Seat 1: Sylvain Loosli, France, 19.6 Million
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Sylvain Loosli, 26, enters the final table of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event sixth in chips with 19.6 million (49 big blinds). A French online cash-game player, Loosli rarely plays in live tournaments, and prior to the Main Event he only had one cash for $3,198, which came in a side event at Season 8 European Poker Tour Deauville. On the virtual felt, he has more than $1 million in lifetime earnings and is a regular at the $25/$50 limits.
Loosli, who can be found on Twitter at @SylvainLoosli has a Masters in Business and resides in London due to online gambling restrictions in France. His roommate is fellow countryman Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who leads the French all-time money list on Hendon Mob with over $10.6 million in earnings.
In an interview with ESPN’s Bernard Lee, Loosli admits that the success of French players in the Main Event piqued his interest in the tournament.
“Obviously, when you see Antoine [Saout] getting such a tremendous result, you think you can do it myself,” Loosli told ESPN. “It was magic to see him achieve such a great result... Last year, I was sweating Gaelle Baumann. Unfortunately she finished 10th, but it feels really great to be at the final table. For me, for my friends, for France, for French poker. It’s great.”
Saout finished third in the 2009 Main Event, earning $3,479,670. During the four-month break Loosli joined forces with Baumann, signing with Team Winamax. In September, he traveled to the Winamax Poker Open in Dublin, Ireland, where he finished runner-up in the six-handed, €550 buy-in main event for €60,000.
Loosli also traveled to Enghien-les-Bains for the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe, but failed to cash in any of the seven open bracelet events.
Prior to the Main Event, Loosli played in a few $1,500 and $5,000 buy-in bracelet events, but never got anything going. On Day 1 of the Main Event, it appeared to be more of the same for the Frenchman, who fell to 15,000 chips, but he was able to rally back and bag 46,000. From there, his stack continued to grow, and at the end of Day 6, he cracked Danard Petit’s pocket aces in a massive, 14-million chip pot.
With the blinds at 50,000/100,000/10,000, Marc McLaughlin raised to 200,000 in early position, Petit three-bet to 425,000 out of the small blind, and Loosli cold four-bet to 975,000 from the big blind. Petit was the only caller, and he checked on a flop of 
. Loosli continued for 950,000, Petit check-raised to two million, and Loosli called. The turn brought the 
, Petit checked again, and Loosli moved all in for 4.045 million. Petit called with the 
, which was well ahead of Loosli’s 
. The 
spiked on the river, however, and Loosli shipped the pot with a miracle straight.
During Day 7, Loosli climbed into the chip lead for a short while, but American pro JC Tran shot past him and the rest of the November Niners. Loosli says that Tran and Ryan Riess were his toughest competition during Day 7, and luckily for him he has position on Tran at the table. Riess, however, is three spots to the Frenchman’s right.
The 2013 WSOP Main Event final table will take place starting Monday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. Las Vegas time, and you can follow all of the live, hand-for-hand coverage right here on PokerNews.com.
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