PROFILE
Name: Sam Holden
Age: 22
Hometown: Canterbury, Great Britain
Online Handle: SAMDMND
Sam Holden is the lone Brit — and the short stack — at the 2011 World Series of Poker final table. Still, you can almost guarantee his rail will be the most rambunctious at the Penn and Teller Theater in November.
Poker players from across the pond are well known for their wild, energetic behavior on final table rails during the WSOP. Holden, though, offers the opposite at the table. The polite 22-year-old poker pro from Sussex quietly squeaked his way into a seat at the final table of poker’s most prestigious tournament. He’ll bring a stack of 12,375,000 to the final table — 1.5 million short of his nearest competitor Anton Makiievskyi — but is still deep enough to make some moves when play begins.
Holden began playing poker professionally after graduating from the University of Kent last year and had immediate success online. He earned $89,000 for a six-way chip in the PokerStars Sunday Million in April and has accrued more than $300,000 in online tournament earnings since 2007.
Holden was playing in his first WSOP this year and had very little live poker experience going in. His live cashes totaled just $10,000, highlighted by a 14th-place finish in his first live event at UKIPT Edinburgh in 2010. He’s guaranteed at least $782,155 as a member of the November Nine.
HOW HE GOT THERE:
Day 1: 82,950 chips
Day 2: 230,300
Day 3: 426,000
Day 4: 1,412,000
Day 5: 2,281,000
Day 6: 4,740,000
Day 7: 2,220,000
Day 8: 12,375,000
KEY HAND: Holden’s biggest pot came as a result of a destructive meltdown by former chip leader Ryan Lenaghan, who began Day 7 as the overall leader with 12,865,000. He had been sliced down to around 4.5 million when Holden scooped up the rest in a preflop confrontation.
With the blinds at 100,000/200,000, Holden opened to 400,000 from early position and Lenaghan moved all in directly behind him. Action folded back to Holden, who took a moment before calling:
Lenaghan: Ah-8h
Holden: As-Qs
Lenaghan’s Ace was dominated, and the 7c-6s-2s flop left his outlook even grimmer. He paired his Eight on the turn, but it was a spade, and Holden’s flush sent Lenaghan to the rail in 16th place. Holden’s stack increased to 11.7 million.
WHY HE CAN WIN: The odds are against him — Holden is offered at 16/1 by one sportsbook to win the Main Event. But we’ve learned in the past that short stacks can sneak up on people. In 2007, Jerry Yang was considered the least likely player to win as bookmakers offered odds of 19-1 before the final table. Joe Cada opened as an 18/1 favorite in 2009 and went on to become the youngest Main Event winner ever.
One early double up would move Holden into the top 3 in chips. He’s a very cautious, solid player, so we’re not expecting him to get out of line at any point during the biggest night(s) of his life. With some good fortune, Holden could become the first Brit to win the WSOP Main Event since 1990, when London-based Mansour Matloubi was crowned world champ (James Bord won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2010).
