PCA 2016 Main Event Final Table Player Profiles Unveiled
Gambling911.com has your PCA 2016 Main Event Final Table player profiles including seat numbers.
Seat 1: Mike "SirWatts" Watson, 31, St. John's, Canada, PokerStars player
Mike “SirWatts” Watson has been a regular on the live poker scene for over ten years with a sterling resumé to show for it. With more than $8.3 million in live tournament winnings, the 31-year-old Canadian from St. John's (the capital of Newfoundland) currently sits in fifth place on his country’s all-time money list. In the last decade, he has accrued an astonishing 38 WSOP cashes, a WPT Bellagio title worth $1.6 million and numerous EPT high roller results. These include a runner-up finish in the EPT11 Grand Final €50k Super High Roller, third place in both the EPT9 Barcelona €50k SHR and the 2013 PCA 2013 $25k High Roller. With 15 cashes for more than $100k, Watson might well add another one here at the PCA. Watson is also highly successful online. Known as "SirWatts" on PokerStars, he won two watches in the latest SCOOP.
Seat 2: Vladimir Troyanovskiy, 42, St Petersburg, Russia, PokerStars qualifier
Troyanovskiy first learned poker at the age of 13 when his older brother introduced him to 5 Card Draw. He later honed his skills playing Hold’em and Omaha in clubs in his home city and Moscow and is now widely acknowledged as one of Russia's top poker ambassadors (while still also able to find time to run businesses back home). Now 42, Troyanovskiy has been playing EPTs since Season 3 when he competed at the EPT Grand Final in Monaco. Since then, he has amassed more than $3.9 million in live tournament winnings; the majority come courtesy of big results in live PokerStars events in Europe and in Asia. Currently ranked sixth in the Russia all time money list, Troyanovskiy is no slouch online either and won his trip to this year’s PCA in a $320 NL Deep Hyper-Turbo satellite on PokerStars. He was a serious contender for last year’s EPT Player of the Year title with a run of great results which included third in the EPT11 Super High Roller in Barcelona for €473,200 and ninth in the €100k Super High Roller at the Grand Final for €199,620. He hasn’t let up in Season 12 either: three cashes in Barcelona, two in Malta and three at EPT Prague in December including runner-up in the €5k 8-Game, and tenth in the €25k High Roller for €49,000. His best live result was at the 2013 PCA when he was runner-up to Vanessa Selbst in the $25k High Roller for $792,180. Other big results include fifth in the EPT9 Grand Final €100k for €339,500 and seventh in the 2013 PCA $100k for $257,580.
Seat 3: Randy Kritzer, 58, Greensboro, North Carolina/USA
The oldest player in the final nine is Randy Kritzer, a 58-year-old who hails from North Carolina. He's now playing the tournament of his life, being already guaranteed nearly triple his total live tournament winnings. Kritzer's Hendon Mob profile page might not be too impressive with $27k listed in cashes. However, they include three WSOP cashes. Five years ago, he finished 21st in a $1k event at the World Series, taking nearly $14k –a sum he has more than bettered here in the PCA Main Event. This is not Kritzer's first trip to the Bahamas, he played at last year's PCA as well and notched up two cashes. However, none were anywhere close to the prizes up for grabs for getting to the final nine. Kritzer admits that the spotlight of cameras on the feature table is something new to him and he needs to get used to it. But, it's almost certain that his hands won't be shaking at all - he's a surgeon specialising in Neurosurgery and has been in practice in his hometown Greensboro since 1990. He is also the president and founder of Carolina Neurosurgery. Busy with his occupation, Kritzer came to the PCA to play just one event and it turned to be a smart choice.
