The 2016 November Nine: In Their Own Words (Part 1)

The world’s most prestigious poker tournament, the $10k WSOP Main Event, is now complete with the nine remaining players from an original starting field of 6,737 currently on a 3 month sabbatical until the end of October. That’s when they return to the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas to decide who will become this year’s Main Event champion, and forever be immortalized in WSOP history.
1: Cliff Josephy – 75,000,000
2: Qui Nguyen – 68,075,000
3: Gordon Vayo – 50,450,000
4: Kenny Hallaert – 43,325,000
5: Michael Ruane – 29,800,000
6: Vojtech Ruzicka – 27,450,000
7: Griffin Benger – 26,175,000
8: Jerry Wong – 10,325,000
9: Fernando Pons – 6,225,000
In the meantime, here are some choice words from the 2016 November Nine themselves:
Cliff Josephy (photo)

Cliff Josephy is a respected pro and poker instructor with 2 WSOP bracelets, and live tournament earnings of $2,641,620, in addition to $4,120,232 won online using the screen name “JohnnyBax”. The 50 year-old pro famously backed Joe Cada to win the WSOP Main Event in 2009, and now having made the final table himself, stated:
“This is the greatest. This is my own accomplishment. This was the dream. The dream isn’t to have a piece of somebody at the final table or to win it. But the dream is to win it myself.”
Qui Nguyen
A 39-year-old professional gambler from Las Vegas, with just $52,986 in poker tournament earnings:
“I lost more than that [$10,000 buy-in] in baccarat.. I talked in my mind already, ‘If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. So, nothing to be nervous’. The next three months, I don’t play poker. I don’t gamble. Just hang out with family, hang out with friends before November.”
Gordon Vayo
A 27 year-old poker pro from San Francisco with $974,714 in winnings, including finishing the 2014 WSOP $3,000 NLH event as the runner-up for $314,535:
“I have some phenomenal poker player friends, and I want to seek some of them out and run some simulations, because there are a couple of people that I haven’t played with at this table. I haven’t played with Vojtech at all, and I keep on hearing how good he is.. I’m definitely going to play at lot, study up, and do some ICM work.”
Next: The 2016 November Nine: In Their Own Words (Part 2)