The name Marc-Etienne McLaughlin is hardly a household name like other Canadian poker gurus like Daniel Negreanu or Jonathan Duhamel.
But at the World Series of Poker, everyone knows about the native of Brossard, Que., who just qualified for the prestigious poker championship’s final table.
McLaughlin, who finished 30th in 2009 and 86th in 2011, will have the third-most chips when the nine men sit down again Nov. 4-5 in a televised ESPN special. He is a 5/1 bet at Bodog, which posted odds today on who will win the WSOP.
Just three years ago, Duhamel (from Boucherville, Que.) won the title.
Going deep in the Main Event, a $10,000 buy-in that saw 6,352 players from 83 countries start play last week, is a major accomplishment according to Dean Stone, a poker writer at OnlineTexasHoldem.ca.
“To do it three times in five years, surviving against nearly 7,000 players, is almost unheard of,” said Stone.
Another Canadian, Halifax’s Alexander Livingston, almost made the November Nine as well. He was bounced out in 13th place and had to settle for a $460,000 payday. Each member of the final table will pocket at least $733,000 and the winner will earn $8,359,531.
The chip leader with the best odds of claiming that mountain of cash (and the $500,000 gold bracelet that symbolizes the victory) is American J.C. Tran. He is the most accomplished player of the group, has 38 million in chips, and was opened as the 9/5 favourite.
Five Americans are in the group of nine, with David Benefield and Mark Newhouse sneaking into the November showcase with small stacks of roughly seven million chips apiece. Ryan Riess and Jay Farber each have nearly 26 million chips.
Israel’s Amir Lehavot has the second-biggest stack and the second-best odds (30 million chips and 9/2 odds respectively). Sylvain Loosli of France sits sixth while Michiel Brummelhuis of Holland is seventh.
The November Nine (with chip count and odds courtesy of Bodog:
Seat 1: Sylvain Loosli – France – 19,600,000 – odds 8/1
Seat 2: Michiel Brummelhuis – Netherlands – 11,275,000 – odds 12/1
Seat 3: Mark Newhouse – USA – 7,350,000 – odds 15/1
Seat 4: Ryan Riess – USA – 25,875,000 odds – 6/1
Seat 5: Amir Lehavot – Israel – 29,700,000 – odds 9/2
Seat 6: Marc McLaughlin – Canada – 26,525,000 – odds 5/1
Seat 7: JC Tran – USA – 38,000,000 – odds 9/5
Seat 8: David Benefield – USA – 6,375,000 – odds 15/1
Seat 9: Jay Farber – USA – 25,975,000 – odds 15/2
The guaranteed payouts, courtesy of PlayOnlinePoker.ca:
1st – $8,359,531
2nd – $5,173,170
3rd – $3,727,023
4th – $2,791,983
5th – $2,106,526
6th – $1,600,792
7th – $1,225,224
8th – $944,593
9th – $733,224
The November Nine finale will be televised at the Penn and Teller Theater on Monday, November 4th and continuing through Tuesday, November 5th.