Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Day 9 Started
2010 World Series of Poker
Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Day: 9
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$68,798,600
Entries
7,319
Level
41
Blinds
800,000 / 1,600,000
Ante
200,000
November, Party of Nine?
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The PokerNews Live Reporting team is en route to Las Vegas for this weekend's conclusion of the 2010 WSOP. It's been a long time coming, and we're thrilled to be bringing you all of the action in real time directly from the theater stage. The November Nine is just about 48 hours away, so start getting your bets to the window, and keep an eye on this space for content and coverage from now until we crown our champion!
WSOP Main Event Final Table Preview
Our very own Kristy Arnett stopped by the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino the day before the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event final table to kick things off with the final table preview video. She's got the lowdown on seating assignments and chip counts along with a few words from every player. Check it out and be sure to test out PokerNews' new feature which Kristy mentions at the end of the video.
It's like Christmas Eve here in Las Vegas if you're a poker fan and we can't wait to kick off the 2010 November Nine tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. PST. We'll see you right here then!
Seat 1: Jason Senti (7,625,000)
Jason “PBJaxx” Senti, a 28-year-old professional poker player from Minnesota, commands the shortest stack among the 2010 World Series of Poker November Nine with 7.625 million chips.
“Super short, but I’m in,” he tweeted moments after the final nine was set.
There is no cause for alarm with 15 big blinds, however, seeing that just last year 2009 November Niner Antoine Saout turned 18 big blinds into a third-place finish good for $3,479,670. Senti is no stranger to success himself, having finished fifth in Event 34 High of the 2010 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker for $47,125 and 32nd in the 2009 WSOP Heads Up Championship for $17,987.
How He Got There
Senti entered Day 7 among the short-stacks with just 970,000 chips. He proceeded to balloon that number to 13.55 million thanks in part to a very fortuitous double-up through Matthew Bucaric. Bucaric opened to 200,000 from under the gun and received three callers including Senti from the cutoff. The flop fell 
, and after a series of bets, Senti and Bucaric got all the biscuits in the middle. Senti’s 
had outflopped Bucaric’s 
, and neither the 
nor the 
changed anything, doubling Senti to 6.1 million chips.
The double-up sparked Senti and within two hours he eliminated both Edward Ochana and Michael Skender to more than double his stack to 13.25 million.
Senti entered Day 8 fourth in chips but failed to get anything going. His stack slowly dwindled and then took a big hit when he doubled Brandon Steven who eventually bubbled the official final table. Although Senti saw his stack halve during the 18-hour marathon, he found a way to survive the day and cement his name in WSOP history.
What to Watch For
Seat 1 is also an interesting place for Senti to be because he has position on Soi Nguyen (owner of the second shortest stack) and Filippo Candio (the most aggressive player at the table). Nguyen, like Senti, needs to double, and Candio is sure to open early and often. If Candio habitually opens light, this gives Senti the opportunity to resteal and possibly chip up without showing down. However, if Nguyen starts open-shoving, then Senti will be forced to sit and wait for a hand. This is a very unique table dynamic that could either make or break Senti’s bracelet chances.
Senti has already proven capable of manipulating the short-stack during the later parts of the Main Event. This will be his toughest test yet, and he will need a little bit of luck, but don’t count him out as a contender for the bracelet.
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong (23,525,000)
Joseph Cheong, who turned 24 in June, was born in Seoul, South Korea but immigrated to the United States at the age of six. He attended the University of California at San Diego and graduated with a degree in psychology last year. Cheong, who now lives in La Mirada, California, is no stranger to poker. Not including his November Nine appearance, Cheong has amassed $461,436 in career tournament winning, which included a WSOP Circuit preliminary event victory at Harrah’s Rincon (San Diego) in April. He took home $17,541 and a gold circuit ring for his win. Cheong’s performance in the Main Event marked his third cash at the WSOP this past summer when he finished 24th and 29th in two six-handed no-limit hold’em tournaments. Cheong enters the November Nine final table third in chips with 23,525,000 and will be positioned in Seat 2.
How He Got There
Day 7 proved to be a crucial time for Cheong as he vaulted to the top of the chip counts; however, it was not all smooth sailing as he found his tournament life at stake early on. In the hand, Soi Nguyen and Cheong put in a series of preflop raises and then watched the flop come 
. Nguyen bet 650,000, and Cheong responded by moving all-in for his last 2.62 million. Nguyen called and created a pot worth nearly 8 million.
