The final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, one of the most prestigious poker tournaments in the world, has been set after play concluded late last night to leave just the ‘November Nine’, the nickname given to the nine remaining players who will return to compete in the final table later this year in November.
The continued success of the WSOP shows no sign of abating, even amidst the global economic woes which have impacted consumer spending, with this year’s main event the third largest turnout in the forty-year history of the tournament.
This year’s field for the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold’em main event fell just short of last year’s total with 6,494 entrants, not including some 500 players who were refused entry on the fourth and final Day 1 of the event, after the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas reached its maximum capacity.
The main event began on July 3rd and after 13 days of continuous poker action, the November Nine was finally set at 11pm last night in Las Vegas, with U.S poker players dominating the leaderboard.
The November Nine players in order of chips are: Darvin Moon (U.S), the chip leader, Eric Buchman (U.S), Steven Begleiter (U.S), Jeff Shulman (U.S), Joe Cada (U.S), Kevin Schaffel (U.S), Phil Ivey (U.S), Antoine Saout (France), and James Akenhead (UK), who qualified for the event online at PokerStars.com.
Phil Ivey will be one of the hot favourites having already won two WSOP bracelets at this year’s tournament adding to his five previous bracelets.
The players will return to the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas on November 7th to take part in the final table, following the success of the format last year which helped generated further interest in the players and their techniques, as well as providing for live coverage of the final table on television.
Creating a total prize pool of US$61,043,600, the November Nine will all walk away millionaires, with the minimum prize of $1.26 million to the first to be eliminated, and the winner taking home a top prize of $8.55 million.
This year’s WSOP has already achieved a significant major milestone crossing the $1 billion mark in prize money awarded since the annual event began in 1970. Official 2009 tournament figures are yet to be released, however organisers expect the total WSOP prize pool to exceed $155 million for the fourth successive year, compared to a total of $354 million awarded during the tournament’s first 36 years.
“It’s nice to reach this milestone during the 40th annual WSOP,” said World Series of Poker President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “What’s most remarkable is that nearly two-thirds of this amount has been awarded in just the last four years. Poker is alive and well and here to stay.”
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