Kevin Schaffel

Just a short month ago, was living out of a friend’s room. Then, almost out of nowhere, Kevin Schaffel made the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event and is among the November Nine that will come back in November to play for over $8 Million in prize money.

While many poker players would be happy with that accomplishment and would focus on trying to win the Main Event, Schaffel has decided to try his hand at a WPT title. Schaffel is the chip leader heading into the final table of the Main Event of Legends of Poker in Los Angeles, Ca at the Bicycle Casino. He heads a final table that includes bracelet winner Toto Leonidas and Prahlad Friedman. Fellow November Nine member Steven Begleiter finished the event in 9th place.

This year’s Legends of Poker event has a very top heavy prize pool. $1 Million dollars will be paid to the winner in addition to the $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship. That is nearly half of the $2.625 Million prize pool. Second place will walk away with only $471,670.

Up until this year’s 2009 WSOP Main Event, Schaffel’s claim to fame was two deep runs in both the 2004 and 2008 WSOP Main Event. He finished 42nd in 2004, the year Greg Raymer defeated David Williams for the bracelet. Schaffel has two WPT cashes heading into this event with his best finish a 41st place finish at the Borgata Poker Open in 2008.

As stated after making the final table of the WSOP Main Event, Schaffel’s goal is to win a major tournament so that he can retire and focus on playing poker. He is already semi-retired from the printing business. Kevin Schaffel heads into the final table with 2.234 Million chips.

Kevin Schaffel
Age 51
Hobby: Golf, poker
Resides: Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Grew Up: North Miami Beach, Florida USA

Kevin Schaffel started to play poker when he was 11 and has continued to enjoy the competitive nature of the game since. He started to play with his brother at that time. Since then he has been married, divorced and has two children in college. He is a semi retired business owner with a now closed printing and direct mail company. He has been spending more time traveling to play poker at live events since he chose to close his doors. One of his places to enjoy playing live table events is the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, where he often meets his son.
He has one major event cash in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) of more than 32 thousand dollars. His greatest achievement to date, however, is the World Series of Poker main event 2009. He has made the final table, with a chip count estimated at 13 million chips, far behind the leader but still in contention. As a member of the closely watched November Nine, he will be waiting until November 7th to learn if he will win more than 8 million dollars. He has already received his check for a 9th place finish which is over 1 million dollars.
2008 World Series of Poker Main Event 10k dollar No Limit Texas Hold’m Buy in Event number 54
Placed 324 – Cashed 32, 166 dollars

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