The Weekly PokerNews Strategy Quiz: What Were Their Chances? Reliving the November Nine Knockouts

11-05-2016 43789 responses Top results

The 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event played out in dramatic fashion this week, providing players and fans one of the more entertaining final tables in recent memory.

As it happened, all eight of the final table eliminations came in hands involving preflop all-in confrontations. Of course the decisions made in these hands were only the final ones of countless others made by the players dating back to July. But thanks to how these hands ended, many will be among the most memorable of the final table.

Relive the eight knockout hands from this year's November Nine while testing your knowledge of preflop percentages in hold'em with the eight multiple-choice questions below — one for each of the eliminations. Get six correct and pass the quiz, and if you happen to miss any you'll see an explanation of the correct response.

When you're done, check out the "Top results" to see how you did versus others, and if signed into your PokerNews account you'll see your username on the leaderboard. Get an account here, if you don't have one already.

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Question 1

First to go in ninth was Fernando Pons, who shoved a short stack with Ad-6c and was called by Cliff Josephy who held Kh-Jc. Two kings on the board sunk Pons, but how big of a favorite was he when the chips went in?

Question 2

Jerry Wong ended up all in and at risk before the flop with Jh-Js versus Vojtech Ruzicka’s Qh-Qd, and five cards later he was out in eighth. Wong had a little less than a ________ chance to win.

Question 3

In Griffin Benger’s case, he was all in preflop with As-9s versus Gordon Vayo’s 10s-10h, and though he paired his nine he didn’t improve enough to win and so finished seventh. After going all in and getting called, Benger had about a...

Question 4

The first night of the final table ended with Kenny Hallaert four-bet shoving with Ac-Qc and getting called right away by Qui Nguyen who held Ad-As. Hallaert would flop a queen but Nguyen’s aces held and Hallaert finished sixth. When the chips went in, Hallaert was the underdog with about a _________ chance of winning.

Question 5

On Day 2 of the final table, Vojtech Ruzicka was knocked out in fifth after getting short-stacked and going all in with Ad-7s and facing Qui Nguyen’s Ah-Qh. The 6d-4s-2s-5s-4d board provided a sweat, but Ruzicka missed and was out in fifth. When all in preflop, he was only ______ to win.

Question 6

Later on the second night Michael Ruane three-bet shoved with Kh-Qh and was called by Qui Nguyen who held Ah-Js, and when Ruane couldn’t connect he went out in fourth. Ruane’s chance of winning preflop?

Question 7

The third and final night saw Cliff Josephy endure a rollercoaster sequence of up-and-downs before finally getting knocked out in third. In his last hand, Josephy shoved from the small blind with Qd-3d, was called by Gordon Vayo in the big blind with Kh-6d, and failed to outdraw Vayo. In this scenario, Josephy’s hand will win almost...

Question 8

Gordon Vayo had Js-10s for his last all-in against Qui Nguyen who had Kc-10c, and Nguyen’s hand ended best to give him the title. Vayo was _______ to survive in this one.