Level: 37
Blinds: 300,000/600,000
Ante: 75,000
Level: 37
Blinds: 300,000/600,000
Ante: 75,000
Joseph Cheong has the button in Seat 2.
Action folds over to Filippo Candio in the hijack seat. He plays with some chips before raising to 1.325 million. Cheong calls from the button. Jonathan Duhamel pauses in the big blind and studies. He announces a reraise and his cheering section lets out a roar. He makes it 3.95 million to go. Candio moves all in for 14.95 million and the crowd jumps to its feet! Cheong doesn't fold quickly behind Candio and sits in the tank for a minute. He then folds and Duhamel quickly makes the call, putting the cards on their backs.
Duhamel:
Candio:
The flop comes down and keeps Candio well in the lead. The turn brings the and Candio is embraced by his railbirds on stage, knowing he's secured the double up. The river completes the board with the . Candio begins waving his arms up and down, trying to get his fans out in the audience to cheer. They oblige and the place goes nut.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow is sitting right in front of us and commented, "Well, more chips for Grinder," after the turn card fell.
Candio booms to 31.875 million while Duhamel drops to 50.475 million. Duhamel is still leading the way.
Jason Senti has the button in Seat 1.
Two players fold to Matthew Jarvis. He reaches for chips and puts in a raise to 1,175,000. Everyone else folds.
The cards are flying once again with 1:28 left in the current level.
Entering the table now are the brand spankin' new cranberry T500,000 chips. They're oversized at 50mm in diameter, and they present a whole new riffling challenge for the players. Let's see who puts them to use first.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jonathan Duhamel |
65,525,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
John Dolan | 39,525,000 | |
Joseph Cheong | 29,675,000 | |
|
||
John Racener | 24,175,000 | |
|
||
Michael Mizrachi | 18,050,000 | |
|
||
Jason Senti | 17,500,000 | |
Filippo Candio | 15,050,000 | |
Matthew Jarvis |
10,125,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
Since its inception, it’s not uncommon for the players that reach the November Nine at the end of July to continue their success on the felt during the months leading up to November.
The year the November Nine concept was introduced was 2008. That year, both Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate both found some success in the off months leading up to their massive final table. Eastgate found himself deep in the EPT London Main Event where he finished in 18th place. Demidov did something that was rather unheard of at the time and final tabled the WSOP Europe Main Event, eventually finishing in third place. When he returned to Las Vegas in November, he topped that finish with a second-place finish, falling short to none other than Eastgate himself.
The following year in 2009, James Akenhead and Antoine Saout both did what Demidov did the year before, they final tabled the WSOP Europe Main Event. They weren’t the only pairing to find themselves sharing a final table in the off months though. Kevin Schaffel and Steven Begleiter both final tabled the WPT Legends of Poker Championship Event. That begs the question for this year: who’s kept their summer run good going in the of months for 2010?
Out of the nine players who have made the November Nine this year, only three of them went without cashing in something during their break. The three that did not cash were chip leader Jonathan Duhamel, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and Jason Senti. It’s unsure about how many events Senti has played in the downtime, but both Duhamel and Mizrachi have been seen a good amount on the circuit, Mizrachi especially. He has been seen all over the globe trying to get as much poker in as possible. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to cash in any events, but that still doesn’t mean the practice won’t help him this weekend.
Out of the other six who did have some success, here’s what they have done.
Joseph Cheong
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
Detox Poker Series $230 No-Limit Hold’em | 122 | 13th | $650 |
EPT London £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em | 222 | 24th | £1,300 |
EPT London £10,000 High Roller Turbo | 69 | 2nd | £162,280 |
Festa al Lago $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em | 90 | 1st | $142,635 |
Matthew Jarvis
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
Canadian Open Poker Championship Heads-Up Championship | 64 | 1st | C$100,000 |
WSOP Europe £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em | 582 | 40th | £2,747 |
Festa al Lago $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em | 136 | 1st | $71,895 |
John Racener
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
Full Tilt Cyprus Classic $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys | N/A | 2nd | $22,143 |
WSOP Europe £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha | 120 | 5th | £39,486 |
John Dolan
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
EPT London Main Event | 848 | 107th | £7,500 |
World Poker Finals $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 212 | 2nd | $45,000 |
Soi Nguyen
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
WPT Legends of Poker Championship Event | 462 | 34th | $11,500 |
Filippo Candio
Event | Entries | Finish | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
Caesars Palace Classic $230 No-Limit Hold’em | 232 | 3rd | $4,726 |
Joseph Cheong had the most cashes with four and looks to have the best performance on the felt during his break before the November Nine. His four cashes are highlighted by a second-place finish in the EPT London High Roller Turbo and a win in a big Festa al Lago preliminary event. Matthew Jarvis had a good amount of success as well. Like Cheong, he also won a preliminary event at Festa al Lago. He also won the Canadian Open Poker Championship Heads-Up Championship, giving him two big wins. John Racener and John Dolan also had greater than one cash each, proving this final table isn’t missing out on talent.
Someone’s got to win the WSOP Main Event. Will it be one of the players who had a lot of success in the off months or one of the ones who couldn’t even find the money a single time in an event? Be sure to stick right here at PokerNews to find out!
That thrilling hand took the remaining eight players -- and the 1,500 or so people in the theater -- to the first break of the day. Play will resume in 20 minutes.
Soi Nguyen has the button in Seat 9.
When the table folds around to him, he announces an all in, and his large cheering section rises to their feet with a loud rush of support. It's 7.6 million total, and as soon as the amount is announced, Jason Senti immediately makes the call from the small blind. On cue, the entire theater rises to their feet, and the ensuing noise makes the stage tremble a bit.
Showdown
Senti:
Nguyen:
"Ja-son Sen-ti!" half of the theater is yelling in full throat for their guy while Camp Nguyen is a bit more outwardly nervous. They put their arms around each other, leaning toward the stage as they gaze up to see the cards on the big screen overhead. There is a long pause to build the tension for television, and the dealer is finally given the command to burn and turn:
Flop: ! Senti's lead grows into a monstrous one, flopping his set to put Nguyen two cards from the door. It's not without a sweat, though, as Nguyen flops four outs to the gutshot Broadway.
Turn: , an anti-climatic card that takes the air out of the theater for a moment.
River: . It's scary paint, and the theater all "Ooooooh"s in unison. Ultimately, however, it's no use to Nguyen's chances, and he has become the first casualty of the final table.
Jason Senti - 17.5 million
Filippo Candio has the button in Seat 8.
John Racener raises to 1.2 million from the cutoff seat. Candio quickly reaches for a big stack of chips and reraises to over three million. Racener folds after a minute of thought and Candio shows just a .
John Racener has the button in Seat 7.
Actions passes all the way to Racener. He raises to 1.1 million, which is good enough to collect the blinds and the antes.