It's Day 6 of the arena Series of Poker Main Event and the race to the November Nine is entering its final stages. At time of writing 56 players remain, and there are some big stars among them. Listed below are the boys we recognise, and what we all know about them.

Kenny Hallaert (Belgium)

Hallaert is a well-recognized face at the European circuit, both on the tables and presiding over them. He's the organiser of the Belgian Poker Challenge, sponsored by PokerStars, that is the largest tournament series in his native country.

Hallaert chatted to PokerStars Blog back in 2012, when he was crushing the Micro Millions. We also caught up with him earlier this week, as he was crushing the the arena Series Main Event.

He was chip leader on the end of Day 3 and was a large stack ever since.

Griffin Benger (Canada)

For an extended period, Benger was best referred to as a web-based beast, where he goes by the moniker "Flush Entity".

With $4 million in recorded winnings on PokerStars alone, he's also a former world Number one. Benger has moved out of the web world with great success in recent years, booking his first major tournament win within the High Roller event at EPT Berlin in April 2013.

He then took a seat within the PokerStars Shark Cage...and you must head over to PokerStars.tv to look how that worked out for him.

William Kassouf (United Kingdom)

If there's anyone on the planet of poker who doesn't know William Kassouf by now, they haven't been looking or listening. Kassouf is the exceptionally talkative master of speech play, who yesterday talked his strategy to a one-round penalty, but who's now at the television stage and will, when the episode airs later this year, become a star.

We had a talk with him yesterday (or rather he talked to us for a couple of minutes), and you may get a taster of what the ESPN viewers may be in for with a glimpse back to EPT Barcelona.

Jason Les (United States)

Among the best-known (and, simply, best) high stakes heads up players within the world, Jason Les is enjoying his second deep run in huge World Series events this summer.

He finished 15th within the High Roller for One Drop every week ago, picking up $216,814.

Les also became widely recognized a year ago when he took on and beat essentially the most sophisticated poker bot, proving that there is still hope for the humans for when the robot apocalypse occurs.

(Les survived an entire day at the same table as William Kassouf yesterday too. There must be an extra prize for that.)

Antoine Saout (France)

Only one man have been to 2 November Nine final tables: Mark Newhouse, who finished ninth in 2014 and 2015. But Saout has the risk of booking his own return visit to the November jamboree.

He finished third in 2009, the year Joe Cada won, but was considered to be the most efficient player on the table by many commentators.

One hand against Phil Ivey remains a YouTube classic. His name also fits very, really well into this song, should you like that sort of thing.

Best falsetto: "YOU REALIZE you are making me Antoine Saout!"

Andrei Konopelko (Belarus)

Konopelko has also been to an international Series Main Event final table before--albeit the sector Series of Poker Europe, where he finished seventh in 2013.

Konopelko is a standard at the European Poker Tour, booking his best finish in Barcelona in 2013.

He was chip-leader going into Day 4 of that event, which was the one time we've managed to prise some words out of the unflappable Belarusian.

"Some luck, some good play, some bluff," he said.

Cliff Josephy (United States)

Josephy can, in some ways, claim to have already won the sector Series Main Event--in addition to the 2 bracelets he earned in 2005 and 2013.

Renowned and revered as a backer of poker players, he had an enormous piece of Joe Cada when he won the large one in 2009.

"JohnnyBax", as he's known online, could also be a former world No 1.

It's not known what stake he has in any of the opposite 50 players, but there is a high chance Josephy can have an interest still in November, even if it's actually him seated on the final table.

Dan Colman (United States)

While we're when it comes to winning major tournaments, let's just take a snappy have a look at Dan Colman. Between April 2014 and June 2015, Colman picked up 11 tournament scores of six figures or more, including five of greater than $1 million and $15 million for first place within the Big One for One Drop.

Before that, Colman was best referred to as "mrgr33n13" online, where he became the primary player ever to book a profit of greater than $1 million in hyper-turbo tournaments.

These days, he's mostly putting his acumen to good use in various philanthropic ventures, but clearly thought he'd just drop in on Las Vegas to win the primary Event. Why not, if you have got a spare two weeks.

Max Silver (United States)

A British favourite, and a selected friend of PokerStars Blog, Max Silver was on a spectacular rise in the course of the poker ranks over the last few years.

