010, was voted Australian Poker Player of the Year.
“I turned up in San Remo with the same expectations as any poker tournament: I think I have a good chance, but I don’t expect too much. I have a big reputation for shrugging my shoulders if I go out and not really caring. That said, I don’t think I’m going out in eighth place, so yes, this would be my biggest live cash.”
Neilson came to Europe – his first visit here – with a bunch of poker friends to compete in a several events. He came 45th at EPT London for £13,000, but was one of the first out of the WSOP Europe Main Event in Cannes when he ran aces into a flush draw in the first ten minutes. After San Remo, he is planning to head to Amsterdam for the Master Classics and then on to EPT Loutraki.
Like many poker players, Rocco Palumbo was an avid player of Magic: The Gathering, but stopped playing when he was 16 and started working as an accountant.
He started playing online poker at the age of 18 and, as soon as his bankroll was big enough, left his job and started playing professionally. He used to be a heads-up specialist and even won the Italian Poker Award for Best Online Heads-Up Player in both 2009 and 2010, but now mostly plays online tournaments and cash games. He’s also an online poker coach on several websites.
His best live result was 34th at last season's EPT San Remo for €20,000. His most notable online result was winning a €100 SCOOP Six-Max Event.
Known to the community as "RoccoGe", Palumbo gained Supernova Elite status in 2009. His wife Giulia, who also plays online from time to time, will be here to support him for tomorrow’s final table.
Palumbo comes into the final table seventh in chips.
Yorane Kerignard started playing poker after watching a documentary on television in 2007 featuring French singer and film star Patrick Bruel playing against online qualifiers. The 26-year-old industrial design graduate plays on PokerStars under the username "viirusss".
Favouring multi-table-tournament events, Kerignard proved his skills in the live arena when he made the final of the EPT Copenhagen Main Event. His fourth place in that event is the best result of his career to date; if he finishes better than sixth here in San Remo, he’ll beat his Copenhagen achievement prize wise.
Kerignard spends most of the year in Marrakech, Morocco, which allows him to play on PokerStars.com. He won his seat to San Remo online on PokerStars.
Kerignard will enter the final table sixth in chips.
Dimitar Danchev has been playing poker for four years; two of those as a professional. He normally doesn’t play many tournaments and prefers to concentrate on cash games. His choice of game is No-Limit Hold'em cash games online at the $5/10 to $10/20 levels. He admits that he has been very lucky during this tournament, but that is the nature of tournaments. He also feels like he has been playing very well and hopes that continues in the final.
He travelled here with two of his friends and they all played the Main Event. They weren’t as lucky as him, but will show their full support as he tries to bring an EPT title home to Bulgaria for the first time.
Away from the tables, Danchev likes to go out with friends, play computer games and watch soccer. He'll enter the final table second in chips.
Jan Bendik has been playing poker as a hobby for seven years. He owns an electricity company in his homeland, but has been playing poker more and more over the years. He has very little time for any other hobbies as poker dominates any free time he has.
Poker has been a very fruitful for him as he has amassed nearly $850,000 in tournament winnings including making the final table of last season’s EPT Prague Main Event, where he finished sixth for €100,000. Before Prague, he had cashed in four side events including winning a €1,000 event at EPT Barcelona for €68,860. Since Prague, he has finished 49th in the EPT Grand Final in Madrid for €25,000 and made four other final tables.
