With November Nine Set, Players Eye WSOP Main Event Title

When the World Series of Poker Main Event began, over 5,000 poker players from around the world settled in at the Rio in Las Vegas for their chance to become famous. After a couple of weeks of play, nine players have emerged to create the final table.

The November Nine took various different paths to get their seat at the final table. JC Tran, a name well-known within the poker community, will head to the final table in November with the chip lead. Tran will spend the next couple of months pondering how he will defend his 38,000,000 chips.

Unlike in past years when there have been large discrepancies between the chip counts for players at the final table, every player at the table this year goes to November with enough chips to do damage. Of the nine players, all except short stack David Benefield have over 10,000,000 in chips. Benefield will start the final table with 6,375,000.

Amir Lehavot sits just below Tran, in second position with 29,700,000. Marc-Etienne McLaughlin made a run at being the chip leader right before the final table was set, but lost out on that opportunity and will have to settle for third position, with 26,525,000.

Jay Farber was the story early in the tournament, racking up a big chip count with some aggressive play and a few big hands. Farber lost some of his speed halfway through the event, but played well enough to land the fourth position, with 25,975,000.

Sitting slightly lower (25,875,000) than Farber is Ryan Riess. He parlayed a strong start and a run of big hands late in the tournament to his final table seat.

Sylvain Loosli (19,600,000, Michael Brummelhuis (11,275,000), and Mark Newhouse (7,350,000) make up the final three spots. Brummelhuis becomes the first Dutch player to ever make the final table at the main event. Loosli was sitting pretty in second when the tourney reached three tables, but a string of lost hands took him down to his current position of sixth.

With the final table set, players will now embark on their own strategy journeys until play resumes in November. In past years, players have enlisted the expertise of top professionals to help them prepare for the final table.

Play will resume in November and the participants at the final table will play down until a champion is crowned.

Mizrachi, Ivey, Hanging Near The Top Of Main Event Leader Board
Players And Fans Excited On Eve Of WSOP Main Event