2011 WSOP November Nine

WSOP Final Table Preview

Since July 20th, nine poker players have been waiting for next weekend to arrive.

The final table of the World Series of Poker resumes after a four month break on Sunday, and for each of the nine players it is their first time on poker´s largest stage.

“It’s every poker player’s dream. You’ve got to go for it all” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/matt-giannetti”]Matt Giannetti[/geolink]

A prize of $8,711,956 awaits the winner of the World Series of Poker – a life-changing amount in anybody´s eyes – but bookmakers are having difficulty determining their favourite for the event, with chip leader [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/martin-staszko”]Martin Stazko[/geolink], [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/eoghan-odea”]Eoghan O´Dea[/geolink] and [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/ben-lamb”]Ben Lamb[/geolink] sharing favouritism at around 9/2 or better.

“It’s the one tournament of the year every poker player hopes to run well in” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/sam-holden”]Sam Holden[/geolink]

In a difficult year for poker, 6,855 poker players paid the $10,000 buy-in at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, slightly above the post-UIEGA average and creating a net prize pool of $64,531,000. The top 693 players cashed in the event, which will reward the winner with the 950th WSOP bracelet of all time.

“I’m playing for the country of Belize. Everybody knows about it, it’s going crazy” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/badih-bou-nahra”]Badih Bou-Nahra[/geolink]

85 different nationalities were represented in the World Series of Poker Main Event, and non-US players made up 33 per cent of the field. This is the first WSOP Main Event final table that has ever featured a German, Czech or Belizean.

“It’s the best in poker and would be pretty amazing to win” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/eoghan-odea”]Eoghan O´Dea[/geolink]

The chip counts go into the millions, but the blinds are not far behind! When play resumes on Sunday, the blinds will be 250,000/500,000 with a 50,000 ante – just short of a million chips on the table when the first hand is dealt and well worth stealing.

“I made the November Nine! I feel pretty good” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/pius-heinz”]Pius Heinz[/geolink]

Only 35 minutes remain in level 36 before the blinds then increase up to 300,000/600,000 with an ante of 75,000. Each level lasts two hours and could, in theory, continue up to the maximum level (47), where the blinds will be 3,000,000/6,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante.

“I don’t even understand how I feel right now” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/anton-makiievskyi”]Anton Makiievskyi[/geolink]

When play resumes on Sunday the game will continue until just three players remain. Those three will then have a day off on Monday before returning on Tuesday to play down to the eventual winner. The change to the original schedule has been made to [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/november-nine-delayed-to-suit-%E2%80%9Cnear-live%E2%80%9D-wsop-coverage-5323″]accommodate “near live” TV coverage[/geolink].

“Probably never get this deep in the main event again” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/phil-collins”]Phil Collins[/geolink]

TV coverage will be provided by ESPN2 and ESPN 3, starting at 3.30pm Eastern Time on Sunday (5 hours behind GMT as Americans put their clocks back on Sunday 6th November) and 9.00pm on Tuesday. It will be a late night for supporters of the European players watching from home, but worthwhile if one of them becomes World Series of Poker Champion.

“I won’t need to worry about money for the rest of my life” – [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/ben-lamb”]Ben Lamb[/geolink]

We wish each of the players the very best of luck, and you can follow each day´s events on [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com”]Poker News Report[/geolink]. The current state of play, table position and chip counts are in the table below. Click on any of the player´s names to find out more about how they achieved their November Niner status and how they have been filling the 110 day gap since July 20th.

“I got some big experience here” – Chip leader [geolink href=”https://www.pokernewsreport.com/martin-staszko”]Martin Staszko[/geolink]

Odds correct at time of publication