Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
After nearly 4 months of waiting it’s time to crown the 2010 World Series of Poker Champion. The November Nine are now getting ready for the biggest single table of their poker careers and everything is on the line today. No more waiting, preparing, sweating how everything will play out. Two of these nine players will end the day with a shot at the biggest title in poker but they’ll need to grind it out against some tough competition.
We are just 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the final table and the theater is beginning to fill up with family and friends of the players. The November Nine participants have taken their seat to unbag their chips and things are already a little rowdy in the theater. Jonathan Duhamel seems to have the loudest of gang at the moment with the throng clad in Montreal Canadien jerseys and chanting his name but you can’t overlook the gang here for Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as they are sporting his custom t-shirts. The line for general admission seating is once again winding it’s way from the Penn & Teller Theater all the way down to the monster Pavilion room so we will have a full house.
Check back here for your hourly updates as we play down to the final two.
By chip count:
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
2 – John Dolan – 46,250,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
4 – John Racener – 19,050,000
5 – Matt Jarvis – 16,700,000
6 – Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
7 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
8 – Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
9 – Jason Senti – 7,625,000
By seat assignment:
Seat 1 – Jason Senti – 7,625,000
Seat 2 – Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
Seat 3 – John Dolan – 46,250,000
Seat 4 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
Seat 5 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
Seat 6 – Matt Jarvis – 16,700,000
Seat 7 – John Racener – 19,050,000
Seat 8 – Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
Seat 9 – Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
12:30PT – After unbagging their chips, all nine players walked out of the theater for their official introduction to the crowd. A new twist this year was having the players pick their entrance music and they were escorted by a “ring girl” with their seat assignment. It was no big surprise that “The Grinder” received the biggest ovation as he high-fived and hugged his way to the table. For those who were wondering about the patch situation we have Mizrachi, Dolan, and Cheong sporting the red and white Full Tilt Poker patches. Racener, Jarvis, and Filippo are wearing the colors of our friends at CardRunners and Soi Nguyen with a Poker After Dark patch.
Tournament Director Jack Effel has handed out his instructions to the crowd and players. Play is now underway with voice of the UFC and Full Tilt’s Bruce Buffer doing the official “shuffle up and deal” command. Next up, let’s start busting players.
13:30PT – The first hour of play is complete and most of the chip movement has been through pre-flop action. Jason Senti came in as the short stack but made several open/shoves to start things off to pick up the blinds/antes and then took a big pot of Matt Jarvis to move up into 7th position. The biggest pot of the hour occurred between Jarvis and Joseph “subiime” Cheong, over 20 million in the middle before Jarvis folded to Cheong’s all-in shove on the river. Racener also pulled a decent sized pot from John Dolan when his Kings held up. Duhamel seems to be relaxing with his big stack making few moves but Dolan and Cheong are quickly gaining ground.
With Soi Nguyen and Senti coming in with their stacks in dangerous shape we certainly expected to lose a player but they are fighting their way through it all. The players will be heading off on a 20 minute break shortly to catch their breath. The updated chip counts from Jack Effel.
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,475,000
2 – John Dolan – 49,075,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 30,575,000
4 – John Racener – 17,750,000
5 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,350,000
6 – Filippo Candio – 13,800,000
7 – Jason Senti – 10,975,000
8 – Matthew Jarvis – 8,875,000
9 – Soi Nguyen – 8,750,000
14:30PT – I wrote too soon with my last update as Soi Nguyen was our first elimination at the final table just before the break. Nguyen open/shoved only to have Jason Senti reshove over the top to isolate the only amateur at the final table. When the cards were tabled we had what everyone likes to call a classic race, Nguyen’s AdKc versus QQ, with Senti jumping to a big lead with the Queen on the flop. Nguyen was left waiting for a gutter ball Jack which never materialized sending him to the rail in 9th place for $811,823.
After going through the exit interview process, Nguyen’s excitable entourage stormed from the Penn & Teller Theater in a mass of red t-shirts and happy faces.
Updated chip counts:
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,525,000
2 – John Dolan – 39,525,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 29,675,000
4 – John Racener – 24,175,000
5 – Michael Mizrachi – 18,050,000
6 – Jason Senti – 17,500,000
7 – Filippo Candio – 15,050,000
8 – Matt Jarvis – 10,125,000
15:45PT – There always seems to be one signature hand which is remembered during the final table and I believe we just saw it. Last year we had Darvin Moon suckout on Phil Ivey, today it was The Grinder sending the crowed into a frenzy.
