Meet the Final Nine
Ido Ashkenazi is a 27-year-old locksmith originally from Israel who presently lives in New York. He's racked up more than a half-dozen cashes before — all in Atlantic City — although this represents his biggest score to date.
John Holley is a tournament poker player and a tournament fisherman. The 51-year-old resides in Destin, Florida and has two previous WSOP Circuit rings to his credit, plus three other runner-up finishes in WSOP-C events.
Hend Matthews describes herself as primarily a cash game player. The 35-year-old does have one cash from the Borgata last summer.
Joseph McKeehen of the North Wales borough of Philadelphia is a 21-year-old student who already has collected a number of cashes in his short career, with the highlight thus far being a first place in a $2K turbo event at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for which he won $116,230.
Raymond Morgan is a 33-year-old concierge from New York City with a number of previous cashes, including one in last summer's WSOP Main Event.
Allie Prescott of Memphis, Tennessee has nearly $900,000 in career tourney winnings. The 31-year-old has earned more than 30 cashes in WSOP and WSOP-C events.
Tony Sinishtaj is a 32-year-old player originally from Montenegro who currently resides in Bronx, New York. This finish marks his most significant cash in his poker career thus far.
Dennis Thurman of Fisk, Missouri is the oldest player at the final table at 64. He's a full-time truck driver who plays in poker tournaments all year round, and has numerous cashes to his credit over the last several years, the biggest being for $40,182 for winning a $300 NLHE event at the Borgata in 2008.
Leo Walker is a 46-year-old commercial real estate agent who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His biggest previous score came for finishing 10th for $20,680 in the 2007 U.S. Poker Championships here in Atlantic City.