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On Monday, December 28, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table will play out at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. What started with 705 players is now down to the final table of nine players, each competing for a $1.5 million top prize and the chance to go heads-up against Damian Salas, the winner of the GGPoker International leg, for an additional $1 million and the coveted gold bracelet.

One of the players who’ll return to action is 29-year-old Michael “geNet1x_” Cannon, who hails from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and will begin the final table fifth in chips with 4.4 million.

“My friends and I like to joke that I am a pro liver. I haven't actually worked a ‘real’ job ever, but I also haven't really made any money in quite a few years either (until recently),” Cannon told PokerNews. “I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by amazing supportive parents, as well as my girlfriend’s parents, who have basically allowed me to do nothing the last five years while I get my shit together.”

As it turns out, Cannon was a professional video gamer from the ages of 15-19, during which time he made a decent amount of money.

“I helped my parents out with some, saved some, and then towards the end of that time used some of that money to start playing poker,” he revealed.

When it came to video games, Cannon competed in Gears of War 1 and 2 on the Xbox 360 console. He won multiple eSport titles with his Team Infinity, most notably five Major League Gaming titles, an MLG National Championship, a World Cyber Games gold medal, and a variety of other tournaments throughout the USA and online over the course of 2006-2010.

A schedule of Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino poker tournaments, including time, buy-in, blind structure, and more. You also can find Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino phone number, address, and website. Inside the casino, the Poker Room is located next to the Race and Sportsbook, and offers 14 tables with free Wi-Fi and USB charging ports (for mobile devices) at each seat. Easy access to the Poker Room with ample parking is available in the nearby Carnival World. Rio Poker Overview Part of Rio Casino Resort. The Sunday night poker tournaments at Rio Casino are getting more popular by the week. Buy-ins are R500. The game starts at 3pm and entries need to be submitted before 2:45pm. We offer daily poker news, poker professionals' blogs and tweets, exclusive poker videos, thousands of free poker articles, as well as coverage from all major poker tournaments in the world. On Monday, December 28, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table will play out at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. What started with 705 players is now down to.

Finding His Way to Poker

It wasn’t a long and winding road that eventually led Cannon from video games to online poker.

“Something about the similarities in the competitions drove me to be the best. I started playing poker endlessly. I had a ton of success early, and like many poker players before me, thought I was way better than I was.”

The early success saw Cannon play about his bankroll, and not surprisingly, he lost a significant chunk. Not long after, Black Friday struck. With no interest in relocating in order to play online, Cannon stayed put and lived off his savings. Over the years, those savings dwindled and he found his poker skills declined as well.

“About three years ago, I decide to make a change and say to myself, ‘I am going to give this poker thing one last more serious effort and see if I can salvage any of my lost talents.’ I started playing some live tournaments again on the East Coast at Parx and Borgata mainly.”

It was during this time Cannon met Ryan “Hagzzz021” Hagerty, who also happens to be at the 2020 WSOP Main Event final table. With online poker strong in New Jersey and expanding into his home state of Pennsylvania, Cannon soon found himself putting in volume; in fact, he booked his most profitable year in a decade in 2019, and 2020 has proved even better.

“I am on the border of calling myself a pro again,” admitted Cannon, who outside of gaming enjoys sports, food, and as he says “solving the sim with Scott Blumstein,” the winner of the 2017 WSOP Main Event.

Making the Main Event Final Table

For the online stages of the 2020 WSOP Main Event, Cannon made the two-hour drive from his home in south-central Pennsylvania into New Jersey. It was there he fired up his laptop and battled for two days on his way to the final table.

“It's amazing. My poker journey has had a lot of ups and downs so this is a pretty cool experience,” he said of making it to poker’s biggest stage. “The one cool thing that I am taking from all of this, is that from now on, I will always be able to say that I made a WSOP Main Event final table! That's a pretty damn cool thing to be able to say, and a dream of many fellow poker players out there. Win or lose, I am just trying to enjoy the time and not overthink things. I do plan on taking it down though.”

He continued: “I feel very confident going in. I played a lot of hands over the course of the tournament with most of the final table players and am really happy with where my reads are at. I also feel my game is at its best. I describe this as saying I am definitely not the best player by any means, but I feel like I am playing the best poker I have ever played.”

Cannon, who has $184,584 in lifetime tournament earnings according to HendonMob, isn’t the only one excited as his friends and family have gotten behind him.

“My parents have always been the best. Without their support, I would not have been able to make this one last run at poker. I always told them I would get it together someday. Everyone reaching out was amazing, I appreciate everyone's support.”

Until the final table, Cannon is quarantining at home with his girlfriend with the plan to fly out to Las Vegas the day before the final table.

_{*Lead image c/o Borgata/Tim Kelliher. Other photos c/o Michael Cannon.}

Action will resume on Monday, December 28 as the final table players down to a winner live at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. PokerNews will once again bring you live updates until the final table is set. Be sure to join us then to see who wins the WSOP.com portion of the 2020 WSOP Main Event!

