Introducing The 2010 WSOP November Nine: Part I (Senti, Nguyen, Mizrachi)
July 19, 2010 9:12 amFinally, after two weeks of WSOP Main Event action nine players emerged out of a starting field of 7,319 to book their places at the final table.
The players will now take a much needed break until November 6th, when they will return to compete over three days to determine the eventual winner. Despite already being guaranteed a minimum $811,823 pay out, all eyes will be firmly fixed on the enormous $8.94 million first place prize, as well as a chance to earn for themselves a place in poker history.
So now lets meet the six Americans, two Canadians and one Italian player who make up the November Nine.
1. Jason Senti (7.625 million) is a 25 year old established poker professional from Minnesota who, when he isn’t cleaning up online under the name of “PBJaxx”, is an instructor at online training site BlueFire Poker.
Despite specialising in online high stakes cash games between the $5/$10 and $50/$100 level, Senti has also had some live tournament experience in the past. However, up to now he has earned just $17,987 from that side of his game and has along way to go if he is to realise his ambition of a WSOP bracelet.
As Jason Senti explains: “It’s not going to be ideal coming back in November, a different situation than what I wanted, going to be short stacked but I’m happy as hell to be here.”
2. Cuong “Soi” Nguyen (9.65 million) is a 37 year-old Californian native, originally from Vietnam. As well as being the oldest player at the final table, he is also the only non-professional player, this being his fourth ever live poker tournament ever entered. With a 614th place finish at the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $21,230, and now a final table appearance at WSOP 2010, Cuong “Soi” Nguyen would seem determined to make this event his own.
Commenting on his incredible run, Nguyen said: “Being the amateur doesn’t bother me at all…This is the best time of my life. I didn’t think I had any shot. I just came for the experience.”
3. Michael “Grinder” Mizrachi (14.45 million) is without doubt the best known player at the table, as well as the most accomplished with more than $8,600,000 in winnings from live tournament cashes, including a WSOP bracelet at this year’s competition.
The poker pro from Miami had to overcome being one of the short stacks in the first few days of the tournament, but fought his way back to securing a place at the Main Event final table, albeit with a third from bottom chip count.
After an exhausting and gruelling odyssey, “The Grinder” joked: “I’m kind of washed up right now, but at least I’ll have four months to recover. I took down all the pros in the Players’ Championship, they were players that I haven’t played with before. I pretty much know how everyone plays here, but with the blinds so high, it’s not the same game. I look forward to representing the pros in November.”
Meet the rest of the “November Niners” in the next of a series of articles covering the 2010 WSOP Main Event finalists.