Will This Be The One for Christian Harder?

The story of Christian Harder is that of close calls in major events combined with a lot of respect from his peers. Harder’s one of those guys who’s been around for nearly a decade, still making it work, but also lacking that major title he seeks and deserves. However, with $3.2 million online and nearly $4 million in live earnings his track record is nothing to sneeze at.

Tomorrow, with the hole-cards up live stream starting at 1:00 pm ET on the PokerStars Twitch channel, ‘Charder’ will have one of his best shots at taking down a major title, coming into the final table of the PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event with a big stack. Nine years ago Harder made the final table of this event – then called PCA – and he reflected back on how different the experience was back then.

“It’s so long ago that it’s hard to remember,” Harder dug back through his poker memories, “It’s been nine years, and that result was basically my start in poker.”

“I was mostly playing online back then – mostly mid stakes – backed by Cliff Josephy, who’s also at this final table. It (PCA Main Event) was my first buy-in over $1,000, and after getting seventh in the tournament, I dropped out. Since then, I’ve only been playing poker, so I have a lot of fun and positive memories of this place. It’s good to be back, it’s very different because poker has changed a lot, prize pools have changed, players have changed, but it’s still poker.”

In Harder’s position winning the money is not the only thing on his mind, as the trophy will find a nice place in his home.

“Obviously I want to win the money, but I definitely want to win the title too. I’ve never won a major title, but I’ve got fourth, third and second a lot, so I’m hoping to be able to take this one down.”

The fact that Harder’s extensive poker resume’s lacking that major title’s a little sore spot, but it’s also something he’s got a very good perspective on.

“That’s poker,” Harder said, “There’s a lot of good players, and variance, and I’d like to think that I’ve ran bad at times, but I also know that I’m blessed to be where I am right now. Whether I win tomorrow or not, I’m living a great life. But it would obviously be awesome to get there finally.”

While many poker pros look for avenues besides the game that has brought them a life filled with freedom and excitement, Harder’s not done yet, but he’s entertained the thought of focusing on a different path a lot recently.

“Honestly, I’ve thought about that a lot recently, and I really don’t know. At times I’ve thought that maybe in five years I won’t be playing professionally, but then at times I thought that ‘why not?’. I still think that I’m a really good player, and I have some investments on the side, but those are not things that I can just give up full-time poker for in the next six months. I just want to win and keep playing. I still love poker and hopefully I can bring it home tomorrow.”

“I’m not going to retire, un-retire and retire again like 25% of the high stakes poker pros nowadays,” Harder said, before exiting the enormous poker room at Atlantis, dreaming of capturing his first major title when it’s all said and done tomorrow.

Aside from his former backer Cliff Josephy, Harder faces the following players at the final table:

Michael Gentili – 6,175,000
Christian Harder – 5,985,000
Aleksei Opalikhin – 4,590,000
Michael Vela – 1,755,000
Rasmus Glaesel – 1,560,000
Cliff Josephy – 1,240,000