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  Michael Cannon

This summer, when playing in a World Series of Poker Daily Deepstack event, we got a chance to experience the Rio poker room. While the WSOP is certainly not the time to get a perfect read on the day-to-day operations of the Rio poker room, it did give us some sense of the atmosphere. To round out our review, we did a bit of research to determine the flow of cash and tournament action.

Casino Setting

Rio Video Poker Tournament

The Rio is about a mile west of the Strip on Flamingo Road. It is part of a small constellation of casinos in the immediate area. The Flamingo is slightly west of the Rio, as is the Palms. The Gold Coast lies right across South Valley View Boulevard. So there are a couple of options within easy walking distance if you want to check out other casinos. The Strip is also theoretically walkable in 20-25 minutes, but beware, it’s a lot longer than it looks.

Parking is free at the Rio. A garage and multiple outdoor lots lie around back near the Conference Center (where most of the WSOP events are held).

Non-Poker Amenities

The Rio is one of Vegas’s largest casinos off the main Strip. It is part of the massive Caesars Entertainment empire which owns several properties in Vegas, including Planet Hollywood, and many other properties across the United States. It is, of course, a full-service casino (hotel, slots, table games, race & sportsbook, etc.).

The Rio has a buffet of course, but are a bit lean on the high-end restaurants. There are, however, a lot of quick eating and casual options. We recommend the take-out window at Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho Restaurant. They also have sit down service, but the reduced menu at the takeout window represents a great value with excellent quality food.

The Rio Poker Room Comfort

The 14 table Rio poker room is separated from the casino floor with a glass wall on one side and half walls on the other two sides. There is some space between the room and the gaming floor, so you are not too close to the noise or smoke. Large TVs ring the room.

The ceiling is high and the air quality is good. The tables are pretty tightly packed in this small room and the lighting is dim throughout the room. The felts are in good shape, but had they not been swept recently the day we played. Chips were clean and very new looking. Chairs were comfortable, being adjustable, wheeled, and well padded.

During the WSOP event, several tables sat outside the walls of the poker room. It is not clear how many remain throughout the year. If the claim of 14 tables is accurate, some must remain. Unsurprisingly, it is smokier and louder at those tables, and it feels like you are playing in the aisle of the casino gaming room. Because pretty much, you are.

Poker Room Staff

As we played in a Daily Deepstack that ran in conjunction with the WSOP, the dealers were mostly not regulars. That said, most were solid. The floors, however, ran an excellent tournament. There was a female floor who had the loudest and clearest voice I have heard in any poker room. Every level jump was clearly announced. There was no doubt about who held the authority in the room. Later, when they escorted the group from the Rio poker room to the convention hall for late tournament stages, she guided us like ducklings through the winding hallways beautifully.

Wait staff circulated immediately when the tournament started and seemed very attentive throughout.

Youtube Videos Of Poker Tournaments

Players at the Rio Poker Room

Grade: incomplete. This was a not a normal Rio tournament so not the normal Rio poker population.

Tournament Structure

The Rio poker room’s standing tournament has a $65 entry fee (with $22 rake -yes, Virginia, an abysmal 34% rate) for 5,000 chips and 20-minute blinds. It offers a $5 staff bonus for another 5,000 chips, so most people likely buy-in for $70, with the functional rake at a potentially record-setting 39%! The tournament guarantee is a whopping $500. This tournament runs four times per day (10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 9pm). This gives the savvy poker tournament player four opportunities to say “No freakin’ way” and find any number of better structures in town. In previous years, we have stopped into the Rio to ask about the tournaments and got the feeling that they rarely go off. Bravo Poker also indicates that tournaments do not run often, and are small when they do.

Cash Game Activity

Bravo reporting indicates that the Rio poker room runs one to two cash tables on a weekday, at best (there were zero some nights), and not too many more on weekends.

Overall Assessment of the Rio Poker Room

Rio Las Vegas Video Poker Tournament

The Rio’s claim to fame in the poker world lies in its role as the host of the WSOP. They do a great job with the WSOP, which has become a much anticipated annual pilgrimage for us. The rest of the year, the Rio plays a minor role in the Vegas poker scene. The small room is a bit cramped but otherwise is fairly comfortable. Their volume of cash and tournament play is low to non-existent. The tournament rake is about the worst we’ve ever seen. It is actually kind of ironic: the host site of the WSOP has a standing poker room that appears to be an afterthought to the rest of the casino.

• Comfort
• Tournament Structures
• Personnel

Summary

Video Poker Tournaments In Vegas

The Rio’s claim to fame in the poker world lies in its role as the host of the WSOP. The rest of the year, the Rio plays a minor role in the Vegas poker scene. The small room is a bit cramped, but otherwise is fairly comfortable. Their volume of cash and tournament play is low to non-existent. The tournament rake is about the worst we’ve ever seen. It is actually kind of ironic: the host site of the WSOP has a standing poker room that appears to be an afterthought to the rest of the casino.