Seat 3: Mark Newhouse, USA, 7.35 Million
Mark Newhouse from Chapel Hill, NC will begin the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event final table with 7.35 million in chips. The 28-year-old poker pro, who now resides in Los Angeles, CA, has been playing in the WSOP Main Event every year since 2006, but prior to this year had only cashed once in the tournament — 182nd in 2011 for $47,107. Newhouse has six total WSOP cashes for $152,725, which means the minimum of $733,224 he’s guaranteed as a part of this year’s November Nine will swell those earnings greatly.
Most notably, Newhouse earned over $1.5 million when he won the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open in September 2009, but admitted that he wasn't the smartest person with his money following the big win, as you can see from what he told PokerNews' Where Are They Now? from last year.
"I made a lot of very poor decisions over the next couple of years," Newhouse said. “Right now I am a totally different person than I was then, and I am on the right track. I'm sort of in a rebuilding mode. I have made nearly every mistake you can make in this business and learned from all of them. I am doing my best to do the right things these days and things are going pretty well for me now. The road to rebuilding is a much longer and slower one than the road of destruction, but with a healthy lifestyle, a hard work ethic, a little discipline, and the experience of past mistakes my goals don't seem all that far away.”
As the second shortest stack to begin, Newhouse will have some early work to do if he wants to move up the leader board and eventually the payout scale. On his direct left are four of the five largest stacks in the field, so Newhouse could very well have a tough time picking up chips. If Newhouse's play on Day 7 is any sign, Newhouse as ability to maneuver the short stack very well and not panic. Whether or not that will all change come Monday evening under the bright lights and cameras is left to be determined, but one would assume that Newhouse's experience will give him an advantage.
With swagger and experience, Newhouse could very well rub some of the audience the wrong way, while others will love to see him come from behind top run his stack up and get right back into the mix of things. If Newhouse is able to go with the "back against the wall" attitude as he works to correct the mistakes he made in the past, it could definitely be the motivating factor that pushes him on to victory.
The 2013 WSOP Main Event final table will take place starting Monday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. Las Vegas time, and you can follow all of the live, hand-for-hand coverage right here at PokerNews.com.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!