Cheong: 
(top pair, top kicker)
Nguyen: 
The 
turn and 
river changed nothing, and Cheong got an early double. There was no looking back as Cheong continued to chip up.
He eliminated Evan Lamprea a short time later when his pocket tens held against . A little later in the day, Cheong squared off with another opponent after Nicolas Babel opened with a raise from under the gun and Cheong reraised to 420,000 from the button. After the blinds got out of the way, Babel called and watched the flop fall 
.
Babel checked, Cheong bet 680,000, Babel check-raised all in for 3.19 million total, and Cheong called. Babel showed 
but was behind Cheong’s 
. The turn was the and the river the 
, sending Babel out in 38th place ($206,395) while Cheong chipped up to 18.7 million.
By the end of the day, Cheong had captured the chip lead with 24,490,000, an amount he would ultimately ride all the way to the final table.
What to Watch For
In an interview with WSOP.com, Cheong said: “The entire table is experienced. They are all good players. I guess if I had to say what is my biggest concern, it would be both John Dolan and Jonathan Duhamel. They both have big stacks and they are very experienced online players. The other players I really do not know too well. They seem to be decent and good players.”
Cheong’s biggest concern will be all-to-present at the final table -- both Dolan and Duhamel, the two big stacks, are seated in Seats 3 and 4 respectively. This is not good news for Cheong, who sits in Seat 2 with the table’s third largest stack; both players will have position on him throughout.
On the other hand, this will allow Cheong the first opportunity to jump in and take control of a pot. This will be especially handy considering the two short-stacks at the table, Jason Senti and Soi Nguyen, are seated directly to Cheong's right, which means he’ll have the chance to push them around if they limp into too many pots. Given his chip stack and position, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cheong be either the first one out or the last one standing.
Seat 3: John Dolan (46,250,000)
John Dolan enters the November Nine second in chips with 46,250,000. Dolan is a 24-year-old online poker pro from Fort Myers, Florida. Against his family’s advice, Dolan left college at Florida State after two years to pursue poker. Things didn’t go well at first, and Dolan was forced to take on various jobs to make a living. In 2007, he took a position as a poker dealer, which reignited his love of the game. Around the same time, Dolan began to find success online.
In an interview with ESPN.com, Dolan revealed his start in online poker: "It was probably more success than I deserved. At the time I was just playing. I was extremely young, very naive about poker. I feel I have a lifetime of knowledge compared to what I had back then. I ran through a bunch of money, ran it back up a couple times, and I don't think I was learning much more, I was just playing. I was down-swinging, taking shots, uneducated about bankroll management, and ended up, through a friend that I played high school baseball with, meeting with Brian "SNo0oWMAN" Hawkins who was having a sick year and … he ended up backing me. It was blind luck and perfect timing. He started helping me and that's when I started to learn and become a student of the game.”
Obviously, Dolan’s decision to leave college will pay off financially because of his deep run in the Main Event, but he was doing fairly well even before the WSOP. Aside from doing well online, Dolan notched some impressive live results, the biggest coming from a victory in a $1,000 buy-in event at the 2009 Winter Bayou Poker Challenge good for $31,874.
How He Got There
Dolan began Day 8 of the Main Event in 24th chip position out of the remaining 27 players. By the end of the day, Dolan had somehow emerged as one of the chip leaders. How did he do it?
He started with a double-up through Michiel Sijpkens, which granted him a short reprieve. This would not be the last Dolan would see of Sijpkens. Later on in Day 8, Sijpkens was on the button and raised to 480,000 with the 
. John Dolan looked down at and just called from the small blind. The flop came 
, giving Dolan a flopped full house. Both players checked as the fell on the turn. Dolan bet 525,000, and Sijpkens called with his Broadway straight draw. The 
on the river gave Sijpkens the straight, and he raised Dolan’s 1.1 million bet to 2.6 million. Dolan moved all-in for 860,000 more, and Sijpkens called. Dolan doubled on the hand to 8.45 million, his second through Sijpkens.
As the eliminations mounted, Dolan continued to add to his stack. He eliminated Duy Le in 13th place and brought his stack up to over 20 million. When action was down to just ten players and on the final table bubble, Dolan kicked things into high gear. The bubble lasted more than six hours, and Dolan was not afraid to use it to his advantage. In fact, in just a 30-minute time frame, Dolan managed to increase his stack from 22 million to 45 million without so much as a showdown!
