He's not a big name in televised poker, but 30-year-old Atlanta pro Karga Holt remains in the hunt for the game's biggest prize.
Holt is the only Georgia player remaining in the World Series of Poker's Main Event.
The No-Limit Hold'em tournament began July 5 in Las Vegas with 7,319 players -- the second-biggest field ever -- and is down to 205. They're vying for a nearly $9 million first prize, plus the most coveted bracelet in poker.
Already, each of the surviving players is guaranteed at least $48,847 from a $10,000 entry fee.
Those who make the final table, the so-called "November Nine," will win at least $811,000 each. First place is worth $8.94 million; the runner up gets $5.5 million.
Holt is in good shape. He's in 79th place with 1.07 million in chips -- an average stack.
Evan Lamprea of Woodstock, Ontario is the chip leader with 3.6 million. Poker legend Johnny Chan, who won the event in 1987 and 1988 and played himself in the movie "Rounders," is in ninth with 2.6 million.
For the complete leaderboard, click here.
Holt is no stranger to tournament success: he's already cashed twice in this year's WSOP, and has banked more than $550,000 in tournament winnings since 2006.
The Main Event resumes at 3 p.m. (Eastern) today. It will take three more days to whittle the field to the nine players who'll return to the Rio Hotel in November.
For a while it appeared a few Georgia players could make a very deep run. Several dotted the leaderboard a couple days ago, but they were knocked out in fairly quick succession.
Georgia's top finishers include Alex Moore of Athens (275th), Jason DeWitt of Decatur (278th), Eric Morris of Atlanta (310th), Brendan Terrana of Alpharetta (336th) and Joseph Ressler of Atlanta (363rd).
In 2004, Atlanta poker pro Josh Arieh placed third in the Main Event and took home $2.5 million.
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