After a series of raises, Mizrachi and Matt Jarvis put the chips in the middle with Jarvis at risk and another race with AQ for Grinder against 99. It was Insanity all the way down to the river. Mizrachi jumped out to a big lead in the hand with the two Queen flop but Jarvis sent the room reeling with a turned two-out 9. The long drawn out process of live poker was a slight pause before The Grinder was gifted the Ace of Spades on the river to make a bigger boat. The entire theater went into hysterics with the exception of the Jarvis cheering section who were stunned along with their guy.
It will tough to find a more memorable hand but there is always hope. 7 players remain and Jarvis collects $1,045,743 for his 8th place finish.
Updated chip count:
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 51,725,000
2 – Joseph Cheong – 42,725,000
3 – Michael Mizrachi – 42,150,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 27,425,000
5 – John Dolan – 25,025,000
6 – John Racener – 19,750,000
7 – Jason Senti – 11,300,000
17:00PT – Things settled down over the last as the field and spectators caught their breath. The biggest move over that time belonged to Joseph “subiime” Cheong who took nice chunk out of Duhamel’s stack and move into the chip lead. Just before the current break we saw another all-in and call with the shortstacked Jason Senti against Cheong.
With just 10,000,000 in chips he shoved with K7o and was called by Cheong with A9o. The flop kept everything clean but two diamonds, and putting a third diamond on the board with the Ad. Cheong was in the lead but was unable to dodge the runner runner when the diamond ten hit the river. Senti doubles to around 20,000,000.
Player are now on another 20 minute break and the stands have emptied out in favor of standing in line at the bar or bathroom. Level up!
Chip counts:
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 42,800,000
2 – Joseph Cheong – 39,350,000
3 – Michael Mizrachi – 38,575,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 35,325,000
5 – John Dolan – 29,750,000
6 – Jason Senti – 20,575,000
7 – John Racener – 13,725,000
18:00PT – With a 20 minute break and a pause for ESPN to change tapes there hasn’t been much action over the last hour. Mizrachi had perhaps the biggest hand and it never saw a flop when his 10,000,000 4-bet was good enough to drive Dolan and Duhamel away. That was enough to propel The Grinder into the chip lead and the field continues to trudge along.
The crowd seems to be getting more rowdy as the day goes along and the drinks kick in. Those supporting Mizrachi and Duhamel have been going back and forth with the chanting throughout the level adding to an already great environment.
Chip counts:
1 – Michael Mizrachi – 52,600,000
2 – Jonathan Duhamel – 45,980,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 34,500,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 31,325,000
5 – John Dolan – 23,150,000
6 – Jason Senti – 17,625,000
7 – John Racener – 11,575,000
18:45PT – The players must sense when I comment on the lack of action, no sooner was the last update posted and we had a double up. John Racener doubled through Filippo Candio in a battle of the blinds and flopped a set of Queens. Things didn’t get frisky until the turn Ace and then Candio put him all-in on the river. Racener is still the shortstack and has plenty of work ahead.
The players are heading off on their 90 minute dinner break and we will return with them.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, November Nine, WSOP
Posted by Dave McCarthy | Filed under Bloggers Corner
The WSOP Main Event Final Table is only days away. On Saturday November 6, the November Nine – Soi Nguyen, Filippo Candio, Matthew Jarvis, John Racener, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Michael Mizrachi, Jason Senti, and Jonathan Duhamel – will play down to two. Heads up play will resume Monday November 8, and ESPN will air the Final Table (probably not coincidentally) on November 9.
With so many Full Tilt Pros playing for the lion’s share of the 2nd largest purse in the history of poker – just short of $9m – we’ll have plenty of exclusive November Nine content.
In particular, our WSOP 2010 Final Table Coverage page will be bringing you videos, hourly updates, interviews, photos, and more – live from the Penn and Teller theater at the Rio.
Readers of the blog will have already seen AlCantHang’s November Nine handicapping, in which Al, Kevmath, and Spaceman analyzed and made their predictions for the final table’s constituents. There, you can also find the chip counts, M-ratios, and Vegas odds of all nine players.
November Nine Handicapping Part 1 reviews Jonathan Duhamel, John Dolan, and Joseph Cheong.
November Nine Handicapping Part 2 reviews John Racener, Matthew Jarvis, and Filippo Candio.
November Nine Handicapping Part 3 reviews Michael Mizrachi, Soi Nguyen, and Jason Senti.