What to Watch For
Dolan will be seated in Seat 3, with Joseph Cheong (23,525,000) to his right and chip leader Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000) to his left. In poker, having the big stack seated on the left is not a good thing. It is always a concern to have someone act behind who has the chips to bust you. To make matters worse, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is seated to Duhamel’s left, which allows two tough opponents to act after Dolan. On the flip side, Dolan will have the opportunity to slow play some hands against the chip leader and the pro, which could prove to be extremely useful given the right run of cards.
The good news is that Dolan is not likely to panic. He has exhibited a great deal of self-control throughout the last stages of the tournament, plus he has a propensity to be ultra-aggressive in a quiet, unassuming manner. "I feel like [not letting the moment hit me is] real crucial in poker, and it's the way I play my best at all times," he said. "I almost separate emotion from every aspect in poker, and I try not to get too emotional, no matter what tournament I'm playing or how deep I get. I'm not saying I'm immune to it, but it's what I go for and it's how I play better."
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000)
Jonathan Duhamel is the man to beat in this year’s November Nine. He enters the final table as the chip leader with 65,965,000, almost 20 million more than his next closest competitor. The odds-on favorite, Duhamel is no stranger to poker. Born in Boucherville, Quebec, the 22-year old Canadian native began taking the game seriously when he was only sixteen. “I started playing with the older brother of one of my friends and a few other friends, just like almost everyone,” Duhamel said. “I loved it from the start and I immediately realized that in this game, there were good players and very bad players too. The difference was evident.”
Duhamel attended college in pursuit of a finance career, but his plans soon changed. He discovered that he was making so much money playing online poker that he needed to take it more seriously. Against the advice of his family and friends, Duhamel took the plunge and pursued poker full time. Obviously that decision will pay off exponentially as he stands to make millions just for making the November Nine. However, Duhamel was doing well even before this year’s Main Event. Aside from his online winnings, Duhamel placed 10th in the 2008 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague Main Event for $53,928 and took 15th for $37,276 in Event #56 $2,500 No Limit Hold’em just before the Main Event.
“I knew I could beat everyone . . . that I could play with them,” Duhamel said. “But winning that last tournament gave me some confidence, and it put me back in the mood to play and perform.” It is a good thing Duhamel did well in that tournament. If things had turned out differently, he might not be the chip leader in poker’s biggest tournament.
How He Got There
Duhamel entered Day 8 under the radar as just an average stack, but that would soon change. Early on in the day, Duy Le raised to 305,000 and Jonathan Duhamel reraised to 865,000 from the small blind. Robert Pisano made the overcall from the big blind and Le called as well.
The flop came 
and Duhamel checked to Pisano, who bet 1.65 million chips. Le folded and Duhamel called to see fourth street, which was the . Duhamel led out into the pot with a bet of 1.875 million and Pisano moved all in over the top. Duhamel called all in for 4.46 million and revealed 
for a turned straight. Pisano was disgusted to see he was drawing dead with his . The meaningless filled out the board and Duhamel more than doubled to 21.6 million.
Duhamel’s biggest moment came later on Day 8 in a hand that’ll likely be talked about for years to come. In the hand, Duhamel raised to 550,000 from the cutoff position and Matt Affleck three-bet to 1.55 million from the button. The blinds folded and Duhamel opted to four-bet to 3,925,000. Affleck made the call and created a pot worth 8 million chips preflop!
Duhamel checked the 
flop and Affleck fired out 5 million. Duhamel called as the dealer burned and turned the . Once again, Duhamel checked to Affleck, who did the only thing he could do and moved all in for 11.6 million chips. Even though Duhamel had Affleck covered, it was a huge decision. Duhamel went into the tank, peeked at his cards, and puffed his cheeks out in a big sigh. Another minute passed before Duhamel shook his head and called.
Duhamel: 
Affleck:
The pot was huge, a total of 42 million chips. Affleck stood up in nervous anticipation as the 
peeled off on the river. Duhamel came from behind to make a straight and take down the monster pot, bringing him to 51 million, while eliminating Affleck in 15th place.
What to Watch For
Duhamel will be seated in Seat 4, which brings with it both good and bad news. The good news is that the other big stack at the table, John Dolan (46,250,000) will be seated to his immediate right. This will give Duhamel the power of position throughout the final table and allow him to push Dolan around. On the flip side, the most established and feared player at the table, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, will be seated to Duhamel’s left. Every advantage he will have over Dolan, Mizrachi will have over him. If Mizrachi can grind his short stack up, Duhamel will have to fight an uphill battle.
