Meet the Final 10
Here are a few notes about each of the last 10 players still in the hunt for the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet:
David Benefield is a 27-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas who currently lives in New York where he's studying Political Science and Chinese at Columbia University. Known as "Raptor" online where he's achieved significant success, Benefield also has 12 WSOP cashes and more than $600,000 in live career winnings.
Michiel Brummelhuis is a 32-year-old poker pro from Amsterdam, Netherlands who has collected seven previous WSOP cashes including two final tables, all back in 2008 and 2009. He lists tennis and hockey among his hobbies.
Jay Farber is a 28-year-old from Pennsylvania who now lives in Las Vegas and works as a nightclub host.
Amir Levahot is a 38-year-old poker pro from Israel who now lives in Florida. He earned an engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and has a dozen career WSOP cashes including having won a WSOP bracelet in 2011 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event.
Sylvain Loosli is a 26-year-old poker pro from Toulon, France who went to business school and who has amassed more than $1 million in earnings online.
Marc McLaughlin is a 25-year-old from Montreal, Canada who has six WSOP cashes, including two in previous Main Events, both of which were top 100 finishes. He took 30th in the WSOP ME in 2009, and finished 86th in the WSOP ME in 2011. Interestingly, he's a tattoo artist who doesn't himself have any tattoos.
Carlos Mortensen is a 41-year-old born in Ambato, Ecuador who resides in Madrid, Spain. "The Matador" won the WSOP Main Event in 2001 after topping a field of 613 entrants to win the title and $1.5 million first prize. Mortensen won a second bracelet in 2003 in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event, has won three World Poker Tour titles, and has well over $10 million in career tourney earnings.
Mark Newhouse is a 28-year-old poker pro from Chapel Hill, North Carolina who now lives in Los Angeles. He won the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City in 2006 where he collected a $1,519,020 first prize.
Ryan Riess is the youngest player among the final 10 players at age 23, and in fact would be the first ever WSOP Main Event winner to be born in the 1990s. After studying business at Michigan State University, Riess now lives in Las Vegas, although spent much of the last year on the road traveling the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit where he collected 10 cashes including a runner-up finish in the WSOP-C Horseshoe Hammond Main Event last October.
JC Tran is a 36-year-old poker pro who was born in Vietnam and who currently resides in Sacramento, California. Tran has two career WSOP bracelets and a World Poker Tour title to his credit as part of a storied career that includes more than $8 million in tourney winnings.