WSOP on ESPN: We Have Our November Nine
On Sunday, as the Green Bay Packers were eviscerating the Chicago Bears on NBC, the PocketFives’ WSOP coverage is brought to you by William Hill Poker, one of the largest skins on the iPoker Network. The poker room offers a generous welcome package including a 200% deposit bonus up to $2,000 and a superb VIP program. Visit William Hill today!
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There were 16 players left when the action began on Sunday, meaning we only needed seven bust-outs for our November Nine to be determined. The first player to bite the dust was Eddy Sabat, who called all-in on the river with J-10 of hearts on a three-heart board against Jorryt Van Hoof (pictured), who had the nut flush. Sabat called Van Hoof’s exact hand while tanking and told ESPN, “I had a blast every day… I learned a lot. I’m definitely a better player coming out of this.”
The critical pots shown for Mark Newhouse, who made the November Nine last year, pretty much all involved hitting sets. He flopped three deuces against Bruno Politanoto scoop a pot of 10 million. Later, Newhouse raked in 14.9 million in chips after flopping another set against Politano, who paid Newhouse off with second pair. ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad correctly discerned, “That pot might carry Mark Newhouse to another November Nine.”
Felix Stephensen(pictured) 4bet pre-flop to put Thomas Sarra all-in. Stephensen had A-K and Sarra curiously called all-in with K-Q despite starting the hand with a comfortable stack of 50 big blinds. Sarra told his tablemates that he “spewed” and the group watched as he was drawing dead by the turn. Stephensen nearly doubled up as a result and raked in a pot of 24.2 million.
To start the second one-hour episode on Sunday, Oscar Kempsran K-J into Van Hoof’s aces to end his Main Event run, pushing Van Hoof into the chip lead. Then, Christopher Greaveswas crippled after doubling up Billy Pappas with A-Q against K-K. Pappas pushed his chip stack to 18 million and Greaves was gone shortly thereafter.
Also exiting short of the November Nine was PocketFiver Craig McCorkell, who was all-in with K-5 of clubs pre-flop against Newhouse, who had A-9. Neither player improved and McCorkell exited stage right.
Maximilian Senft lost a race with K-Q against Newhouse’s threes to end his Main Event run. Newhouse hit another set in that hand to seal Senft’s fate and the 10 remaining players circled around the feature table for one final elimination.
New Jersey poker player William Tonking(pictured) doubled with J-9 after drawing out on Martin Jacobson’s A-J. Tonking flopped a straight, but had to duck a club on the river. With the entire crowd chanting for the November Nine, Dan Sindelar told Tonking, “You had to fade the entire room.”
Luis Veladorwas crippled after calling the all-in of Andoni Larrabe with A-K. Larrabe had aces and Chad commented, “Ten-handed on the November Nine bubble, you have to lay that down.” Velador was eliminated shortly thereafter with 4-4 against Newhouse’s 5-5. Politano folded 10-10 in the hand and Velador became the November Nine Bubble Boy.
According to Chad, the odds of one person making back-to-back November Nines like Newhouse did in 2013 and 2014 were 1 in 524,000. Check out our exclusive interview with Mark Newhouse in which he talks about what might be the greatest feat in poker history.
The November Nine begins on Monday at 8:00pm ET on ESPN2 on a 30-minute delay and will continue until three players are left standing. On Tuesday, three-handed play begins at 9:00pm ET on ESPN and will continue until the 2014 Main Event champion is crowned.
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