Seat 1: Ken Hirosawa, 30 (Japan) - 185,000 in chips

You won't normally find Japan's Ken Hirosawa in tournaments; he works as a cafe director who primarily plays $2/$5 cash games. However, the 30-year-old told us that he enjoys the challenge of the APPT because "play is more serious than in cash."

He has only been playing the sport for a year, having learned from a friend, and he says his poker hero is Japanese player Takaaki Nakayama. This may occasionally be his biggest score to date, without reference to where he finishes.

Seat 2: Michael Egan, 26 (Melbourne, Australia) - 354,000 in chips

Australia's Michael Egan is a qualified poker player who was on the game for seven years now. He got his start in online freerolls but nowadays frequents the $5/10+ online cash tables. Egan's best result to this point is a 5th place finish within the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller for $405,162 last August.

The Australian says his favourite thing concerning the event up to now isn't busting out, and tells us he enjoys multi table tournaments when he isn't grinding cash. Egan also implored us to share that his hero is fellow countryman and poker crusher Alex 'Alextrev1111' Trevallion.

Seat 3: Shenghua Qian, 27 (Shanghai, China) - 771,000

Shanghai resident Shenghua Qian is a 27-year-old gamer and poker player who have been learning the sport during the last five years. His biggest live score to this point - in fact, his only live score previous to this event - came when he finished 22nd on the $1,600 No Limit Hold'em main event on the WPT National in Sanya, China.

His favourite thing about APPT10 Seoul was the deep blind structure, while his favourite moment was when his pocket jacks cracked Windsor Nguyen's pocket Kings by spiking a two-outer at the turn for an enormous pot.

Seat 4: Tetsuro Tomita, 33 (Tokyo, Japan) - 542,000 in chips

Hailing from Japan, Tetsuro Tomita starts this final table third in chips. He's been playing poker for seven years now and he first learned the sport from a chum. Tetsuro usually plays $2/5 stakes and his best result so far was a profit the 2011 APPT Macau Main Event for $6,591. That implies this guaranteed final table finish may be his best ever live score.

Tetsuro says his poker hero is Tom Dwan and he enjoyed the battles at the felt through the bubble this week. He attributes his ability to make big laydowns at crucial points to getting him this far, and when he is not on the poker table he loves to play Mahjong.

Seat 5: Windsor Nguyen, 30 (Vancouver, Canada) - 82,000 in chips

Windsor Nguyen starts the overall table as our short stack after a string of bad luck within the later stages of Day 3. The Canadian have been playing poker for a decade now and got his start in casinos. With this final table appearance Nguyen has already eclipsed his best live result up to now - a tenth place finish within the West Coast Poker Championship for $8,697.

Aside from poker, his hobbies include basketball and computer games. Nguyen also tells us he has enjoyed the free food here this week, and that his hero is his mom.

Seat 6: Satsuki Ochiai, 34 (Tokyo, Japan) - 234,000 in chips

Despite a handful of results from PokerStars events in Macau and Manila, 34-year-old Tokyo resident Satsuki Ochiai is in for his largest live cash here in Seoul. He isn't new to the sport though, having notched up online leads to his three years of playing, including a US$10,000 win in a weekly $2 tournament. His average buy-in in online multi table tournaments is $30.

He says it's his ability to evolve to players with different styles that's the most important a part of his success on this tournament, and he's excited to maintain going. His highlight to this point was when he pulled off a river bluff for a large pot with just queen-high. In his spare time, Ochiai enjoys cycling.

Seat 7: Albert Paik, 27 (USA) - 952,000 in chips

Albert Paik has had an excellent week on the tables here in Seoul, he begins this final table out in front with 952,000. He started playing in highschool back within the United States, but after college he relocated to here in Seoul. Paik learned the sport watching training videos and playing online and nowadays he mainly plays $500-$1,000 cash games. He tells us having only played daily tournaments before this will likely by far be his greatest result.

Paik says that his poker hero is Phil Ivey and that since he usually plays cash games he had some difficulty staying focused over the eight hour days. Despite leading the charge for this final seven, Paik stays humble, attributing his success to luck and saying that he made many mistakes.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Asia Pacific Poker Tour]