Seat 4: David Eldridge, 35, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania/USA
Last year, David Eldridge went deep in the PCA Main Event. He was eliminated in 46th place, taking $27,700. One year wiser, the 35-year-old from Pennsylvania has secured a back-to-back cash here in the flagship tournament. More than that, he's bested his 2015 result and has now made it to the final nine. To date, Eldridge has just over $340k in live tournament winnings including five WSOP cashes. Although he has a World Series final table appearance under his belt, his biggest cash came at last summer's Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Florida. He won the $1k event there to scoop $146,100
Seat 5: Timothy "1BigAceHole" Ulmer, 28, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania/USA, Live satellite winner
Ulmer might only be ranked #2,824 in the USA all-time money list (with $277k in cashes) but that would fail to reflect Timothy "TJ" Ulmer’s standing in the poker world. Ulmer is an online beast and well-known under his PokerStars screen name "1BigAceHole". Like many of his fellow countrymen, the 28-year-old from Pennsylvania relocated to Canada after Black Friday to continue crushing online. Ulmer's PokerStars profit exceeds $820k. His best result came in the TCOOP Main Event when he was part of a seven-way deal and eventually received $232,324 for third place. Ulmer also has a SCOOP title under his belt. Five years ago, he won a $1k 6-Handed event for $107k here at the PCA, which is his only six-figure live tournament result so far. Prior to entering the Main Event, he collected two small cashes during this record-breaking PokerStars PCA festival. He won his seat in a $600 live satellite.
Seat 6: Ken Demlakian, 55, Sydney, Australia, PokerStars player
Demlakian is a recreational player and the multi-millionaire owner of his own engineering firm. He has several results in live poker, mainly at events on PokerStars’ Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour and Asia Pacific Poker Tour. His total live tourney winnings are around $120k including victory in the APPT 2013 Asia Championship of Poker HK$10k KO Big Bounty tourney for HK$ 349,400. Demlakian is well-known in Sydney after putting his massive nine-bedroom home on the market last July for AUD 15 million. Demlakian and his wife Josie had been doing up the property for some 15 years and it now includes its own dance floor, tennis court, landscaped gardens, pool, theatre, library, gym and even a driving range. Born in Egypt, Demlakian migrated to Australia at an early age and has a Masters in engineering from Sydney University. In his first role as a Civil Engineer, he had a hand in launching the George Bridge, which was - at the time - the first of its kind in New South Wales. He founded Demlakian Engineering in 1984.
Seat 7: Tony Gregg, 29, Columbia, Maryland, USA, PokerStars player
Tony Gregg is the only player who has ever made it to two PCA Main Event final tables - and now seems very close to making it a hat trick. Nicknamed "End Boss", he was runner up at the PCA 2009 Main Event (the largest one in history) when he walked away with $1.7 million - and three ago, was back in the spotlight, finishing sixth for another $364k.
Should he repeat his 2012 performance, Gregg will move past the $10 million mark in live tournament earnings. Having won a WSOP bracelet in the 2013 $111.111 One Drop High Roller where he cashed for $4,830,619 and a WPT title at the Parx Poker Open in 2013 for $416,127, Tony Gregg has reached the final nine with every intention of completing the Triple Crown of poker.
His online results are also remarkable. Under the screen name "wwwBTHEREcom", he has accumulated more than $1.5 million in cashes. Among his results are a $2k 1R1A SCOOP 2013-High title for $197,720 and a Sunday Million victory in 2011 for $195,000. Gregg is a former “Magic: the Gathering” player and backed WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson in his 2012 victory.
Seat 8: Phill "Grindation" McAllister, 22, Winchester, UK, PokerStars player
Phill McAllister may be the youngest to have made the final nine at this year’s PCA but the 22-year-old is certainly a very experienced poker player – as proved by a look at his online bio. Playing as "Grindation" on PokerStars (and currently one of numerous online pros living in Playa del Carmen in Mexico), he's nearly $900k in profit. During the 2014 SCOOP, the young gun from Manchester secured his two biggest results: he was runner up in Event #1-H for $232,960 only to better that a few days later when he finished fifth in Event #44-H and banked $350,838. McAllister's CV also includes a runner-up finish in the Sunday Million from August 2012 and fourth place in last year's WCOOP Super Tuesday. So far, he's amassed $180k on the live scene with his biggest cash of €56k earned in the EPT11 Prague €2k Event. The Englishman will soon boost that with his first EPT Main Event cash, already guaranteed $62,020 here at the PCA.
Seat 9: Toby Lewis, 26, Southampton, UK, PokerStars player
British Pro Toby Lewis is the only EPT champion left in this year’s PCA. His title came at EPT7 Vilamoura when he beat WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson heads up to cash for €467,836. His total winnings are just shy of $2.7 million. However, Lewis is also well-known for his online poker success under the screen name "810ofclubs". On PokerStars alone, he has cashed for almost $3.5 million with over $720K in profits. His largest score came from a $215+R WCOOP win in 2013 for $189,379. He also has a final table in the Main Event-High of SCOOP 2011 where he finished 6th for $167,200.
