Talk about an upward trend. In 2013, Thomas Cannuli busted out of the World Series of Poker Main Event almost before he had time to get comfortable, losing all of his chips during the second level. In 2014, he was second in chips after Days 2A and 2B and did make it into the money, though he only min-cashed, finishing in 691st place (693 cashed). In 2015, he was nearing the final table, sitting in 11th place out of 36 at the dinner break on Day 6.

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Cannuli hails from New Jersey and has been known as a strong cash game player at the Borgata. He also plays online and, as he lives in the Garden State, he fortunately has a couple of options. He did not have many live tournament cashes, but that is really because his focus was on live cash games and online poker.

In an interview with Bluff.com, Cannuli said he was just going with the flow: “I’m actually calm and not nervous at all. I’m just going with my instincts.”

Then again, he may not be totally stress-free, as he said later, “I’m not sleeping to well, to be honest.”

He is very confident, though, not having his friends come out to railbird him until November, should he make it that far. “I’m very confident in myself,” he said. “I haven’t had a lot of exposure and that’s why a lot of people don’t know about me. That’s the only reason why you guys haven’t heard of me – I haven’t exposed myself.”

He entered the 2015 WSOP November Nine in sixth place.