Seat 5: Shawn Buchanan (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada) - 1,015,000
Shawn Buchanan may have the least amount of chips coming into this final table at 1,015,000, but he's the player who has the most live tournament earnings at nearly $4.2 million. That number is good enough to put him seventh on Canada's all-time money list and he has an opportunity to add a whole lot more to that today.
When it comes to World Series of Poker events, the 29-year-old Buchanan crushes. His first WSOP cash came back in 2004 and then starting in 2007, the cashes just started piling on. In 2007, Buchanan cashed three times at the WSOP, in 2008 he added four more, in 2009 he cashed twice and then in 2010 he finished in the money eight different times. Out of all of those finishes, the largest score came in 2010 when he placed second in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed for $812,941.
If you think that's impressive, Buchanan has added even more in 2011. In Las Vegas during the summer, he cashed five times at the WSOP including one second-place finish in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. He then cashed three times at this WSOP Europe including coming runner-up to Michael Mizrachi in the €10,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em event for €207,624.
Outside of the WSOP, Buchanan has three top-five finishes in WPT events. He placed second in the 2007 Mandalay Bay Poker Championship for $768,775, fourth at the 2009 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $333,302 and third at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2010 for $587,906.
Also of note is that Buchanan is still in the running for WSOP Player of the Year due to all his success this year on the WSOP felt. He needs to finish in second place or better to take over the POTY lead.