While Duhamel is known for his aggression, he might have to change gears at the final table. He is confident and readily admits, “My greatest quality, I think, is my calm. I manage to never tilt. What I need the most to improve is to stop playing the sheriff and respect more players, especially the bad players who also have good hands sometimes.”
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000)
The man that everyone will be watching at the final table this weekend will be Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. If Mizrachi can win, he’ll make history. At the beginning of the 2010 WSOP, Mizrachi won the coveted $50,000 Player’s Championship title and his first gold bracelet. No one has ever even come close to winning that event and the Main Event in the same year, and Mizrachi finds himself with just eight players left in his way.
Mizrachi learned to play poker from his older brother, Robert, who showed his younger brother the ropes and helped him cut his teeth. Before long, Mizrachi was working his way through the limits becoming more and more successful. “The Grinder” got his nickname for having a solid, consistent style of play: always steadily “grinding” out profits at the table. When he realized he could make some real serious money playing, Mizrachi let his aspiration to become a doctor take the back seat, and he dropped out of college to play full time.
He made his name known in the poker community toward the end of 2004 and in the beginning of 2005. In December 2004, Mizrachi won an event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic II and followed that with a fifth-place finish at the WPT World Poker Open. About a month later, he ground his way to another WPT final table in the L.A. Poker Classic. This time, he won the first-place prize of over $1.8 million.
Continuing his success in 2005, Mizrachi cashed seven times at the WSOP. He then placed second at the Goldstrike World Poker Open in January of 2006 before winning the Borgata Winter Open in the same month. Combined, he took home over $1.7 million for those two finishes.
Cashes piled on year after year for Mizrachi and he won a Player of the Year award, but despite all his success, he had yet to win his first WSOP bracelet -- that was, until the 2010 WSOP rolled around.
Mizrachi came close in 2008 when he held the chip lead going into the final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship but ended up finishing third. Coming into the 2010 WSOP, Mizrachi had taken some time off from the game to refocus and prepare for what lay ahead over the summer. He was also dealing with tax issues -- the Sun Sentinel reported that he wasn’t in the good graces of the Internal Revenue Service. According to the story, Mizrachi owed $339,000 in federal taxes and was facing foreclosure. What timing, right? And now just months after he won his first gold bracelet in the midst of the most pressure-filled period of his life, Mizrachi will be going for poker glory at the WSOP Main Event final table.
When he reached the final table of the $50,000 Player’s Championship this summer, Mizrachi was fifth in chips. Leading the final table was the man who taught him how to play, his older brother Robert. Eventually, Michael was the one who sent his brother to the rail in fifth place when his 
beat Robert’s . From there, Mizrachi ground his way to a victory, beating Russian Vladimir Shchemelev in heads-up action.
Mizrachi followed that with three more cashes, including two final tables, both in $10,000 “Championship” events. He took sixth in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship, then finished eighth in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship.
Mizrachi is also still alive for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year title. By cashing in the Main Event, Frank Kassela locked up a share of the POY title. Mizrachi is still able to tie him for that title if, and only if, he can win the Main Event. If Mizrachi wins, he’ll have a WSOP POY title, a victory in the $50,000 Player’s Championship and a Main Event bracelet all in the same year! That could easily be argued as the greatest WSOP accomplishment for anyone, ever!
How He Got There
When Day 5 came to a close, Mizrachi was sitting 30th in chips out of the remaining 205 players in the field. The field was well into the money at this stage, but still a few long days away from reaching the November Nine. His older brother Robert was also still alive at the time, and Michael was asked about how he felt about that. "It's very exciting. I'm very excited and hope Rob makes the final table." He also added that he'd like to be the first player to capture both the Player's Championship and the Main Event. "I think it'd be the greatest accomplishment in poker history," he said.
Early on Day 6, Mizrachi took a nice chunk of chips off Duy Le by making a big call. After a multiway pot saw the flop come 
with everyone checking, the turn was the . Action checked to Getty Mattingsley who bet 196,000. Both Mizrachi and Le called.
The river was the . Mizrachi checked, and Le bet 500,000. Mattingsley got out of the way, and Mizrachi went into the tank for a good while before making the call. Mizrachi showed the 
for just a pair of sevens. He'd made the right decision, as Le just had the for a missed draw. That pot moved Mizrachi to approximately 3.9 million after he had begun the day with a little under 1.8 million.
