Seat 6: John Eames (33) - Southport, United Kingdom - 54,950,000 (46bb)
England's John Eames will be one of the toughest players to beat at the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table, and he has plenty of chips to push his opponents around.
The British poker pro has been on a steady rise since Day 1 of poker's most prestigious annual tournament. He more than doubled his starting stack each day leading up to Friday's final table where he enter in fifth place with 54,950,000 chips (46 big blinds).
Eames has quite the impressive resume, both online and live. During the poker boom era he was known as an online whizz and has crushed it in that arena for many years. But he's also quite the accomplished live tournament player, having cashed for $2.2 million heading into the 2022 WSOP Main Event, according to Hendon Mob.
With $675,000 the current guaranteed minimum payout for the 10 remaining players in the Main Event, Eames has already locked up his largest career live poker score. His previous biggest cash came in 2014 when he won a WSOP Circuit ring in Las Vegas for $289,706.
Eames hadn't cashed in a live tournament since 2019 prior to the Main Event, but he's ready to compete for the $10 million prize on poker's grandest stage.
"I'm remaining calm, not getting carried away, and not letting even other people make me more excitable and just trying to like, just remember, there's still a very long way to go and like, whatever happens, it's going to be a fantastic experience," Eames told PokerNews.
Should the British poker pro win the Main Event, he said, retirement could be the route he chooses to go down with his future.
"There's no sort of there'll be fewer money incentives if I have this incredibly, remarkably large win that very few you get to ever have. So I guess poker would just take on a slightly different role in my life," Eames said.
If he were to retire upon becoming world champion, he wouldn't be the first. Pius Heinz (2011) and Peter Eastgate (2008) both left poker shortly after winning the Main Event, with the exception of playing in the rare tournament.
Eames' 2022 WSOP Main Event Journey
| DAY | FINSIHING STACK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1b | 120,500 | 123 of 634 |
| Day 2abc | 246,500 | 294 of 1,259 |
| Day 3 | 712,000 | 201 of 1,299 |
| Day 4 | 1,960,000 | 76 of 380 |
| Day 5 | 4,000,000 | 54 of 123 |
| Day 6 | 22,450,000 | 10 of 35 |
| Day 7 | 54,950,000 | 5 of 10 |