Below, you’ll find a quick bio of the guys we’re rooting for, along with some Full Tilt commercials that never made it to TV over fears that it would spoil WSOP broadcasts for those who didn’t already know who made the November 9. They’re pretty good, even if we are a bit partial…
Hometown: Santa Ana, California, USA
Age: 37
Bio: The only remaining competitor who doesn’t play poker professionally, Nguyen works for a medical supply company in his home state of California. The Vietnamese-born Nguyen has many friends within the California pro poker community, including Nam Le, who have been helping Soi to improve his game since play was suspended. Soi doesn’t play poker too often and claims to have only played in three or four prior live tournaments, but still managed to cash in this year’s L.A. Poker Classic. His nickname is derived from his childhood love of soy sauce.
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Hometown: Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
Age: 26
Bio: Candio is the first ever Italian player at the WSOP final table and the last remaining European this year. Filippo has been playing professionally for a little over 3 years now and has cashed in several Italian events, including a win at the Italian Pro Championships in San Remo which netted him 185k. This is his first year at the WSOP, where he played in 7 events and cashed in only one before landing a coveted place amongst the November Nine.
Hometown: Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Age: 26
Bio: One of two remaining Canadian players vying to be the first ever Canadian Main Event Champ, Jarvis played well in online tournaments, but didn’t cash too often in live tournaments prior to the WSOP. Since becoming a member of the final nine, Jarvis has won two tournaments, the Canadian Open Poker Heads Up Championship and the 1k buyin Festa al Lago, showing just how dangerous he can be at this final table. Jarvis almost didn’t attend the WSOP this summer, when his dad was diagnosed with cancer, but his father insisted he play anyway.
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Hometown: Port Richey, Florida, USA
Age: 24
Bio: Racener has been a poker professional since finishing third in a WSOP Circuit Event which started within hours of his 21st birthday. He has never held any other job since discovering just how profitable the poker tables could be. Despite his youth, Racener is already well known in most poker circles, with over a million dollars in tournament winnings. Perhaps even more impressive, this November marks the 3rd straight year that he will make a WSOP final table.
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Hometown: La Mirada, California, USA
Age: 24
Bio: The South Korean born pro emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 6 years old. Cheong is a very active online tournament player, entering in over 10,000 events and earning countless final table appearances under the moniker ‘subiime’. He has only started transitioning to live events in the past two years and his discipline in online play has given him remarkable stamina in live tournaments. He played every single day of the 2010 WSOP, entering in 19 events and cashing in two of them before becoming one of the November Nine.
For Joseph’s Cheong never-to-be-aired commercial, visit Friend of the Blog Dr. Pauly’s Tao of Poker. Cheong’s is a particularly good one…
Hometown: Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Age: 24
Bio: Dolan attended Florida State, studying business for two years before dropping out to concentrate on poker. It’s a move that he admits was premature and risky, but has worked out in the end. Dolan has earned most of his money playing online where his most notable win is probably the 1k Monday on Full Tilt in 2009 which earned him about 94k. This tournament will be the 3rd WSOP event Dolan has cashed in this year, and his 6th cash finish in his career.
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Michael Mizrachi
Hometown: Miami, Florida, USA
Age: 29
Bio: ‘The Grinder’ has been one of the top tournament players for years, with over 8 million dollars in tournament winnings since his first event in 2004. He was Card Player Magazine’s 2006 Player of the Year, but 2010 looks like it will be his best year to date. Coming into this WSOP, Mizrachi was considered to be one of the best players to never win a bracelet. The Grinder ended that quickly, winning event #2, the 50k buyin Players Championship, for over 1.5 million dollars. It’s a hefty sum to add to the 22 other times he has cashed in a WSOP event. The Main Event could add another 9 million dollars and gold bracelet to an already impressive poker resume. One of the more interesting bits of trivia from this year’s Main Event is that all three of Mizrachi’s brothers (Robert, Danny, and Eric) cashed as well. Since the Grinder is married with three children, it may only be a matter of time before we have an entire final table of Mizrachis.
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Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, Filippo Candio, John Dolan, John Racener, Joseph Cheong, Matt Jarvis, Michael Mizrachi, Soi Nguyen
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Just a few short days before the remaining players in the 2010 World Series of Poker gather back at the Rio in Las Vegas to play down to the winner. The November Nine spent 3 plus months preparing for the biggest two days of poker in their careers, in the end we will have one player collect nearly $9,000,000 and a shiny new bracelet. The title will bring the additional prestige of being crowned the World Champion and shuffled around the world for interviews as the involuntary “ambassador of poker”. Such are the expectations after winning the WSOP Main Event.