Under an hour later, Mizrachi scooped another sizable pot from Le. On the flop of 
, Mizrachi bet before Le raised to 350,000. The Grinder made the called and the paired the board on the turn. Both players checked to see the roll off on the river. After Le had fired out 600,000, Mizrachi raised to two million. Le couldn’t stand the heat and mucked while Mizrachi improved to 5.35 million in chips.
His stack hovered between five and six million for a couple of hours after that, but once Mizrachi was moved to the main feature table, he just kept building. In one hand, Randy Dorfman opened with a raise to 105,000, and Christopher Bolt three-bet to 305,000. Mizrachi got even more aggressive with a four-bet to 805,000 and forced a fold from each of his opponents to near the eight-million chip mark. He went on to finish out Day 6 with 7.535 million in chips, second place on the overall leaderboard.
Day 7 didn’t start off too well for Mizrachi. He slowly bled about half his stack away before being moved back to the main feature table. When he got there, he wasn’t given a warm welcome. Rather, he was met by the aggressive Swede William Thorson. A few small battles between the two left Mizrachi even shorter before the two clashed in a much bigger way.
Fellow November Niner John Racener raised to 180,000. Thorson made the call after David Baker called and then action moved to Mizrachi. He was on the button and reraised all-in for 1.51 million. Racener and Baker folded, but Thorson stuck in the chips to try and eliminate Mizrachi.
Mizrachi was all-in holding the up against Thorson's . The final board read , and Mizrachi made a full house. With that pot, he doubled up to over 3.5 million in chips.
About two hours after his double-up, Mizrachi boomed his way back to 7.5 million by sending Cory Emery out the door in 33rd place. With the board reading , Mizrachi held the nuts with the . Emery held the 
for a set, and all the money went in. The river failed to pair the board with the 
and gave Mizrachi the pot.
When Day 8 began, Mizrachi was sitting 16th in chips out of the last 27 players. Not much was going his way in the first part of the day, and his stack was cut down to a little more than three million. He got down to just over two million before finally doubling up with pocket kings against Racener’s on a flop of 
. The kings held and Mizrachi doubled to over five million.
At that point, Mizrachi began to rally with the support of a ton of railbirds watching just a few feet away and cheering him on. A few pots here, some big bets and raises there, and before anyone knew it, Mizrachi was at the unofficial final table of ten. He doubled up the short-stack, Brandon Steven, but the damage wasn’t too bad. Steven went on to ride the short stack for a few hours longer, but eventually fell in tenth place. When all the chips were counted and bagged up, Mizrachi’s bag read 14.45 million. That put him in seventh place overall.
What to Watch For
Mizrachi is known for liking to see plenty of flops with a wide variety of hands. He’s also not one who’s going to be afraid of the bright lights and cameras that will be on him come this weekend. He’s been faced with that before, especially when he’s final tabled WPT and WSOP events. When the other players may be freezing up a bit, Mizrachi will be cutting out bets and raises trying to attack them.
He’s also seated with position on the chip leader Jonathan Duhamel and John Dolan who is second in chips. This means Mizrachi will be able to duck out of the way of their aggressiveness by acting after them. It also means he’ll be able to attack these two and play pots against them in position if they begin opening things up a bit. Joseph Cheong has been touted as one of the best players at this final table and he’s also to Mizrachi’s right.
What’s going to play to Mizrachi’s disadvantage may be his fellow Floridian, John Racener. He’s seated two spots to Mizrachi’s left and this guy’s got plenty of game. He won’t be afraid to get involved and play with Mizrachi. He is the player at the table who has played the most with Mizrachi over the years, so he’ll know him the best and this could put a few road blocks in Mizrachi's plans. He’ll also have to deal with the unpredictable Filippo Candio to his left and who knows what this guy could do at any given moment.
Don’t be surprised if you see Mizrachi raising numerous pots and doing so early on. He’ll most likely come in for very small raises and may even limp a bit to try and see some flops. He has great ability post flop and will shine in this area of the game if he is able to get in for cheap to make some things happen.
