WPT Prague Final Tablists

 Seat 1: Alin Grasu – Romania – 855,000

Alin Grasu is a 36-year old married father of two from Bucharest in Romania. Unlike most of the sharks that the cold waters of Prague have attracted, Grasu is not a professional poker player, and instead he is the owner of his own business, and has been for 15-years.

Grasu got into poker three years ago, for a bit of fun, and has been playing ever since. He draws inspiration from Liviu Ignat and his greatest achievement to date was a fifth place finish in a side event at EPT Deauville, back in 2011, where he earned $44,914; making this is biggest ever haul.

Grasu pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the early stages of Day Four. He was all-in – and nearly all-out – holding [As] [4c] against Yann Dion’s pocket kings. Grasu was searching for an ace when the [4h] bobbed up on the flop. The sight of the little card didn’t bring a murmur out of anyone, but the [4s] on the river did. Grasu cheering with his rail, and he never looked back from that moment.

The Romanian starts the day as the short stack.

Seat 2: Tony Chang – Hong Kong – 3,610,000

Tony Chang has been one of the characters of this WPT. He has excited and irritated his opponents with equal verve and vigor, and he was the man with all the chips when Day Four started in earnest.

During Day Four, not even Chang could keep up with the one man wrecking crew that was Bodo Sbrzesny, but he will still start the day second in chips, after another sterling performance. The 52-year old married father of three, plays the majority of his poker in the hotbed of Macau, and we guess it is little wonder that his favourite player is the one and only Tom Dwan.

Despite being a Macau regular, Chang prefers the live tournament arena to it’s cash cousin, and has won $83k in live tournament earnings to date. Chang is businessman who has been playing poker for just two and a half years, and this is his second WPT event. Chang’s favourite colour is pink and he passes the time of day by watching the golf channel and listening to American folk songs.

Seat 3: Marcin Wydrowski – Poland – 2,745,000

Marcin Wydrowski is the first-ever Pole to make his way to a WPT final table, and in truth, it never looked like he wouldn’t make it. There has been an air of confidence about Wydrowski for quite a while, in this tournament, and he even has his very own Timex style ‘Depth Charge‘ way of dropping his chips into the middle of the pot.

Wydrowski is a former swimming coach and so he knows just how to get away from those sharks. He is 26-years of age, engaged to be married and has been playing poker professionally for the past four years. During that time he has made his living playing online, with scant success when it comes to playing live. With only one other live cash to his name, it’s safe to say that Wydrowski is in fairly new waters. But we have a feeling he knows how to stay afloat.

Seat 4: Michael Gagliano – USA – 2,375,000

With his coloured patterned socks, Penguin trainers, slacks, pressed shirt and tightly pulled scarf; Michael Gagliano is the epitome of cool, and his poker play matches his dress sense. He just doesn’t seem to get ruffled as he quietly goes about his business of attracting chips.

The 27-year old graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelors in Geological Science. Maybe that’s why he is so apt at spotting the cracks in the foundation of his opponents? Gagliano has been playing poker for seven years, with the past five being played professionally. He is also a poker coach.

Gagliano’s favourite hand is [6d] [4d] and his biggest cash to date was $83,428 for his seventh place finish at the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Event at this years WSOP.

Seat 5: Bodo Sbrzesny – Germany – 4,605,000

It was a little over three-years ago that a cherubic faced lad from Bruschal, Germany, appeared on TV screens around Europe, after he had won a rake race playing online at PartyPoker. He sat down with $20,000 in cash and doubled it before leaving the PartyPoker.com Poker Den: Big Game III. During this run Sbrzesny famously bluffed both Roland de Wolfe and Barny Boatman with seven-deuce, prompting the commentator Jesse May to boast, ‘that a new star had been born.’.

Since the days of the brightly coloured silver, red and gold jackets, Sbrzesny has cashed twice in WPT events, including a seventh place finish at WPT Slovakia in 2011. But it’s online where Sbrzesny makes his living as both a highly respected cash game player and coach.

A former semi-professional tennis player, and professional video gamer, Sbrzesny destroyed the field on Day Four, including taking the scalps of Kevin MacPhee and Jason Mercier. His biggest cash to date was an eleventh place finish in a WSOP $1.5k event for $37,394, so wherever Sbrzesny finishes in the final six he will be creating a little landmark for himself.

Jesse May will once again be in the commentary booth. Will his little star turn Supernova? Sbrzesny starts with the chip lead.

Seat 6: Alexandr Lakhov – Russia – 2,815,000

Alexandr Lakhov is the most mature man at the table at the ripe young age of 40. He has been playing poker for 12-years and counts 2-7 Lowball as his favourite game.

The father of one has been a regular in the top end of the chip counts, as we have progressed into the final stages of the tournament, but his berth was still at risk after getting involved in one of the biggest flips of Day Four against Tony Chang. Sbrzesny opened to 48,000, Lakhov three-bet to 115,000, Chang four-bet to 230,000, Sbrzesny folded and Lakhov moved all-in for 1.2 million. Chang had him covered at this point, and when he called and revealed the best hand, Lakhov was staring defeat in the face. It was [As] [Kd] for Lakhov and [Js] [Jh] for Chang, when the [Ad] on the flop saved his skin and gave him enough chips to cruise into the final table.