WSOP Main Event: We Have the November Nine!

16 players returned from the dinner break, ready for what was easily the toughest battle of their career. Seats at the largest final table of the year so close that you can almost touch them, yet everything can end in a single hand. Nerves, dreams, hopes, all mixed together. There is no doubt that quite a few players were calling their one time in their heads.

But not everyone could have their one time, as it is, after all, the November Nine, and seven players simply had to go. First to fall after the break was Eddy Sabat. He went in a cruel way, as his was able to backdoor into a hearts flush only to find out that it was no good as van Hoof was holding the nuts flush. Then Thomas Sarra Jr. got all of his chips in the middle against Newhouse but was dominated and while Newhouse was stacking his chips, Sarra was finding his way to the rail.

Oscar Kemps fell as another of van Hoof’s victims, as his shove was met by a quick and easy call from van Hoof who found pocket Aces and brought them home without even breaking a sweat. After him, it was time for Craig McCorkel to leave the tournament, as his shove was picked off by Newhouse and McCorkel could not find any help. He finished in 13th, taking home $441,900 and guaranteeing everybody else a payday of $565,193.

Next to go was Christoper Greaves who was super short-stacked by this point and gave his last 100,000 to Martin Jacobson. Finally, Maximillian Senft got it in flipping against Newhouse, but pocket Treys of Newhouse hit a set on the flop, and by the turn Senft was drawing completely dead. With his exit, the final ten players merged into a single table and it was the time. One of them would not get to come back in November. Everybody was just hoping it would not be them.

Chips exchanged hands and there was no lack of action, but it took some time before probably the unluckiest of all the bubble boys was determined. It just wasn’t meant to be for Luis Velador, who first lost about half of his stack when he called off Andoni Larrabe’s shove holding Ace-King only to get a bad news that Larrabe has found pocket Aces. The downhill trend continued on and eventually, Velador got last of his chips in the middle with pocket Fours and found a caller in Mark Newhouse who held pocket Fives and as board brought no help, Velador, who started of a ten-handed play with a great stack was out the door just like that. And with that unfortunate elimination, the November Nine is set!

In a couple months time, it will be Dutch Jorryt van Hoof returning with the chiplead followed by Norwegian Felix Stephensen. Although he is sitting in the third position chip-wise, Mark Newhouse was able to pull a feat unheard of since 2004 – he made back-to-back final tables of the Main Event. Last year, he came started the final table with a short stack and wasn’t able to go any further than 9th place, but this time he is coming back with some ammo. Either way, with this alone, Newhouse will become a poker legend.

Further down the line is Spaniard Andoni Larrabe who caught a lucky break in that hand against Velador, but coolers are as much a part of poker as anything else. Americans Dan Sindelar, William Tonking, William Pappaconstantinou have all earned their seats as well.

Although Swede Martin Jacobson and Brazilian Bruno Politano have been on top of the chip counts for quite a while, they are the two players who will be starting as short stacks when the play resumes in November.

Everybody who made it to final nine have secured a payday of at least $730,000, but the winner will walk away with a real treat - $10 million in cold, hard cash. The final two players will be playing a heads up match for nearly $5,000,000 – but that’s the bridge they’ll cross when the time comes.

For now, however, that is all from Vegas. 64 tournaments have ended, the last one is on a four-month break and we will all have to find something else to occupy our minds until the big one restarts. There is a lot of exciting poker ahead of us and while it may not be as grand as the Main Event, every tournament and every venue has a certain special flare to it.

Congratulations to all the November-Niners and let the… wait begin.