Seat 1. Daniel Harwood, United Kingdom - 1,302,000
27 year-old Daniel Harwood comes from Cheltenham and has been playing poker for six or seven years. He is currently making the transition to poker pro.
Although he likes playing both online and live, recent times have seen him focus more on the live game. It is paying dividends as he secured his UKIPT London seat in a live satellite here at The Hippodrome Casino.
His biggest win came for £22,500 at DTD last year in a £300 deepstack and says playing chess has really helped his game.
Harwood was good at chess as a youngster and after playing (and beating friends, poker seemed like a good fit.
"The game came naturally to me - it just clicked!" he said.
Seat 2. David Gassian, France - 2,234,000
45-year-old David Gassian has lived in London for the last ten years, though he originates from Bordeaux. He works as a head teacher at a primary school and although he loves poker, he loves his job even more. "I'm a rarity," he joked.
Gassian mainly plays live, both cash games and tournaments, and he has notched up several big scores, winning the 2014 Hippodrome Winter Classic for £12,500 as well as €30,000 at a Partouche tournament in 2012.
"Poker is a great opportunity to meet up with old friends," he told us, explaining his love of the game.
Seat 3. Jack Salter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - 886,000
29 year-old professional poker player Jack Salter needs no introduction, having had a scintillating poker run over the last few years, notching up over $3 million in tournament winnings. Most notably he was runner-up at the 2014 EPT Grand Final for over a milion dollars. Salter prefers live poker as it doesn't feel as much like a job and he feels that his success is built on taking everything into consideration at the table, not just poker theory.
Asked about his chances today, Salter was upbeat. "I've only got a half average stack but I'm pretty good at allins!"
Seat 4. Warren Russell, Canada - 3,961,000
Warren Russell is a 30 year old Canadian hailing from Vancouver. He works as a Sales Consultant, having transferred to the London offices 5 weeks ago. He's been playing poker for 12 years, having previously been an avid online gamer - playing Starcraft and War craft 3. It proved a successful transition, Russell going on to win $121,513 at the British Columbia Poker Championships in 2008 - his biggest result to date.
Seat 5. Usman Siddique, United Kingdom - 4,132,000
Usman Siddique is a 23 year-old student, currently on a break. Siddique resides in London and has been playing poker for around 4 years. Siddique's biggest win was a $69,000 score online - where he has most of his playing experience. Siddique puts his success partially down to his knowledge of mixed games. "In mixed games you have to adjust to each individual game. This helps in MTTs where the dynamics are constantly changing."
Siddique is confident going into the final. "I'm chip leader so I'm happy!"
Seat 6. Joe Hindry, United Kingdom - 1,327,000
Joe Hindry is a 21 year old professional poker player from Portsmouth. He's played the game for many years, turning pro at the age of 18. At first he played mainly online but these days plays a lot more cash games - primarily at The Hippodrome Casino.
Wherever Hindry finishes here at the final table, this will be his largest ever cash. He revealed he is drawn to poker through a "natural pure love for the game" and he is really looking forward to the final table.
Seat 7. David Docherty, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - 1,531,000
David Docherty is a 29 year-old professional poker player from Glasgow. It's been a big week for him having celebrated his birthday during Day 1B of the tournament. Docherty plays mainly online, although his biggest result came live at the 2009 WSOPE where he collected $35k after a deep run.
Docherty feels his calm approach might give him an edge at the felt. "I see other players getting more worked up about bad beats and things. I feel like I can take the difficult times at the tables more in my stride."
Docherty is confident about his chances on the final. "Yeah I feel good. We'll see if my temperament holds up today!"
Seat 8. Morten Halvorsen, Norway, PokerStars Player - 732,000
Morten Halvorsen is a 50 year-old Norwegian who lives 20km from Oslo. He works as a financial controller for a company that sells construction equipment. Halvorsen likes playing both live and online and he came down to the UKIPT with a twelve-strong group of other local players, who've been supporting each other with gusto. His biggest result came at a live tournament for around $30,000 but he has had plenty of success online, winning a number of packages for events on PokerStars.
"I have a funny feeling about the final. If I come 8th I don't mind but I feel pretty good about today!" he explained.
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