The November Nine, Part One: an overview

The November Nine, Part One: an overview

Friday, 29 October 2010

We have less than a fortnight – just under thirteen days, to be precise – before the Main Event champion of the 41st annual World Series of Poker is crowned. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is the most famous name at the final table after a stunning WSOP that saw him take second in the Player of the Year rankings (first if he wins this) after several final tables including a victory in the $50,000 Players’ Championship.

One thing that strikes me about this year’s November Nine is the lack of amateurs there – no Darvin Moons, Chris Moneymakers or Dennis Phillipseses here; the only player who isn’t a poker professional is Soi Nguyen – then again, his name is pronounced “So I Win” which means he has the whole Moneymaker aptonym vibe going for him.


So here’s how they line up before the cards fly into the air for the 2010 WSOP Main Event final table:


Seat 1: Jason Senti (7,625,000)
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong (23,525,000)
Seat 3: John Dolan (46,250,000)
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000)
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000)
Seat 6: Matt Jarvis (16,700,000)
Seat 7: John Racener (19,050,000)
Seat 8: Filippo Candio (16,400,000)
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen (9,650,000)


Without going into detail of the skillsets of the players I think Michael Mizrachi has a better shot of closing the deal this year than Phil Ivey did last year. Not that I think Mizrachi is a better player than Ivey, that would be ludicrous. But Mizrachi has position on the two biggest stacks at the table and with an M (stack/blinds+antes, you should know this by now) of over 20 Mizrachi has a healthier stack relative to the field than Ivey did last year.


That said, Duhamel has a convincing chip lead and position on Dolan, who is second. Between the two of them they have roughly half the chips in play and it will be difficult to stop one of them if they can win a huge pot from the other.


On Sunday I’ll begin breaking it down player by player to see who the favourite in this line up truly is.



Tags: Poker News, The, November, Nine, , Part, One:, an, overview