We’ll spend the few days leading up to the first day of play highlighting the process some of the players went through preparing for their time on the big stage, pressure they’ve felt over the last months from influences outside of the game (family, tickets, endorsements, interviews, etc), as well as what they think their chances are with just 8 players between them and the title. Until then we bring you the final chapter of our November Nine Handicapping.
Our guest bloggers give you their thoughts on the smallest three stacks at the table. While they may not be favored by those making the odds, you will find the most well known pro, the only true amateur, and the shortstack who will be looking for some quick action if he can pick up a big hand. The Grinder, The Rookie, and The Shortie. You should already know about our distinguished panel of prognosticators in Jason “Spaceman” Kirk and Kevin Mathers so we’ll get right to it.
In addition to their thoughts, I’ve also attached the videos/advertisements produced for Michael Mizrachi and Soi Nguyen. They were rejected by ESPN because it removed some suspense about who would make the November Nine.
2010 World Series of Poker – November Nine Handicapping Part 1
2010 World Series of Poker – November Nine Handicapping Part 2
By chip count:
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
2 – John Dolan – 46,250,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
4 – John Racener – 19,050,000
5 – Matt Jarvis – 16,700,000
6 – Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
7 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
8 – Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
9 – Jason Senti – 7,625,000
By seat assignment:
Seat 1 – Jason Senti – 7,625,000
Seat 2 – Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
Seat 3 – John Dolan – 46,250,000
Seat 4 – Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
Seat 5 – Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
Seat 6 – Matt Jarvis – 16,700,000
Seat 7 – John Racener – 19,050,000
Seat 8 – Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
Seat 9 – Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
Michael Mizrachi – Seat 5 – 14,450,000 (M=18.06)
Current odds from 5/1 to 7/1 (+500 to +700)
Last year we had Phil Ivey, this year we get Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as the most recognizable professional at the Main Event final table. The comparisons with Ivey end there as Mizrachi came into the 2010 WSOP as one of those players carrying the dreaded “one of the best without a bracelet” title. He had the results away from the series but just a handful of painful close calls when a bracelet was on the line.
He began playing tournament poker in 2004 and won his first WPT title at the L.A. Poker Classic. In 2006 he was CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year after several big results including his second WPT title at Borgata Winter Poker Open. He cashed seven times in the 2008 WSOP but with nearly $8,000,000 in career tournament earnings his best WSOP result was a third place finish. That all ended with the first open event in 2010 with the $50,000 Player’s Championship when he defeated the entire field including his brother Robert at the final table for his first bracelet.
Mizrachi is also mathematically eligible to tie Frank Kassela for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year but I’m certain the bracelet and ~$9,000,000 are a more pressing concern on the “The Grinder”.
From Spaceman:
In some ways there is a ton of pressure on Michael Mizrachi at this year’s WSOP Main Event final table. He isn’t the only professional poker player at the table, but he is the only one recognized all over the world thanks to his many televised final table appearances and his long track record of winning. He is also the only remaining player who can tie Frank Kassela for this year’s WSOP Player of the Year award, needing to win the tournament to do so. That’s a lot to have on your mind with the biggest tournament title in the world – and a huge prize to boot – up for grabs.
Mizrachi had to fight against his nature to even make it to this point, noting after the lineup was set that he’d never folded so much in his life as he did on the final day of play in July. Understanding the magnitude of opportunity that making the final table and having a shot at the POY award would afford him, he locked down and survived the grueling final day. If he chooses to play his position in the same way as Phil Ivey did last year in a nearly identical chip position, that experience from July should come in handy. Of course, there’s one major difference between Mizrachi this year and Ivey last year: Mizrachi has a much better seating assignment than Ivey did. His decisions should be relatively easy in the early going since the stacks surrounding him are fairly similar to his own, whereas Ivey had a more dynamic group of stack sizes to contend with last year.
If Mizrachi doubles up, I love his chances to win this tournament; few players have the kind of track record in big tournaments that he has. Even if he only picks up smaller pots here and there, I think he will be a serious problem for at least half of his tablemates. But with a shortish stack, one early run of bad luck is all it will really take to sink him. The odds being offered him are a little bit skewed because of his popularity, so I can’t value him too highly, but lots of people will want to bet on him and I can’t really blame them.
A proven record as one of the world’s top poker pros, a decent seating assignment, but a stack on the short side at this final table and a skewed set of odds – if you absolutely have to bet on Mizrachi, take him as close as you can get to the +700 end of the spectrum.