He first emerged at the scene on the Uk and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), making three final tables including one outright victory, and is now more regularly seen within the high roller events at the EPT.

This deep run will finally introduce one among Britain's best to the yankee public too.

James Obst (Australia)

Nobody doubts anymore that online players aren't the most efficient on the earth at this game, and James "Andy McLEOD" Obst is likely one of the cream of the crop.

He has four SCOOP titles on PokerStars--even though, in his own words, he feels he has "significantly underachieved".

Obst was heads up for the $10,000 HORSE tournament in Las Vegas this summer and is, in my very humble opinion, a sensible pick to win the principle Event.

Tom Middleton (United Kingdom)

When the cash bubble burst, there have been a minimum of 11 former EPT champions still frequently Event field but now, with 56 players left, only Tom Middleton (Barcelona 2013) remains.

The final table in Barcelona was notable not just for Middleton's superlative play, but additionally for a horny unusual deal-making negotiation, to which PokerStars Blog was all ears.

(It's worth noting that Middleton, as "hitthehole" online, has greater than $4 million in record winnings too.)

Update: Middleton was eliminated from the principle Event in 56th place.

Jeff Hakim (Lebanon)

The European Poker Tour isn't the European Poker Tour without Jeff Hakim. He has barely missed a stop since making his debut around Season 5.

He has 12 EPT main event cashes under his belt, including a last table appearance in Deauville in 2013, but is now actually guaranteed the largest live tournament score of his career.

Don't let that fool you into thinking he's a mark. As "Jeff710" on PokerStars and "YoungSupremacy" on Full Tilt, Hakim has greater than $7 million in online tournament scores.

Paul Volpe (United States)

One bracelet and $5 million in live tournament earnings would probably be enough for many poker players, but Paul Volpe does his best work at PokerStars.

"paulgees81" is certainly one of just a handful of players with WCOOP, SCOOP and Sunday Million titles to his name.

In the live arena, Volpe is most devastating within the high buy in events, with WSOP final tables within the deuce-to-seven championship event, the $10,000 Heads Up tournament and the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em.

Tom Marchese (United States)

Tom Marchese's tournament record is among the best on this planet. With $13.2 million as his total, you might expect that.

But it wasn't until he sat down on the inaugural North American Poker Tour (NAPT) event in 2010 that Marchese actually won his first live tournament--a breakout that has then ended in 12 more major tournament triumphs since.

His heater glowed hottest in January this year, when Marchese won two $25,000 buy-in tournaments on the Aria in consecutive days.

Known as "kingsofcards" on PokerStars, there has rarely been a more appropriate screen-name.

Vojtech Ruzicka (Czech Republic)

Another rather well known and highly rated star at the European Poker Tour, Vojech Ruzicka seems set to take over on the top of the Czech money list sooner or later.

Only Martin Staszko has significantly greater than Ruzicka in recorded tournament wins, and that is the reason largely way to his second place on the 2011 Main Event.

Ruzicka won a high roller event in Deauville many years ago, beating a last two tables that featured Adrian Mateos, Davidi Kitai, Kevin MacPhee, Jonathan Duhamel, Steven Silverman, Bryn Kenney and Martin Jacobson.

Yeah, Ruzicka is that good.

Tony Gregg (United States)

Ask any top-ranking poker player to call who they think about to be within the top five on the game and an enormous percentage of them will namecheck Tony Gregg.

With $11 million in live tournament winnings (and quite probably lots of greater than that from cash tables in Macau and beyond) Gregg is an actual player's player.

He has also been to the PCA main event final table three times, most recently in January this year when only Mike Watson outlasted him.

Chris Klodnicki (United States)

Klodnicki is the one man still within the field who was mentioned on PokerStars Blog when the positioning gave the impression of this.

As if that accolade wasn't enough for him, he has greater than $8 million in live tournament winnings, including a few huge scores in high buy-in WSOP events.

This is his eighth cash this year and seems well set to make all of it the right way to the overall after that close call in 2008.

Dietrich Fast (Germany)

If it wasn't for Fedor Holz and Dan Colman, whose tournament heaters was white hot, Dietrich Fast can be getting much more press.

In October last year, he won his first WSOP bracelet on the European event and followed up along with his maiden WPT title in February.

He was back at a WPT final table in March. Update: Fast was eliminated from the principle Event in 55th place.

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