Despite her most valiant of efforts, TH.com favorite Tiffany Michelle fell short of reaching the final Table in this years Main Event, finishing in 17th place. The other biggest name left in the field, Brandon Cantu, also fell short, finishing in 20th place. Although no household names appear in the final table, six of the nine participants are professional poker players, so the lure of the “amateur” winning it all is not quite as true as in some prior years. In fact, the term “professional poker player” has changed significantly as the game has expanded, and now more than ever, it is very feasible to make a living playing poker.

The day began on a sour note for Tiffany Michelle as the first hand saw her spew many chips. Owen Crowe raised from middle position and Tiffany called from late position. The flop came 8h 7s 5c. Tiffany then called a 375,000 chip bet from Crowe and saw a turn of 3d. Crowe then checked and Tiffany bet 500,000, only to be re-raised to over $1 million. Tiffany then folded to what was a bluff, as Crowe showed J9h. That was the start of the decline for Tiffany, as she also lost the next hand. She was later elimated when her AJ paired against two players, but one of them, Peter Eastgate, was holding AA, leaving Tiffany very thin to survive. The runner runner straight did not come and Tiffany Michelle was officially eliminated.

Brandon Cantu did not fare any better against Eastgate as his 99’s were taken down by Eastgate’s AQ, forcing his elmination. In a prior hand, Cantu called nearly $500,000 additional in chips after his $950,000 bluff was reraised. Cantu turned over Ts5c vs Dean Hamrick’s AA. This loss sent Cantu down to approximately $2 million in chips, forcing his later all-in move.

The final table, which will wait nearly four months to return and battle it out for the crown is as follows:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips — 26,295,000 (St, Louis, Missouri) — Account Manager
Seat 2: Craig Marquis — 10,210,000 (Arlington, Texas) — College Student
Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz — 12,525,000 (Brooklyn, NY) — Professional Poker Player
Seat 4: Scott Montgomery — 19,690,000 (Perth, Ontario) — Professional Poker Player
Seat 5: Darus Suharto — 12,520,000 (Toronto, Ontario) — Accountant
Seat 6: David “Chino” Rheem — 10,230,000 (Los Angeles, California) — Professional Poker Player
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov — 24,400,000 (Moscow, Russia) — Professional Poker Player
Seat 8: Kelly Kim — 2,620,000 (Whittier, California) — Professional Poker Player
Seat 9: Peter Eastgate — 18,375,000 (Odense, Denmark) — Professional Poker Player