From Kevmath:
The Grinder is this year’s Phil Ivey, the player the established pros hope takes down the title after years of lesser known players and amateurs winning the Main Event. Like Ivey last year, Mizrachi’s starts 7th in chips and his chances of winning have been highly overestimated. Mizrachi has to deal with the big stacks of Dolan and Duhamel acting in front of him, expect the Grinder to grind his way up to a fifth place finish.
Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000 – Seat 9 (M=12.06)
Current odds from 14/1 to 18.5/1 (+1,400 to +1,850)
Soi Nguyen comes into play on Saturday as the only true amateur remaining in the field, he has just one other cash on his resume which came after he was already locked up for a November appearance. The Main Event was his first ever WSOP event and he was often heard telling his tablemates he wasn’t 100% solid on what was happening. While it is entirely possible the rookie was in above his head, you would never know by the company he keeps such as former WSOP champions Steve Sung and JC Tran.
Nguyen works for a medical supply company and until now just considered poker as his hobby. He spent the down months studying the game and picking the brains of his professional friends. His lack of experience and shallow stack will make him a long shot to win it all but stranger things have happened.
From Spaceman:
As the only true amateur at this final table, there’s really zero pressure on Soi Nguyen. If he flames out early, it’s all because of his short stack and amateur status. If he hangs in there and makes it near the end – or even wins it – he’s a Cinderella story that will make ESPN’s producers very, very happy. With no worries on his mind, Nguyen will be free to enjoy the moment and make the most of his opportunity.
Admittedly, he’s facing an uphill battle as one of the table’s short stacks. If he does manage to pick up chips, he’ll be forced to play with some of the toughest players at the table to his left. And of course, there are some tough players on his right as well. As the tournament was winding down to this final table lineup, Nguyen didn’t seem to have much luck against his tablemates, dropping pots to Michael Mizrachi and Joseph Cheong. I honestly don’t expect that he’ll be able to put up much of a fight against them unless he’s the beneficiary of some extremely good cards.
The table’s only true amateur, a lack of pressure, but a short stack – if you’re going to bet on Nguyen, take him at +1700 or higher.
From Kevmath:
Soi Nguyen is the lone amateur at the final table, as well as the oldest player. Age doesn’t mean he has more experience, as the Main Event was Nguyen’s fourth live tournament. On the ESPN broadcasts, he’s been portraying himself as not knowing too much about various poker terminology. He’s good friends with Nam Le and some other California pros, so he could be trying to psych out his opponents. However, I expect Nguyen to be shoving with any two cards at the start against a field that’s expected to play more cautiously at the start. Unfortunately for Nguyen, I suspect Nguyen will run into a monster when he makes one of those moves, and be knocked out in ninth place.
Jason Senti – 7,625,000 – Seat 1 (M=9.53)
Current odds from 16/1 to 25/1 (+1,600 to +2,500)
Jason Senti comes to the final table with the smallest stack and perhaps the most obvious strategy at the resumption of play. With an M of under 10 his options will be limited. But if there is anyone at this final table that is capable of pulling the classic shortstack ninja plays it would be Senti.
“PBJaxx” to the online community, Senti is an instructor at Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond’s poker training site. He has successfully climbed his way up from the micro-limit cash games to know grinding away online in the $50/$100 games. It didn’t take long for the electrical engineering graduate to realize he had the talent and math skills to become a successfull poker player. He has plenty of work ahead of him if he wants to come from the back of the pack to win it all but it would be an interesting story.
From Spaceman:
Thanks to his position as the shortest stack, Jason Senti has the clearest game plan of any player at this final table: wait on a big hand and play it fast. If he can’t get a big hand in the early going, the path before him won’t become any more difficult – he’ll just have to find a semi-strong hand and make an all-in move. That clarity of mission will take all the pressure off Senti and put it on his opponents, who will all know what kinds of hands the Minnesota pro is going to play and will be faced with the prospect of doubling up the table short stack with a bad call.
The biggest problem for Senti is that he’ll find himself with a below-average chip stack even if he manages to double up. While it’s possible that his game plan might change if he were to find himself in that position, I think it’s much more likely that Senti would stick with the tight-is-right mentality and look to move up the pay ladder. It would take quite a run of cards to put him in position to start playing creative poker, and that’s nothing to bet on.
A clear game plan, but an uphill battle even if he manages to get back in the hunt – I wouldn’t take Senti at anything less than +2,500.
