Seat 6: Minh Ly (2,307,000)
In 2011, Minh Ly was in a familiar situation as he found himself at the final table of that year's $50,000 Poker Players' Championship. Eventually finishing third for $665,763, it was the second largest score of Ly's career in poker.
The first cash on record for Ly dates back to 1993. In 1995, he recorded his first six-figure cash by placing second to Dan Harrington in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 1995 Four Queens Poker Classic in Las Vegas. For that finish, Ly scored $121,900. Several years then passed before Ly next cashed for over $50,000, but that result was an impressive as it came from a third-place finish in the $3,000 Limit Hold'em event at the 2001 World Series of Poker. Then in 2002, Ly took ninth in the WSOP Main Event for $85,000.
In 2005, Ly had his best year ever on the felt, earning over $1.7 million, which included four WSOP cashes — two for six figures — and one World Poker Tour title worth over $1 million. Ly's two big results from the Series came when he finished runner-up to Doyle Brunson for $203,715 in the $5,000 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event and 19th in the $10,000 Main Event for $304,680. A few months after the summer, in October, Ly went on to best a field of 420 players to win the WPT's 2nd Annual Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1.06 million. In that event, Ly was able to extract revenge on the man who defeated him in the 1995 Four Queens Poker Classic event, Harrington, by beating him in heads-up play.
When Ly came into the fifth and final day of play for this event in 2011, he was the chip leader by a long shot with over 27% of the chips in play with nine remaining, much similar to the type of chip lead Don Nguyen has here today. Ly went on to finish third in that event, and he'll definitely be aiming to better that result this time around. Although the one thing not on Ly's side is a massive chip lead — he enters the day with 2.307 million and is in fifth place out of the eight finalists — the seasoned pro and staple in the world's largest cash games should certainly not be overlooked.