PROFILE
Name: Sylvain Loosli
Age: 26
Birthplace: Toulon, France
Current Hometown: London, the United Kingdom
For a man who states he is a “cash game player” (much like the defending World Champion Greg Merson), Loosli has made quite an impact on the 2013 World Series of Poker Championship Event final table. With a chip stack of 19.6 million (good for sixth place), Loosli will take the One Seat as he seeks to become the first Frenchman to win the WSOP Championship Event. The prospects of being able to build up a nice stack when the “November Nine” reconvenes is quite good as he has the short stacked David Benefield (6.375 million) on his right and two more short stacks on his left in Michiel Brummelhuis (11.275 million) and Mark Newhouse (7.35 million) on his left. A player who could give him some issues, however, is the man on his immediate left, Jay Farber, and his 25.975 million stack.
Loosli has made his money in online cash games, playing at levels as high as $25/$50, and has a minimal tournament resume due to those cash pursuits. Prior to making the “November Nine,” Loosli only has one other official tournament cash at a European Poker Tour preliminary event in Deauville, France, for €2350. Obviously, the $733,224 that Loosli has already earned for making the “November Nine” will be his largest tournament score, it’s just a matter of finding out how much farther he can go up the ladder.
HOW HE GOT HERE
Day 1(C): 45,675
Day 2(C): 271,500
Day 3: 500,500
Day 4: 877,000
Day 5: 5,690,000
Day 6: 14,125,000
KEY HAND
Not since Chris Moneymaker has a player’s name been as indicative of his style as Loosli’s. His propensity to play any two cards moved him into the Top 100 on Day 3 and, by Day 6, he had worked his way up to the second place slot. He slowly built that stack up to take over the lead during Day 7 play, but a clash with another member of the “November Nine” kept him from being able to claim the overall lead going to November.
While this isn’t a winning hand, it does give an impression as to Loosli’s playing style. After Loosli raised to 800K on the button, Mark Newhouse pushed in his remaining 2.5 million stack from the big blind and Loosli made the call. Newhouse unveiled a weak A-6, but Loosli showed only a Q-4 for action. The flop would hit both players, but it was Newhouse’s Ace that was hit over Loosli’s four. When the board failed to bring a Queen or another four, Loosli shipped a stack of chips to a fellow “November Niner” who could cause him some trouble come this fall.