From Kevmath:
Jason Senti is good friends with forum favorite Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, but his status as the shortest stack means he’ll be following Nguyen’s strategy and shoving early and often to accumulate chips. As a trainer at Galfond’s training site Bluefire Poker, Senti will have plenty of personal experience in working out a plan that will help him move up in the chip counts. Unfortunately, I don’t see Senti getting far at the final table, but will be able to get a pay jump after Nguyen’s elimination.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, Jason Senti, Kevmath, Michael Mizrachi, November Nine, Soi Nguyen, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The players forming the 2010 November Nine are getting ready for their closeups on the biggest stage in poker. Just a few short weeks before all eyes turn towards the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas as they will crown latest World Series of Poker Champion. We will watch a fine collection of young grinders who tip the scale with an average age right around 27 years old, even with Soi Nguyen’s 37 years on the earth skewing the number. Florida is well represented with 3 players and another 3 come from outside the United States (Canada is not yet the 51st state?). In our world here at Full Tilt Poker, we’re proud to have 7 of the 9 players representing the site with a great chance at glory.
With the date creeping closer we’ve decided to take a look at the remaining nine players to handicap their chances to win the biggest tournament of the year. I spent some time researching the various outlets who place odds on such things just to see what kind of numbers were floating around. The odds are basically in line with the chips counts with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi the only exception as the most accomplished player at the table. While I certainly have my opinions on how things will go at the final table, I thought it best to pull in some big guns to help handicap each player. Jason “Spaceman” Kirk and Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers have graciously decided to put their thoughts down and share them with the class.
Spaceman – One of the original poker bloggers who has worked in the poker industry for many years. He’s been everything from a tournament reporter to a published columnist. From home games to side events to world championship tournaments, he’s seen more hands of poker than the average person would even consider sane. It’s for this experience I recruited him to join along in helping us get a better feel of the players.
Kevmath – Quickly became a legend around the scene with what seems a bottomless pit of poker knowledge at his disposal. From his bat cave in New York he has established himself as one of the more interesting characters as he moderates forums, makes outstanding contributions to several sites, and generally has an answer to any poker question before anyone else. Due to his productivity, he’s often been accused of being a robot, SkyNet, or actually several people pretending to be one. As he begins to expand his horizons, I thought it would be a great idea to get his take on this year’s November Nine.
Part 2 brings us to the middle of the field, three players sporting similar stacks who will have to take advantage of every opportunity to pick up chips. John Racener, Matthew Jarvis, and Filippo Candio all drew seats together with short stacks to the right and big stack Duhamel on the left. Among those three you can find Racener with the best career results, Jarvis with the recent hot hand, and Candio doing whatever crazy Italian guys do to unwind.
In this version of our November Nine handicapping we’ve also included a look at the player videos put together by our creative team here at Full Tilt highlighting each of our 7 members of the 2010 November Nine. Those videos as well as our prognosticator’s thoughts can be found below.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Filippo Candio, Guest Posts, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, John Racener, Kevmath, Matt Jarvis, November Nine, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
2010 World Series of Poker November Nine
The players forming the 2010 November Nine are getting ready for their closeups on the biggest stage in poker. Just a few short weeks before all eyes turn towards the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas as they will crown latest World Series of Poker Champion. We will watch a fine collection of young grinders who tip the scale with an average age right around 27 years old, even with Soi Nguyen’s 37 years on the earth skewing the number. Florida is well represented with 3 players and another 3 come from outside the United States (Canada is not yet the 51st state?). In our world here at Full Tilt Poker, we’re proud to have 7 of the 9 players representing the site with a great chance at glory.
With the date creeping closer we’ve decided to take a look at the remaining nine players to handicap their chances to win the biggest tournament of the year. I spent some time researching the various outlets who place odds on such things just to see what kind of numbers were floating around. The odds are basically in line with the chips counts with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi the only exception as the most accomplished player at the table. While I certainly have my opinions on how things will go at the final table, I thought it best to pull in some big guns to help handicap each player. Jason “Spaceman” Kirk and Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers have graciously decided to put their thoughts down and share them with the class.
Spaceman – One of the original poker bloggers who has worked in the poker industry for many years. He’s been everything from a tournament reporter to a published columnist. From home games to side events to world championship tournaments, he’s seen more hands of poker than the average person would even consider sane. It’s for this experience I recruited him to join along in helping us get a better feel of the players.
