Jens Kyllönen is a 22-year-old professional poker player from Finland. Kyllönen's poker tournament results and statistics include one first-place finish, two final table appearances, and six in-the-money finishes for $1,393,300 in total poker tournament event earnings over the years. A well-established online player who is known as a pot-limit Omaha specialist, Kyllönen's resume includes a first-place finish on the European Poker Tour, where he earned over $1,100,000 at the age of 19.
Biggest Cash: Won 2009 EPT Scandinavian Open — $1,120,815
At the young age of 25, Philipp Gruissem has had some terrific success in European poker tournaments and hopes that continues in this event. The native of Brighton in Germany hopes to follow fellow countryman Pius Heinz in bringing another giant victory and title from the World Series of Poker back to his home country.
With three six-figure scores in the last year, including two first place finishes and two third-place finishes in European tournaments, Gruissem now has more than $2 million in lifetime earnings in less than three years on the tournament circuit.
Biggest Win: Won High Roller event at EPT London — $703,657
Currently a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, Ben Lamb is 27-year-old professional poker player. Lamb attended Jenks High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before graduating in 2004. He went on to college at the Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Before turning to poker professionally, Lamb worked as a dealer at Tulsa’s Cherokee Casino. His best year in poker came in 2011, when he was named the CardPlayer Player of the Year and also the WSOP Player of the Year. Lamb was also a part of the WSOP November Nine and finished in third place. He captured his first WSOP gold bracelet in 2011 and has more than $6,000,000 in WSOP winnings already.
Biggest Cash: 3rd-place finish in 2011 WSOP Main Event — $4,021,138
Guy Laliberté is the 52-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Canada’s famous Cirque du Soleil circus troupe. Originally a street performer, Laliberté currently owns 95 percent of the company. According to Forbes Magazine, his net worth is $1.5 billion (U.S.), making him the 654th richest man in the world. His most notable tournament success came in the form of a fourth-place finish in a 2007 World Poker Tour event. He became Canada’s first private explorer in space and the first to engage in a Poetic Social Mission in space. He is also the founder of the One Drop Foundation, a philanthropic foundation to fight poverty in the world by giving everyone access to water and of course the beneficiary in this great event.
Biggest Cash: 4th-place finish in 2007 WPT Five Star World Poker Classic — $696,220
PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who won a gold bracelet at last year’s World Series of Poker, is one of the biggest poker personalities in all of Europe and also one of the most feared no-limit hold’em players in the game today.
The 31-year-old hails from Paris, France, and is better known as “ElkY.” He has lifetime poker earnings of more than $10 million, good for 16th on the all-time list. He has also captured the poker triple crown, winning a WSOP, EPT and WPT event already.
Biggest Win: Won 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure — $2,000,000
Tom Marchese is from Parsippany, New Jersey. While he is just 24 years old, the professional poker player was given the impressive title of CardPlayer Player of the Year in 2010. Marchese is primarily an online pro playing under the name "Kingsofcards" but also has earned more than $3,800,000 in live tournaments.
Biggest Cash: Won 2012 WPT World Championship Super High Roller — $1,308,405
Online poker phenom Phil Galfond has cashed six times at the World Series of Poker and amassed nearly $1 million in WSOP winnings. In 2008, Galfond won a $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament to capture a gold bracelet. The Potomac, Maryland, resident has two additional Top 20 WSOP finishes.
Biggest Win: Won 2008 WSOP $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha — $817,781
Jason Mercier is a 25-year-old professional poker player residing in Davie, Florida. Mercier has accumulated numerous tournament wins, which include two victories at the WSOP. Mercier is one of the few players coming into this event that has more than one World Series of Poker bracelet to his name. Both of Mercier’s bracelets are in pot-limit Omaha events. Mercier has earned nearly $1 million in WSOP events and has amassed more than $7,700,000 in worldwide earnings.
Antonio Esfandiari is a 33-year-old professional poker player. Known to the poker community as “The Magician,” the Las Vegas resident is a former magician turned poker player. With nearly $5 million in lifetime earnings, including one WSOP gold bracelet and two other titles, Esfandiari is one of the game’s most recognized and entertaining personalities. In fact, if he fails to make this final table, you will hear him commenting the event as part of ESPN’s live television coverage.
Biggest Win: Won 2004 WPT L.A. Poker Classic — $1,399,135