What’s also going to be favoring Mizrachi is the support he’ll be getting from friends and family. Over the next couple days of play in the summer, his close-nit family and plenty of friends heavily supported him on the rail. If you happened to be in the Rio during those last couple of days, you know how loud and supportive they were. Imagine that multiplied by 25. There’s been a couple of months of downtime for Mizrachi, but he hasn’t taken any rest. He’s been out traveling the world to events and getting his face everywhere he can. Even though he’s only seventh in chips, everyone knows Mizrachi is the man to beat at this final table. Much like Phil Ivey last year, it’s Mizrachi’s tournament to win in order to further cement himself in poker history.
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis (16,700,000)
Hailing from Surrey, British Columbia, Matthew Jarvis is one of Canada’s remaining hopefuls (along with Jonathan Duhamel) looking to capture the Main Event crown. At 26 and with a chip stack of 16,700,000, Jarvis is in the middle of the pack in both age and the chip counts heading into November. Since making the final table, Jarvis has fared well, winning two tournaments for significant pay days. In August, he won a C$4,600 heads-up tournament at the Canadian Open Poker Championship for a cool C$100,000. More recently, he won a $1,000 no-limit hold’em tournament at Festa al Lago for just over $71,000.
How He Got There
Toward the end of Day 7, Jarvis battled with Patrick Eskander at the secondary feature table. The two were involved in a few pots and Jarvis was trending down after he doubled up Eskander. His aces fell to Eskander’s nines after they got it all-in on a king-high flop that included a nine. However, Jarvis would get his revenge.
With the blinds and antes at the 60,000/120,000/15,000 level, Patrick Eskandar raised to 240,000 from middle position. Jonathan Duhamel called in the cutoff, and Jarvis also called on the button, leading to a flop of 
. Eskander fired a continuation bet of 800,000 and got Dumhamel to give it up. Jarvis called and saw the hit the turn. This time Eskander checked it to Jarvis and the Canadian bet 900,000. Not seeming to mind, Eskander shoved to put Jarvis to the test. After a few moments, Jarvis called all-in for 4,400,000 and revealed 
for a turned flush, leading Eskander’s . Needing to avoid the board pairing, Jarvis did just that as the sealed the win for Jarvis and upped his stack to more than 13,000,000.
What To Watch For
Jarvis (Seat 6) is in an interesting spot at the table. To his immediate right are Michael Mizrachi (Seat 5) and Jonathan Duhamel (Seat 4), the most accomplished player and the chip leader, respectively. You can bet that both will be looking to establish themselves early, so Jarvis can use that to his advantage. On his left are John Racener (Seat 7) and Filippo Candio (Seat 8), both aggressive and capable players with similar chip counts to his own. Raising in front of them will be no walk in the park.
Jarvis knows that with 33 big blinds he can be patient, but can't afford to wait too long. Shortly after making the final table, Jarvis told PokerNews, “I'm not so worried about the blinds getting around to me, but I do know that the pressure is going to be on for me to do something eventually. Thirty-three (big blinds) is a decent stack where I can sit and wait and be patient and find the right spots, but at the same time the antes are big and I don’t want to be hammered too hard by them."
It will be crucial for Jarvis to get off to a good start as one misstep could limit his options to shoving or folding. On the other hand, if Jarvis can obtain some extra chips early, he can make things uncomfortable for his aggressive neighbors.
Seat 7: John Racener (19,050,000)
If there were no such thing as Michael Mizrachi, the past four months of November Nine headlines would have been dominated by John Racener. Overshadowed to some extent by Mizrachi's media funnel cloud, Racener has had to settle for the supporting role under the secondary spotlight. Chances are he's content with that, however, and his chip stack of 19,050,000 puts him in fourth place and just a pot away from striking.
Racener is a 24-year-old Full Tilt Poker Red Pro from Port Richey, Florida. Around the age of 16, poker was added into the mix of his after-school hobbies that included sports of all sorts. Within a year, his initial $50 had turned into more than $30,000, and that was enough to capture his parents' support and get them on board without too much of a hassle. After finishing his arts degree at Florida Southern University, poker began to consume most of his time.
Racener's professional poker career was off the ground before he ever had a chance to stop it. While celebrating his 21st birthday in Atlantic City, his first-ever live tournament earned him a six-figure score and third-place at the WSOP Circuit Main Event. That was in the winter of 2006, and he immediately topped that performance by winning the Circuit ring in the same city almost exactly one year later. That hot start allowed him to quickly matriculate to the $10,000 events of the WPT and the WSOP, his real aspiration. He cashed twice at the WSOP in Las Vegas in 2007, then went on to final-table the now-defunct $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo event in 2008. He cashed four more times in four different games in 2009, and his four cashes in 2010 have given him his most profitable year yet with two days of poker still to play. In the November Nine downtime, he went to London and final-tabled the £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOP-E, bringing his career cashes in bracelet events to 12.