Kevmath – Quickly became a legend around the scene with what seems a bottomless pit of poker knowledge at his disposal. From his bat cave in New York he has established himself as one of the more interesting characters as he moderates forums, makes outstanding contributions to several sites, and generally has an answer to any poker question before anyone else. Due to his productivity, he’s often been accused of being a robot, SkyNet, or actually several people pretending to be one. As he begins to expand his horizons, I thought it would be a great idea to get his take on this year’s November Nine.
We will start off with the top three chip stacks when play resumes. Jonathan Duhamel, John Dolan, and Joseph Cheong combine to hold more than 60% of the chips in play giving each a great shot for the braclet which is evident in the numbers generated by the odds makers. You can find the chip counts, seat assignments, and our prognosticator’s thoughts after the jump.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, John Dolan, Jonathan Duhamel, Joseph Cheong, Kevmath, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Your PFR crew is finally starting to recover from our WSOP hangover just in time to get ready for the build up to the 2010 November Nine. The work has begun on our efforts to handicap the final players as well as some profiling and interviews. We still have some great guest posts around from those two months of the summer to share with you. Here’s one of them.
As I documented during the WSOP, 2010 saw an explosion of smartphones in the field along with most of your favorite poker players reaching out to their fans via social networking. One of our favorite guest bloggers, Michele Lewis, took some time running around the Amazon and Pavilion Rooms snapping pictures of different folks typing/twittering/texting away on their phones.
Enjoy
Phone a friend
by Michele Lewis
It’s a good thing we see less WSOP jackets with “Player” on the back than we see smart phones at the table. No doubt, the 2010 WSOP has far more tweeting going on than 2007, especially with easily used apps for that. Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, who are usually attached at the hip, use SMS for hot guy alerts and to keep up with chip counts.
Joe Sebok is always working…on his phone. Always.
Al Can’t Hang roams around the room. A lot. In fact, he knows when pizza is delivered to the Full Tilt Suite, except for today. When he wanders over to the ESPN featured table it’s always fun to send him a text telling him something like… “Hey, Lacey Jones is watching the featured table and looking for you.” It makes for a good pic when he starts to look for Ms. Jones.
During Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s final table there was a rumor that BJ Nemeth and Pauly had a million dollar bet to see who was faster at tweeting Durrrr’s chip count. Turns out, it was only a rumor but if it were true… then this is what Tom “Durrrr” Dwan would look like if he were sweating a million dollar bet.
Joe “King of Twitter” Sebok typing away, then catching Michele and her camera
Yours truly walking the Amazon Room, caught on camera
WSOP media legends Dr. Pauly and BJ Nemeth
Tom “durrrr” Dwan spent a lot of time in 2010 working his phone
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, Michele Lewis, Tom Dwan, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Bad beats suck. It’s just the nature of the game. Unless you have your opponent drawing completely dead, you have a chance to be on the ugly side of a slim draw. Spending the last few years around both live and online poker games, I have seen my fair share of just incredibly horrible beats. From the river one outers to the runner runner perfect 1% gross beats. It seems my never ending lot in life is to explain to online players that their bad beats happen live and vice versa.
The 2010 WSOP was nothing out of the ordinary in this aspect. At one stretch I watched four consecutive all-in situations where aces or kings were cracked in absolute brutal fashion. ESPN’s Andrew Feldman made his appearance at the Rio at the start of the Main Event and immediately watched big hands get flushed, after two months (or two weeks) you just become immune to them. Perhaps another reason I give very little slack to those who feel the need to tell bad beat stories. I’ve seen them all, your beat is nothing spectacular.
The Main Event brought over 7,000 players and seemingly just as many suckouts. While it is completely impossible to report them all, we did witness quite a few plus our friends at PokerNews were all too happy to display a little grief for the readers. I went back over my notes, tweets, and posts to find the worst ones after a Rail reader left a comment asking about the worst beats I saw. To keep things interesting I’m just posting nine and leaving the last one empty for the readers to fill in the blank.
Here you have some of the nasty, gross, disgusting ways to bust out of the 2010 WSOP Main Event and watch $10,000 disappear. Every one of these beats would send the online railbirds straight to the forums to complain about some sort of “conspiracy”. They were live, they happened, someone walked away very unhappy. After reading these I hope you begin to realize just how wide open this game can be.
Enjoy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Things are finally starting to settle down around here where I’ve mostly recovered from forced sleep deprivation and a poor diet. Dealing with the fantastic weather on the east coast (hot and humid as opposed to the Vegas hot) and getting ready to cover the next four months with WSOP and other poker fun.
