Feb 1, 2013
Seat 1: Jeremy Druckman – 6,170,000 (61 bb)
Jeremy Druckman is a 22-year-old professional poker player that is quite a long way from home. He is from Portland, Oregon originally, but attended the University of Pennsylvania to study Risk Management and Psychology. He has been playing poker for three years and he has two previous tournament cashes, which both came at the Borgata. The Borgata Winter Poker Open is his first World Poker Tour main event and he has made it a successful one (Druckman is guaranteed at least $147,671). Druckman will have his girlfriend in the crowd supporting him today as he enters the final table in third chip position.
Seat 2: Matthew Salsberg – 1,920,000 (19 bb)
Champions Club member Matthew Salsberg needs very little introduction. He won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris this past fall and he is in the running for WPT Season XI Player of the Year. This will be Salsberg’s second WPT final table and his third cash on the tour. In addition to his win in Paris, Salsberg also took 42nd place at the Legends of Poker in Season X. Salsberg is also a Producer and Writer in Hollywood, where he formerly worked on the Showtime comedy Weeds. He has been playing in a lot more poker tournaments since the conclusion of that series and his success rate speaks for itself.
Seat 3: Matt Haugen – 3,235,000 (32 bb)
Matt Haugen is a 27-year-old professional poker player from Ann Arbor, Michigan that currently lives in Chicago. He attended the University of Florida before getting into poker. Haugen has $169,485 in prize money and he will surely double that number with a cash today. Haugen begins in fourth chip position at the final table. This is his second WPT event and first cash on the tour.
Seat 4: James Anderson – 7,830,000 (78 bb)
Jim Anderson enters today’s final table in second chip position. He is a 26-year-old poker professional who has been playing for six years. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Ohio. He has over $800,000 in career earnings and his largest previous cash was a first-place finish at a World Series of Poker Circuit regional championship event at the Horseshoe Hammond casino that was good for $525,449. This is his first WPT final table.
Seat 5: Mike Gogliormella – 2,225,000 (22 bb)
Mike Gogliormella is from the Bronx in New York City and he works in Brokerage Operations. Mike has been doing that for the past 14 years but he decided to enter his first World Poker Tour event here at the Borgata Winter Poker Open. He has turned $3,500 into a six-figure score in Atlantic City. He is in fifth chip position at the start of the final table. He is married with two children and earned a degree in Marketing from St. Johns University. The 39-year-old is an active player at the tables that describes his playing style as loose.
Seat 6: Yung "Andy" Hwang – 9,550,000 (95 bb)
Andy Hwang enters the final table with the chip lead, which is a title he has held in this tournament for quite some time. Hwang was a dominant chip leader throughout the play-down day on Thursday and if things go well he could claim the top prize in this tournament worth $730,053. That would top his largest previous cash, which was a fifth-place finish in the World Series of Poker Circuit National Championship in 2012 (good for $103,322). The 27-year-old poker professional from Houston, Texas has $247,099 in career earnings but this is his first WPT cash.