2007 WPT Doyle Brunson Classic Final Table Bios

Here are the player bios for the six players competing at the final table of the 2007 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic today at Bellagio:

Ken Rosen
Seat 1 — 1,135,000 in chips

Ken Rosen is 32 years old and from Miami Beach, Florida. He's an alumnus from the University of Florida, and he's been a certified public accountant for the past 10 years.

We don't know much about Rosen's poker history because he has no entries in the online databases. He has been playing poker for about 20 years and says his biggest tournament cash was for $28,000. He'll completely eclipse that today, as he is guaranteed at least $192,715, with a shot at more than $2.4 million. It doesn't take a CPA to figure out that that's an incredible return on investment from the $1,600 satellite he won to earn his entry.

Ted Kearly
Seat 2 — 1,620,000 in chips

Ted Kearly is 75 years old and from Michigan. He graduated from Michigan State University, and had a long career as a football coach and athletic director for Michigan Tech University. He has been married to his wife, Helen, for 57 years, and she'll be in the audience today cheering for him, along with two of his four kids.

Kearly and his wife spend part of their winters in Las Vegas, and he started playing poker to help pass the time. Earlier this year, he won a satellite in Michigan to play in the 2007 WPT World Championship, and he made the most of it, outlasting many of the best players in the world to reach the final four tables, earning $77,350.

When Kearly returned to Vegas this winter, he decided to play in the seniors event 11 days ago, and he finished fifth, earning another $19,475. He parlayed that victory into entry in this event, and it has paid off immensely. This 75-year-old "tournament rookie" is now at a televised WPT final table, battling for one of the biggest prizes in WPT history.

Jordan Rich
Seat 3 — 6,585,000 in chips

Jordan Rich is a 25-year-old professional online poker player ("Octavian_C") from Portland, Oregon. He is fresh off a final table at the Aruba Poker Classic, where he finished sixth, earning $77,075, and his biggest tournament score is $93,000 from a $200 rebuy online tournament. Now, he finds himself at a televised WPT final table with one of the largest prize pools in history on the line.

Rich appeared to be running away with this event when the field was down to 10, and at one point he had about 50 percent of all the chips in play, with nobody holding even a third as many. But then he clashed in a big spot against Eugene Katchalov, who flopped top set against Rich's overpair to double up. The hand shook Rich up for a few minutes, but he settled down and now enters the final table with the second-most chips.

Eugene Katchalov
Seat 4 — 8,360,000 in chips

Eugene Katchalov is 26 years old, born in Kiev, Ukraine, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from New York University (NYU) with a business degree, but he has been playing poker professionally for the past four years.

Katchalov's biggest score in a live tournament came earlier this year in a $5,000 no-limit event during the Bellagio Cup III, where he earned $118,785. He also won one of the big Sunday tournaments online a few months ago. But nothing compares to the more than $2.4 million that he'll be playing for today.

Katchalov started day 5 with the second-fewest chips in the field of 18 players. But he never gave up, working his way to the final table before doubling through the chip leader Rich after flopping top set. Now, Katchalov is the chip leader, and he also has position on Rich.

Ryan Daut
Seat 5 — 330,000 in chips

Ryan Daut is 23 years old and from New Jersey. He is a very smart kid, graduating from the University of Richmond with a double major in math and computer science. But upon graduation, he took his shot at becoming a professional poker player.

Daut began his poker career very humbly, depositing just $45 into an online poker room in 2004. He's done remarkably well since then; in fact, he's one of two former WPT winners at this final table. Daut won the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure back in January, earning more than $1.5 million. Tonight, he has a shot to add another $2.5 million or so, and if he wins, he'll vault to fifth place on the WPT's list of all-time money winners. Remember, Daut is just 23 years old.

David "Devilfish" Ulliott
Seat 6 — 1,900,000 in chips

David "Devilfish" Ulliott, hailing from England, is definitely the most famous player at this final table. He is a worldwide poker superstar, with tournament victories in at least seven different countries. He was also one of the first poker personalities to make a name on TV, with a Season I WPT title and a victory on "Late Night Poker."

Ulliott won the WPT Tunica event back in 2003, earning $589,175. That prize seems small by today's standards, but it was the biggest payday of the WPT's first season (other than the season-ending WPT World Championship). Ulliott can better that mark with even a third-place finish here tonight, but he's looking for his first million-dollar payday.

Ulliott has had success everywhere in poker, including the World Series of Poker, where he has a bracelet, five top-two finishes, and 10 final tables. But if he can win this event tonight, it will definitely be the pinnacle of his storied career.

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