Seat 6: Walid Bou Habib, 42, Beirut, Lebanon - 3,835,000
When Walid Bou Habib first appeared on the scene back in 2008 he came close to making the final table. That 19th-place finish in the EPT Grand Final for €46,300 may have made him think it would be easy but it’s taken a further five years and Main Event cashes, including a very creditable 16th place at the PCA for $100,000, for that final table to appear. Understandably he’s thrilled.
“It’s a great pleasure, really, just to prove to myself that I can do it. It was always like a big wall that I could not cross. Now, I’m crossing it,” says Bou Habib, an engineer in food science and technology by day. The Lebanese "hobby" player is a serial online qualifier through PokerStars and has gone on to rack up $386,492 in live tournament cashes.
Seventh place will guarantee him a career largest score but given the number of short stacks left in, he’s in rude health to go significantly deeper than that as he currently sits in second place with 3,835,000. Bou Habib is married with two children (12 and 10).
*Bio courtesy of PokerStars