BLOG – The lowdown on the November Nine
Monday, 19 July 2010
Remember when the November Nine concept was first introduced in 2008? The poker world was divided on whether it would be good or bad for poker and overall I think the idea has spoken for itself. This year’s WSOP was the largest tournament series ever with a Main Event second only to Jamie Gold’s 2006 victory.
Furthermore, as 2009 and this year have proved, interest is heightened when a pro player makes it to The Nine (I feel like Tolkien now). Last year it was the legend that is Phil Ivey but this year Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is the headline name of the WSOP final table.
Without further ado, let’s take a gander at who is guaranteed over $800,000 and a slice of poker immortality when play at the final table resumes in November. We can hedge our bets to say that someone called John or Jonathan is the favourite to win it.
Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000) is the chip leader by a huge margin. The 23-year-old Canadian won most of his stack in a giant 42m pot against Matt Affleck, who was near tears when the eight of diamonds filled Duhamel’s straight to crack his aces. The clear favourite to win.
John Dolan (46,250,000) is a 24-year-old Florida resident who is helping make this the youngest average-aged final table of the Main Event by at least five years. His parents are, according to Floridian media, super-excited. Well, he’s trying to win $9m, of course they are!
Joseph Cheong (23,520,000) is a Californian pro who plays online under the nickname “subiime”. You will have seen him in 2009 having won a Mini-FTOPS event at Full Tilt Poker for $55,000. If his third-place chip stack nets him a third place finish he will receive millions.
John Racener (19,050,000) had a pretty good WSOP this year with three cashes amounting to over $40,000. Oh, and the near million dollars he is guaranteed as one of the November Nine. Racener tore through the tournament circuit when he turned 21 and has $1.1m in winnings.
Matthew Jarvis (16,700,000) has by far the sexiest first name of all the final Nine. The 25-year-old eliminated used car dealer Brandon Stevens in tenth place to secure his spot in the table with a fifth-place chip stack. His father is golf pro Norm Jarvis.
Filippo Candio (16,400,000) won a much publicised hand when his 75s hit a runner-runner straight against AA on a 665 board to give him the chip lead against Joseph Cheong. The Italian pro won the 2009 Campionato Italiano tournament in San Remo for over €180,000.
Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000) is this year’s Ivey, coincidentally starting in seventh place too. ‘The Grinder’ has appeared on GSN’s High Stakes Poker, took down the $50,000 Players’ Championship this year and has several deep final table runs under his belt. He is the only poker player to have made over $2m in tournaments for the past three years.
Soi Nguyen (9,650,000) is a California based medical supplies manager who had played on three live tournaments before coughing up $10,000 for the Main Event. His name kind of looks like “So I Win” which bodes well.
Jason Senti (7,625,000) is a former electrical engineer from Minnesota. He began Day 7 as the shortest stack but managed to get through the final 27 to secure a November Nine spot, though with blinds at 250k/500k when we begin he’ll have some work to do.