2011 November Nine profile: Chip-leader Martin Staszco

Each year the final table of the World Series of Poker brings together an interesting mix of poker players, and 2011 is no different in that regard. With three top US Poker Pros; four, young, talented, international players that are looking to make a name for themselves; and two older, yet seemingly more inexperienced, players rounding out the November Nine.

In this series I’ll take a look at each of the November Nine and weight their chances of winning the WSOP Main Event based on their play, their chip count, and their seating assignment. First up on the list is chip-leader Martin Staszko.

But first here is a look at the chip counts and seating assignments for each player:

• Seat 1: Matt Giannetti from Las Vegas, NV - 24,750,000 chips
• Seat 2: Badih Bounahra from Belize City, Belize - 19,700,000 chips
• Seat 3: Eoghan O’Dea from Dublin, Ireland - 33,925,000 chips
• Seat 4: Phil Collins from Las Vegas, NV - 23,875,000 chips
• Seat 5: Anton Makiievskyi from Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine - 13,825,000 chips
• Seat 6: Sam Holden from Sussex, UK - 12,375,000 chips
• Seat 7: Pius Heinz from Cologne, Germany - 16,425,000 chips
• Seat 8: Ben Lamb from Tulsa, OK - 20,875,000 chips
• Seat 9: Martin Staszko from Trinec, Czech Republic - 40,175,000 chips

Martin Staszko’s run to the final table was one of the more improbable stories on Tuesday, as the unassuming Eastern European player managed to not only make the final table, but will enter as the overall chip-leader with

Staszko made four small cashes at the 2011 World Series of Poker before making his final table run in the Main Event, and nearly final tabled the EPT Deauville Main Event in 2010, so the 35 year-old from Trinec, Czech Republic is not simply some guy off the street who caught a bit of “run-good”. That said, Staszko appears to be one of the least experienced players at the final table, despite being the second oldest.

Staszko plays a little loose, a little fast, and is willing to play pots out of position. If he catches a few cards at the final table, or of his opponents fear his chip-stack, he is definitely capable of continuing his deep run, but his lack of experience in short-handed play seemed pretty evident before the final two tables were consolidated into one 10-handed table, which is when Staszko turned his medium stack into the chip-lead.

My expectation is for Staszko to play well early on in November, but run into trouble as the table starts to get short-handed. He does have one of the better table draws with Ben Lamb and the uber-aggro Pius Heinz on his direct right, and the fairly nitty Badih Bounahra in the Big Blind when Staszko has the button.