There’s a great line in the movie Major League where some Cleveland Indians fans are discussing the Indians roster when one guy says something to the effect of “I’ve never heard of any of these guys”; well, this is likely how many poker fans feel about the 2012 version of the November Nine (revamped and rebranded as the October Nine) that will play for the World Series of Poker Main Event title in a few months.

While the names at the final table are unrecognizable to all but the most fervent followers of poker, the players themselves all appear to have a lot of skill which could translate into an interesting final table for poker purists, even if the storylines are simply not there. So for those of you wondering just who these nine players are and what they have accomplished in poker here is a quick rundown of the 2012 October Nine.

Here is a look at the short-stacked players left in the field of the 2012 WSOP Main Event, Jacob Balsiger, Jeremy Ausmus, Robert Salaburu, and Michael Esposito.

* Seat 2: Jacob Balsiger – 13,115,000

Jacob Balsiger is the second-shortest stack at the final table with just 7% of the chips.

The youngest player at the table, Balsiger actually has a chance to best Joe Cada’s record as the youngest WSOP Main Event winner in history.

* Seat 3: Jeremy Ausmus – 9,805,000

Jeremy Ausmus is the short-stack at the final table with a mere 5% of the chips in play. Ausmus will be trying to improve upon the results of recent short-stacks at the Main Event who have been among the first players eliminated.

Ausmus is one of the more experienced players at the table and has had an incredible run at the 2012 WSOP, considering he cashed nine times in 2012, with the WSOP Main Event being his second final table of the year.

* Seat 7: Robert Salaburu – 15,155,000

Robert Salaburu has one of those middling stacks that Pius Heinz took to the title last year. Salaburu is hoping that he can take the 8% of the total chips he has and turn it into a big stack.

A 27 year-old from Texas, Salaburu started playing poker in college online and like many players he switched to live poker after Black Friday, which turned his life upside down, forcing him to open a used car lot to make up for his lost online poker revenue.

* Seat 9: Michael Esposito – 16,260,000

Like Salaburu, Michael Esposito has about 8% of the chips in play, which the longtime poker player hopes he can turn into a big stack with a fast start at the final table.

Esposito is a longtime East Coast grinder, playing 7-Card-Stud for years before jumping on the NLHE bandwagon. The 43 year-old New Yorker has a lot of cashes in tournament poker, but this is by far his biggest score to date.

Tags: Ausmus, Balsiger, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Indians Fans, Followers, Jacob, Major League, Michael Esposito, Nine Times, Poker Fans, Poker Main Event, Purists, Rundown, stacks, Storylines, world series, World Series of Poker, World Series of Poker Main Event, WSOP Main Event, Wsop Main Event Winner

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.