Here are just a few of things we have lined up over the next few months:
November Nine handicapping - Just like last year, I am putting together an all-star blogging lineup to write a three part series of posts handicapping the 2010 November Nine. By the end of the series you should have a pretty solid read on the remaining players and how things just might play out.
November Nine Biographies - We have a big name pro in the November Nine (“The Grinder”), another solid name (John Racener), and mostly players you’ve never heard of. We will be bringing you the biographies of the November Nine and more specifically the Full Tilt Seven who find themselves sporting the red and white patches (pictured above).
November Nine contests - Once our handicapping is complete Mister McCarthy and myself will definitely come up with some contests to keep your interest from now til the end.
ESPN Broadcasts - The WWL began it’s 2010 WSOP coverage this past Tuesday with a roundtable discussion and the first tournament will be aired this coming Tuesday (July 27th) with the $50,000 Player’s Championship final table. One of us will be back each week with our thoughts on the broadcast and what you might have missed. We’ll also keep an eye out for your favorite bloggers in the background, a popular drinking game.
Here are your 2010 November Nine players by chip counts and seat assignment:
Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
John Dolan – 46,250,000
Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
John Racener – 19,050,000
Matt Jarvis – 16,700,000
Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 14,450,000
Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
Jason Senti – 7,625,000
Seat 1: Jason Senti – 7,625,000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
Seat 3: John Dolan – 46,250,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
Seat 5: Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 14,450,000
Seat 6: Matt Jarvis – 16,700,00
Seat 7: John Racener – 19,050,000
Seat 8: Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The final hours of the 2010 WSOP drug on forever and ever. Here were just some of my thoughts as the night went on.
Wiped out. That’s about the only way to describe how I felt after sunrise on Sunday morning. In the Amazon Room by 11am on Saturday morning and walking out after 7am on Sunday. It was a marathon of poker that was draining on everyone in the room and I can’t begin to imagine who it felt to be one of those players.
Everyone in the room was dragging but we thought once we were ten handed things should go quickly, just like the year before when it took less than an hour. Brandon Stevens was sitting on around 10bb’s and it was getting expensive to play an orbit. But he stuck around and around and around. Few all-in and calls but those that were just ended up doubling a short stack and off we went again.
Somewhere around the 3am time frame, I decided to do a “save” for my media colleagues who were getting loopy and just a little famished. The only option in the entire casino was the burger bar in the Rio casino so I placed the order. Before long I spread out a decent buffet of grilled meats and fried spuds for anyone to gnosh upon. The smell alone awoke a poor intern who will remain nameless.
Other members of the media who were only in town for the Main Event were not accustomed to such insane hours and seemed to lose their minds around this time also. Some of the updates/tweets are probably best kept behind them when they started to walk the line of crazy and entertaining.
As we crept up on the 6am hour, Tony the Security Maven turned his head and pointed, “TD Jack Effel, ladies and gentlemen, the guy who created this structure.” Most likely a not-so-subtle stab at the deep, long structure which allowed all ten players to “Kessler” their way until sunrise.
Finally we had a situation where the light at the end of the tunnel matched the light shining down from the sky. Brandon Stevens had all his chips in the middle versus Matt Jarvis in a classic race. The best part (not for either of these guys) was both stacks were relatively close. Meaning even if Stevens won the flip to stay alive, Jarvis would be desperately shortstacked. Alas the race was lost, Stevens was sent to the rail in a disappointing 10th place, and the delirious staff/media/players were finally able to crawl their way out of the Rio for the last time.
Until the November Nine interview the next day.
Over the course of the next two days, I estimate I slept 36 of those 48 hours and then hopped a plane back east. I am now firmly planted back in the land of hot and muggy ready to continue the quest. I will return over the next few days with my November Nine analysis and prediction (all of which will change as we get closer).
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s been a long summer and we’re down to the last day. Only 27 players are left standing in the Main Event with fully 2/3 of them considering the day a failure. They all have one goal, build the chipstack and book a spot in the 2010 November Nine. Anything can happen during the day, we could be out of here by midnight or watch the sunrise during the last break.
Full Tilt pro Scott Clements is the last red letter in the field after running his castle of chips higher throughout Day 7. Joseph Cheong and Soi Nguyen have set themselves a little apart from the rest of the field as they are the only over 20,000,000. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi continues his quest to set history with his second bracelet of the year but will have to up to his reputation and nickname. Adam “Roothlus” Levy has a ton of results online but will try to make a huge jump with his those live numbers.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, WSOP
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