After three days of blood, sweat and a few tears, the ANZPT Perth Main Event has been reduced to the official final table of nine from our original field of 310 players.

They will return on Sunday afternoon to battle it out for the ANZPT Perth title and the lion’s share of the $310,000 prize pool.

Let’s take a closer look at our final table participants:

Seat 1: Paul Satzke, Perth, Western Australia – 438,000 chips

One of the locals on this final table, Paul Satzke is a 27-year old Financial Adviser with five years of experience in poker after watching the WPT and WSOP on television.

This final table is the highlight if his career so far as he is usually found on the $2/3 and $2/5 tables in the Burswood poker room. His defining moment in the tournament was spiking a queen on the river holding pocket queens to crack an opponent’s pocket aces to stay alive. You need luck to win poker tournaments, so hopefully Paul can carry that fortune all the way to a big pay day.

Seat 2: Mat Carlsson, Perth, Western Australia – 846,000 chips

We like it when players share their nicknames, and we think that Mat “Skillz” Carlsson is a nickname that will be hard to top. This 22-year old Perth local is a Human Resources Officer by trade but has been playing poker recreationally for about two and a half years after first seeing it on TV.

Mat is a regular in the Burswood poker room, grinding the $2/5 cash games and local tournaments, including some success in the Western Poker Classic. Mat is a passionate Liverpool football fan, but we won’t hold that against him as he looks to make a name for himself on this final table.

Seat 3: John Shin, Canberra, ACT – 660,000 chips

John Shin is a 28-year student from the nation’s capital and is the third member of the terrific trio of roommates who are staying together here in Perth. John has been playing off and on for about three years, focussing his attention purely on tournaments.

That decision has been paying dividends with a runner-up result in the opening event of the 2010 APPT Sydney series worth $42,400 to go along with his first ANZPT final table here in Perth. Away from poker, John enjoys soccer, tennis and golf.

Seat 4: David Lloyd, Kingston, South Australia – 624,000 chips

A 30-year old farmer from South Australia, David Lloyd learnt to play poker at his local pub poker league. He has been playing recreationally for eight years but this is his biggest result.

David enjoys volleyball but it was a spike of different kind which helped set up the final table appearance. He spiked an ace on the flop to dispatch Tom Labouchardiere when he called the all-in bet from Labouchardiere who was holding a pair of fours against Lloyd’s ace-king. Labouchardiere finished in tenth place and David found chips just at the right time.

Seat 5: Anthony Marenko, Perth, Western Australia – 476,000 chips

Anthony Marenko is a 36-year old Electrical Contractor and local Perth poker player. He plays with a group of guys who call themselves ‘The Choirboys’ and they could all be heard on the rail today supporting their man.

Anthony has been playing poker for four years but this year is certainly the best of his career. He finished in the money at the Aussie Millions Main Event earlier this year. He was short stacked late in the day but he caught a queen on the turn when he was all-in with ace-queen against Daryl Alderson’s pair of tens. The double up has seen him propelled into his first final table.

Seat 6: Anthony Aston, Canberra, ACT – 320,000 chips

We thought we already had a bio written for Anthony Aston after his 3rd place result at the recent ANZPT in Sydney, but Anthony had to compete as one of 27 on that final day. So he’ll probably be feeling a little different today, knowing that he’s already on that elusive final table, joining an exclusive group to make back-to-back ANZPT final tables.

At a tender 20 years of age, Anthony has been playing poker for around three years after starting in home games with his mates. Anthony raced out of the gates on day one, hitting multiple sets to storm to a big chip lead, but he’s proven he can also play the man and not the cards with several well-timed bluffs.

Anthony will likely take the lead in the ANZ Player of the Year race following this event, and with previous final table experience under his belt, he’s going to be one to watch.

Seat 7: Lucas Mierzwa, Perth, Western Australia – 326,000 chips

Lucas Mierzwa is a 24-year old recent University graduate with five years of experience in the game after starting in home games with his mates.

Lucas enjoys mixing things up with pot limit omaha and heads-up sit & go’s, as this will be his first major tournament result. And it’s in his home town, so there will be sure to be a nice rail to cheer him home to victory!

Seat 8: Didier Guerin, Sydney NSW – 754,000 chips

The chip leader going into today, Didier Guerin has had an up and down day but he finds himself in a great position with the third highest chip count going into the final table. Didier cashed in the ANZPT Sydney so a big finish tomorrow will catapult him to near the top of the ANZ Player of Year table.

Didier is a 20-year old and amazingly has travelled here with his two friends, Anthony Aston and John Shin, who will also be on the final table trying to out-smart him. Home games at Didier’s place must be very tough. Didier lists APPT Sydney 2010 champion Aaron Benton as his mentor. Aaron has certainly turned Didier into a formidable tournament force as he only started playing poker two years ago. He has had a host of big results on PokerStars where he can found playing as didibearrrr.

Seat 9: Jon Curtis, Perth, Western Australia – 1,039,000 chips

Jon Curtis is a 43-year old local who used to work in real estate to prove the theory that real estate agents have a pretty good poker face! With eight years experience in poker, Jon is one of the most experienced players of our final table. He started out in the WAPL pub poker leagues, but has tournament results in Macau and made a deep run at the WSOP Main Event after winning a package at Burswood.

Jon says that he has enjoyed the great structure of this event, and with the chip lead entering the final table, he’ll be looking to take advantage.

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