The November Nine prize money has already pushed Racener over the $2 million mark in career earnings with potential for some more steep climbing in the coming days. If he wins this Main Event, he'll move all the way up to 11th on the all-time money list. That doesn't even count his endeavors online where he's racked up more than $1 million in winnings, including a win in the $500,000 Guarantee on PokerStars ("$30K") and a third-place finish in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guarantee ("POCKET FIVE") in 2009. It's Mizrachi everyone's talking about right now, but it might be all-Racener all the time come Monday.
How He Got There
Racener's Main Event was relatively sluggish through middle stages. "Methodical" would be a better way to put it. It was when things really heated up and decisions mattered most that Racener began to really make a charge. After a good, steady push through the late stages of Day 5 and 6, it was a little luck that really put him on the tournament's radar. A short-stacked Manig Loeser went with , and Racener reshoved his right into John May's . The ladies love John Racener, though, and the on the flop gave him the double knockout and the chip lead with 4.5 million and 176 players left.
Racener was in third place to start Day 7 behind Mizrachi and chip leader Theo Jorgensen. That changed quickly, though, as a big pot unfolded during the first level of the day. Duy Le raised with , and Racener three-bet with his fun 
. Le called a continuation bet after he flopped top set on 
, and Racener's aggression got him a free card as they check-checked the 
turn. That free river gave Racener the winning straight, and he extracted more chips from Le to move to 8.5 million and back into the lead. With 57 players left, Racener cracked Matt Harris' with in a preflop all in. The board ran a dramatic to send the knockout pot to Racener, giving him the big stack of 10.21 million chips once again.
He was around that mark in eighth place overall with 27 players left as they returned for Day 8. By the time they got down to two tables, though, Racener had more than doubled that stack to 22.47 million in second place behind Pascal LeFrancois. He proceeded to eliminate crowd-favorite Hasan Habib in 14th place when his finally put Habib's to pasture after a marathon short-stacked performance. Racener doubled up Mizrachi shortly thereafter, then went on to utter the quotable "No fear, Racener's here" line after dragging a bluffy pot against Matthew Jarvis.
Racener's final trends were a bit down, however, as he lost a bit of ground during the drama of the ten-handed November Nine bubble. It was Filippo Candio's that did about 8.8 million chips' worth of damage to Racener's , but the night was over a few hands later with plenty of chips tucked safely in Racener's bag.
What to Watch For
The earlier mention of Racener living in the shadow of Michael Mizrachi for the last four months may well have been a good situation for him in the end. Already a sponsored pro, there have been plenty of marketing opportunities and interviews for Racener, but he hasn't had to deal with the full brunt and scrutiny of being the proverbial "face" of the final table. For all of his accomplishments, Racener is just a couple of years removed from college and is more soft-spoken and reserved than his table image would suggest. In short, he should be in a comfortable, pressure-free place right now -- as pressure free as one could be in this spot, at least.
His position is a favorable one, and Racener has been taking extra steps to ensure that he's mentally fit. He's been working with a mindset coach to get himself prepared and projecting a proper attitude. Since July, Racener has sounded consistently relaxed and confident -- and, well, normal in his interviews. You'd never know he was playing for $8.9 million if you had talked to him a week ago, and it could be another big benefit if that cool, collected persona shows up on game day.
Racener will begin the final table in fourth place with 19,050,000 chips in front of him, and that'll give him 38 big blinds with which to do some damage. He has a lot of final-table experience working in his corner, and a lot of big-time final-table experience at that. He's obviously never been in a spot quite so grand as this one, but he and Mizrachi are really the only two players left who know what it's like to sit down on a big stage and play for a trophy. And it's Racener with the advantage in chip stack right now.
Alongside experience, position seems to be working in Racener's favor this weekend. He is in the seven seat, and he has the two chip leaders on his general right in the three and four seats. It also gives him position on the five seat, Michael Mizrachi, something that may end up being a big factor in how the table plays out. It's obviously very hard to predict how this one will go, but if the chips move clockwise around the table, Racener stands to benefit from the chair he's in. List the volatile Italian, Candio, as a potential wild card; he'll be on Racener's direct left.