Seat 4: Mark Newhouse
11/11/2014 00:12:20
Age: 29
From: United States
Pre 2014 Main-Event Career Earnings: $2,776,172
Chips: 26,000,000 (3/9)Mark Newhouse is perhaps the most interesting player at the final table, given that, unbelievably enough, he has now made back-to-back Main Event final tables. In 2013, he crashed out in 9th for $733,224; though disappointing, it was rumoured that this was a miraculous escape from being up to his ears in makeup. This year, he tweeted saying “Just bought into the main event day 1c. Not fucking finishing 9th again”, and he might well be right – amazingly enough, he will now get a second crack of the whip.
This year, Mark has a solid start, going in 3rd in chips. He also has van Hoof and Stephensen on his right, giving him a solid positional advantage against the two monster stacks. Lightning has already struck twice to get him this far two years in a row, and if the planets continue to align in his favour then he could have a strong shot at finishing the job he fell short of last year.
Seat 3: Jorryt van Hoof
11/11/2014 00:08:49
Age: 31
From: Netherlands
Pre 2014 Main-Event Career Earnings: $358,580
Chips: 38,375,000 (1/9)Chip leader Jorryt van Hoof's live career earnings might not match those of Newhouse or Jacobson, but he's certainly no slouch – in fact, he's one of the most experienced players still remaining. Van Hoof has been in the poker industry for years, having been a Red Pro at Full Tilt Poker before breaking away to create nederpoker.com, his own poker training site for players in the Netherlands. Playing under the name 'TheCleaner11', he even makes some of his training videos himself; despite these being mostly focused on 6-max PLO cash games rather than tournaments, they are sure to be studied closely by his opponents.
Van Hoof has a significant chip lead over the table, giving him a lot of room to manoeuvre. One brainy bod even calculated that if the nine chopped the prize pool according to ICM, he would get $4.3 million outright. He brings a lot of skills to the table, and could be rewarded handsomely if he plays his big stack with the proper aggression. However, historically only one person who's held the chip lead going into the final table has gone on to win it, so it's all but certain as to whether he'll have what it takes to stay on top.
Seat 2: Felix Stephensen
11/11/2014 00:06:20
Age: 23
From: Norway
Pre 2014 Main-Event Career Earnings: $22,118
Chips: 32,775,000 (2/9)At first glance, Norwegian player Felix Stephensen might be mistaken for a fairly uninitiated player, with just two live tournament cashes to his name. However, he is actually a successful online pro (playing under the name 'FallAtyourFeet') who makes a living by frequenting the $25/$50 PLO tables online.
Second in chips, he starts in a strong position, although he'll have to watch out for van Hoof on his left. He is fairly well-known in the online community, counting fellow Norwegian pro Ola “no_Ola” Amundsgard among his close friends, so he should have plenty of people clamouring to help him train. Having said that, his relative inexperience in the live arena may trip him up – playing with the world watching you is a lot different to playing sat at home in your pyjamas. If he keeps his cool, though, he could have a decent chance at glory.
Seat 1: Billy Pappaconstantinou
11/11/2014 00:02:00
Age: 29
From: Greece
Pre 2014 Main-Event Career Earnings: $104,635
Chips: 17,500,000 (6/9)Sat in Seat 1, Billy Pappaconstantinou is testament to the sheer randomness that can sometimes occur in the Main Event. Working as a poker dealer in his daily life, this is the first WSOP event that Billy has ever played, having been persuaded into it by a friend (who stumped up his buy-in). “I'm not a poker player, to be honest,” he said frankly to the press, after admitting he had no idea who any of the other players are. That's not to say he's a total novice, however – he has a flurry of small to medium tournament cashes, with a career best of 5th in a WSOP Circuit tournament for $52k.
Arguably he is in one of the worst positions coming to the table; starting play 6th in chips, it might be in his best interests to wait for some other short stacks to bust before doing anything risky. Unfortunately for him, it's unlikely he'll be able to steal many easy blinds from the button to keep himself afloat, given that both of the two big stacks are to his direct left. In addition to this, Billy doesn't plan to hire a coach, or even research his opponents, claiming he'd rather not know “how much better than me they are”. Bizarrely enough, Billy is also a big name in the competitive foosball world, where he has won nine world titles since turning pro at the tender age of 12. We don't reckon the odds are very good for Billy to triumph here, but then this is poker, and stranger things have definitely happened, so who knows.
One Hour to Go
11/11/2014 00:00:00
It's almost time to shuffle up and deal, but first a quick note on our coverage.
We will be covering the Final Table on a 30 minute delay, as per the ESPN live broadcast. No spoilers here.
Cards will be in the air from 4:30pm local time (half past midnight to those of you following from the UK), with the TV coverage - and our live coverage - beginning a 01:00. Remember to tweet us using the hashtag #BluffWSOP
Before we get started, it's time to introduce your 2014 November Nine.
10 Million Dollars. Nine players. One winner.
10/11/2014 17:32:11
Welcome to Bluff Europe's alternative coverage of the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event final table.
The November Nine have been waiting four months for their chance to play down to a winner, and excitement has been building all around the world.
Now it's time to get the beers in as tonight we will bring you coverage of every four-bet, every bluff and every bustout as we wait to crown a new world champion.
Join the conversation by tweeting us at @BluffEurope with the hashtag #BluffWSOP, and we'll feature some of your best tweets over the course of the final table.
The first hand is set to be dealt at around 1 a.m. UK time, with the remaining players playing down to a final three, before returning 24 hours later. In the meantime we'll bring you everything you know about the nine players competing for the second largest Main Event prize in history.