Meet the Final Six of the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble

Here are the official chip counts and seating positions for today’s WPT Final Table, followed by the remaining prizepool and short bios on the players.

Seat 1.  Sam Panzica  –  1,051,000  (44 bb)
Seat 2.  Paul Petraglia  –  1,698,000  (71 bb)
Seat 3.  Gaurav Raina  –  831,000  (35 bb)
Seat 4.  John Esposito  –  2,236,000  (93 bb)
Seat 5.  Shankar Pillai  –  344,000  (14 bb)
Seat 6.  Darren Elias  –  3,547,000  (148 bb)

1st:  $315,732*
2nd:  $210,783
3rd:  $135,548
4th:  $86,440
5th:  $66,674
6th:  $55,191

* First-prize amount includes the winner’s $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Seat 1.  Sam Panzica  –  1,051,000  (44 bb)

Occupation:  Professional Poker Player
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $3,475,079
Best Cash:  $1,373,000 (1st in 2017 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star)
WPT Career:  9th cash, 3rd WPT Final Table, 2 WPT titles

No player in the 16-year history of the World Poker Tour has ever won the same event twice, much less in back-to-back years. Today, Sam Panzica has a chance to do just that, and join the elite club of three-time WPT champions in the process.

Panzica’s career has been on fire recently, with more than $2.7 million in earnings within the past two years.

Seat 2.  Paul Petraglia  –  1,698,000  (71 bb)

Occupation:  Corporate Pilot
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $21,781
Best Cash:  $3,130 (28th in 2017 WPTDeepStacks Jacksonville)
WPT Career:  1st cash, 1st WPT Final Table

Local player Paul Petraglia is the only player at this final table who isn’t a professional poker player; Petraglia has been a pilot for the past 24 years, first with a commercial airline and now as a corporate pilot. When asked what his greatest poker accomplishment was, he said, “This!”

Seat 3.  Gaurav Raina  –  831,000  (35 bb)

Occupation:  Professional Poker Player
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $727,905
Best Cash:  $456,822 (1st in 2017 WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em)
WPT Career:  2nd cash, 1st WPT Final Table

While he hasn’t played a lot of WPT events, Gaurav Raina won his first WSOP bracelet this summer, outlasting a field of 1,086 players to win a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.

Seat 4.  John Esposito  –  2,236,000  (93 bb)

Occupation:  Professional Poker Player
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $2,952,478
Best Cash:  $242,636 (32nd in 2011 WSOP Main Event)
WPT Career:  7th cash, 1st WPT Final Table

John Esposito has been a professional poker player since long before most of the other players at this table even knew that was a thing — Esposito’s first six-figure tournament victory came in January 1985, when he won $104,500 in a $1,000 no-limit hold’em event. Esposito’s career highlight was probably his 1999 WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event, which earned him $219,225.

Regardless of his finish here, Esposito will cross the $3 million mark in career earnings.

Seat 5.  Shankar Pillai  –  344,000  (14 bb)

Occupation:  Professional Poker Player
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $1,257,306
Best Cash:  $527,829 (1st in 2007 WSOP $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em)
WPT Career:  8th cash, 1st WPT Final Table

Shankar Pillai won his first WSOP bracelet in 2007, winning a $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event against a field of 827 players, but this is his first final table shot at a WPT title.

Seat 6.  Darren Elias  –  3,547,000  (148 bb)

Occupation:  Professional Poker Player
Career Live Tournament Earnings:  $4,771,746
Best Cash:  $843,744 (1st in 2014 WPT Borgata Poker Open)
WPT Career:  25th cash, 8th WPT Final Table, 3 WPT titles

Darren Elias is one of the most accomplished players on the World Poker Tour — his eight WPT Final Tables are tied for second on the all-time list, his 25 cashes are tied for first, and he is one of only five players with three WPT titles (tied with Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Anthony Zinno, and Chino Rheem).

If Elias wins today, he will stand alone atop the all-time career list with four WPT titles.