Craig Marquis, a 23-year-old University of Texas at Arlington student, was eliminated from the World Series of Poker final table in ninth place on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Marquis, who began the “November Nine” eighth in chips with $10,210,000, took home a cool $900,670. Roughly three hours into final table play, Marquis went all-in with a pair of sevens against the ace-queen of Scott Montgomery. Each player had about equal chances of winning the no-limit Texas Hold ’em hand. Marquis hit a third seven on the flop, but Montgomery hit running cards to make an ace-high straight.Marquis was the first of two players eliminated. Kelly Kim held out one hand longer than Marquis and was rewarded with an extra $387,547.“You got to try to win the tournament,” Marquis told Kim as the first two players eliminated from the final table greeted each other away from it.Two more players, Darus Suharto and David “Chino” Rheem, busted out Sunday night, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.Four more players were to be eliminated before the final two played heads up for the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event championship on Monday night.The final nine players in the World Series of Poker main event emerged from a field of 6,844 players and were competing for the tournament's top prize of $9.15 million. Ninth place gets $900,670; higher finishers are guaranteed at least $1.28 million.This report includes material from The Associated Press.
