Meet the #WPTRollingThunder Final Table

Seat 1: Preston Harwell – 4,425,000

Preston Harwell is a 27-year-old oil and gas man from Houston, Texas. He graduated from Texas State University with a degree in accounting. He has been playing poker for eight years and this is his second World Poker Tour event. Harwell comes into the final table second in chips. His other hobbies include tennis and golf, and if he wins the tournament he plans to travel with the money. According to the Hendon Mob poker database Harwell has won $129,543 playing tournament poker and he could add to that total significantly at today’s final table.

Seat 2: Mimi Luu – 735,000

Mimi Luu has secured her first WPT cash with an appearance at the WPT Rolling Thunder final table and she is guaranteed at least $60,180. Luu holds $320,479 in career live earnings according to Hendon Mob poker database. Luu has been one of the most talkative players in the tournament and that should continue at the final table. She enters play today in fourth chip-position. Luu is from San Jose, California and she also recently participated in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event. Her largest tournament win came at the Bay 101 Casino, where she won $105,500 as the champion of a Bay 101 Shooting Star preliminary event in 2011.

Seat 3: Benjamin Zamani – 1,990,000

Benjamin Zamani has won $1,465,616 playing tournament poker according to Hendon Mob poker database, and he has won $145,248 at WPT events. The highest finish on tour for the 27-year-old poker pro from FLorida was a cash in ninth place at the WPT bestbet Open in Season XI, and his largest cash was worth $57,570 (15th-place at the L.A. Poker Classic in Season VI). Zamani is appearing at his first WPT final table tonight but he has a lot of experience at final tables in poker tournaments around the world. If Zamani advances to second place at the final table he will win the California Swing prize package that includes free hotel nights at Commerce Casino and Thunder Valley and the honor of playing as a Shooting Star at next year’s WPT Bay 101 stop.

Seat 4: Ken Jorgensen – 510,000

Ken Jorgensen is a 60-year-old retiree from Gold River, California. He grew up in Sacramento and is married with three children. He took up poker when a shoulder injury took him off the golf links for a recovery period and the new hobby stuck with him. Jorgensen has been playing poker for ten years now and this is his first WPT event. He has won $13,475 playing tournament poker according to the Hendon Mob poker database. Jorgensen worked in the crane rental business before retiring. Jorgensen enters the final table today as the short stack so he will likely be the first player all-in at the final table.

Seat 5: JC Tran – 710,000

The headliner at the final table is Sacramento poker professional JC Tran. The 37 year-old has won $10,911,501 according to Hendon Mob poker database. The WPT Champions Club member has earned $3,138,168 in his 13 cashes at WPT events. Tran won the World Poker Challenge in Season V, good for $708,973 and he also won $1,177,010 as the runner-up at the L.A. Poker Classic that same season. Thanks to a third final-table appearance during season V he was named the WPT Player of Year at the end of the season. Tran is appearing at his sixth WPT final table today and despite entering in fifth chip-position he is the player at the table that no opponent wants to face heads up. Tran built his bankroll at casinos in the Sacramento area before playing in poker tournaments all over the world, and the multiple gold-bracelet winner is considered one of the bast players in the game.

Seat 6: Quoc Pham – 5,580,000

When play was on the money bubble at this tournament Quoc Pham was one of the short stacks in the field, but since that time he has gone on a great run and enters the final table as the chip leader. Pham is a tournament director at the Bay 101 Casino, which recently hosted the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, and he came to Thunder Valley to play and unwind after the event. That decision has proved to be a profitable one. He has already secured his largest tournament cash ever, but could walk away with the top prize of $302,750 and a WPT title. The 31-year-old was born in Vietnam and lives in San Jose. Pham attended college at nearby UC Davis.