WSOP November Nine: (Almost) Everything you need to know
Twenty-four hours from now, we’ll be in the air and traveling west at several hundred miles per hour. Upon landing, we’ll leave our planes with the throngs of Las Vegas hopefuls, make our way to the taxi line, and order our drivers toward the Rio. Inside the giant purple towers, all will be familiar. The All American Bar and Grill will be dishing out the red meat. The faux-drum beat that precedes the dancing waitresses will bang out every 15 minutes. Someone will walk by with a two-foot high souvenir mug full of liquid hope. Someone might even scream “Pai gow!” But in the air, there will be a different energy, because just hours later we will again see the third generation of the November Nine.
If you are planning to watch, or just want a general feel of what is supposed to happen, here’s a little preview:
At 9am, the hundreds of people who want to see the players will line up for their first-come, first-served seats. They will laugh, take photos, and wait. It’s the wait that will seem interminable. The line will sit immobile for two and half hours before the doors open. With each minute, the queue will snake farther out of the theater, around the corner at Starbucks,and down the convention center hallway toward the casino. Beginning at 11:30, the fans will push through the doors and on their way to watch 2010 poker history.
At high noon, the music will begin, and each of the November Nine will walk in the door one by one. If the schedule holds (which it never, ever does), at 12:10pm, someone will call out “Shuffle up and deal!” and the players will begin play on Level 36. That’s 250,000-500,000/50,000 for one hour, 15 minutes, and 30 seconds remaining, in case you didn’t take a look at the tournament clock at the end of summertime play.
Here’s how they will look, in order of their seats.
1. Jason Senti (PokerStars Sponsored Player) 7,625,000
2. Joseph Cheong 23,525,000
3. John Dolan 46,250,000
4. Jonathan Duhamel (PokerStars Sponsored Player) 65,975,000
5. Michael Mizrachi 14,450,000
6. Matthew Jarvis 16,700,000
7. John Racener 19,050,000
8. Filippo Candio 16,400,000
9. Cuong “Soi” Nguyen 9,650,000
They are not all guaranteed millionaires. The first man to bust out will get a piddly 1,823. After that, they’re all millionaires, and all fighting for a first prize that is near million.
Here are the payouts:
2010 November Nine prizes
1. ,944,310
2. ,545,955
3. ,130,049
4. ,092,545
5. ,332,992
6. ,772,959
7. ,356,720
8. ,045,743
9. 1,823
Well, that’s how it will look officially, anyway. In actual fact, the person who busts in ninth place will get nothing.
Why?
Well, as it turns out, everybody has already been given the equivalent of ninth place money. The rest of the prize pool has been invested and earned a whopping 9 in interest. So, everyone will be be splitting up that money, too. First place will be getting 2 of that investment return, which we would expect to be used to buy the first round for the media afterward. Right?
It’s a young table, to be sure. The average age of the remaining players is just a little older than 26 years old. Chip leader Duhamel is the youngest at 23. Soi Nguyen is the only player older than 30. He’s the old man at 37.
Looking to read up on all things November Nine? Check out any of these links:
That’s it, folks. All that’s left to do is get to Vegas and start playing. Join us around noon PST Saturday for the kickoff of our coverage.
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