Klodnicki and Rheem Headline Field
by AdamJ on 07.15.08, 12:36 am
Main Event final table run like last summer when Lee Watkinson, Scotty Nguyen, and Ray Henson were battling it out, there are a few players left that are far from unknowns.
David “Chino” Rheem (pictured left) is no stranger to the bright lights of a WSOP final table. Rheem took a commanding chip lead into WSOP Event #4 this summer in the 5k Mixed Hold-em final table and ended up finishing in fifth place for 93k. Rheem was up against a stacked final table with eventual winner Erick Lindgren, Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo, Howard Lederer, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, David Williams, and Isaac “luvthewnba” Haxton.
Rheem’s best WSOP moment was in 2006 when he lost a heads-up duel that aired on ESPN when he finished runner up to Allen Cunningham, cashing for 326k. Rheem had to navigate through another tough final table lineup to get to heads-up play with Alex Jacob, Andy Bloch, Tim Phan, Tom Franklin, Steve Wong, and John Hoang.
If Rheem doesn’t finish strong tonight, it won’t be from a lack of mentors.Rheem’s poker gallery standing nearly ten feet away reads like a who’s who of the poker world with the Mizrachi brothers, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, Nam Le, Steve Sung, Greg “FBT” Mueller and Marcel Luske. After nearly every key hand Rheem plays, he walks over and rehashes it with his poker braintrust.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki has the distinct advantage having an incredibly impressive poker resume but probably remaining anonymous to most of his competition he faces.
Klodnicki is the No. 43rd ranked player on the Pocketfives leaderboard with three cashes over 40k the past six months. If Klodnick is able to make the final table in the Main Event, it won’t be his first final WSOP final table. Klodnicki finished runner-up to Barry Greenstein in WSOP Event #46 in Razz, cashing for 97k. Klodnicki also cashed in WSOP Event #36, cashing for 5k in 89th place.
