October Nine Andras Koroknai The Ultimate Survivor

Hungarian pro Andras Koroknai may be the only non-US player competing at the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table, but he is also lying 2nd in chips and will have a great chance to take down tournament poker’s most prestigious prize come October.
The 30 year old started playing poker around 6 years ago following a moped accident in Greece in which he very nearly disappeared over the end of a cliff. As well as sustaining injuries at the time, Koroknai also confesses to feeling depressed before poker offered him the distraction and the challenge he needed to gain a new lease of life.
Since that fateful day, the Budapest resident has gone on to carve out a successful cash game career for himself, as well as also shining on the tournament circuit. Koroknai’s achievements include $1,841,013 in live tournament earnings including victory at the 2010 WPT L.A. Poker Classic for $1,788,040, as well as a good run at the WSOP Main event that same year finishing 339th for $36,463.
Up until his recent deep run at the 2012 WSOP, Andras Koroknai had failed to cash in at any tournaments this year but sometimes its all about timing and getting lucky when it counts, and that’s exactly what the Hungarian pro managed in Las Vegas a week ago. In fact, Koroknai was towards the back of the pack going into the latter stages of the Main Event and managed to get lucky, dodge bullets and even end up on the favourable side of a couple of controversial ruling to progress to the final nine. As Koroknai explains after the incident in which he went all-in then mucked his cards prematurely thinking Gaelle Baumann with pocket Kings had folded:
“At first I thought the world was going to end. After that, when I got a second chance, I felt I had nothing to lose anymore and it was like the pressure was off.”
With seemingly more lives than James Bond, despite being greatly outnumbered by US pros at the final table, who would bet against Andras Koroknai’s good fortune taking him all the way to the top where $8.5 million awaits the ultimate survivor.