The November Nine Effect
Winning the main event usually results in further success for those that do it, but it appears just making it to the November Nine is a great omen too.
The final table delay in the World Series of Poker Main Event has created a brand new goal for poker players. Now alongside winning a bracelet, and of course winning the main event, we all want to be one of the November Nine.
Becoming one of the nine hopefuls forced to wait four months before they can play down to a winner has become as coveted and exclusive a group as being a bracelet winner itself. This was largely due to the fact that, pre Black Friday, making it to the final nine guaranteed Stars or Tilt would come offering six figure sponsorship deals.
As we all know, those days are gone, but it would seem that making the November Nine is still a great omen, even for those who don't lift the gold.
That is because a great deal of the November Niners who didn't go on to win the main event have carved out a name for themselves in the poker world since.
Class of 2008
The very first November Nine arguably benefited the most from the experience. We all know that Peter Eastgate went on to prove himself as a great world champion, but most of his table mates went on to find success too.
Ylon Schwartz may still not be a household name after his 4th place finish at the final table, but he has enjoyed a great WSOP every year since, cashing 11 times in the series since and making two further final tables.
Canadian Scott Montgomery finished in 5th place but has made a name for himself since in the poker world. He has a string on high profile cashes, and in 2010 he captured the $1,000 no limit bracelet in for $481,760. Perhaps even more notably he is one half of a new power couple in poker, being the boyfriend of WSOPE champion Annette Obrestad.
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| Success and Scandal for Chino Rheem |
Russian Ivan Demidov was the first to really benefit from being a November Niner, as while the rest of the table was waiting to go back to Vegas, he pulled off a rare double of making the WSOPE final table the same year, coming in third in that event and second in the main.
Denis Phillips went into the final table as the chip leader but fell short, finishing in 3rd place. He has since become one of the great ambassadors of the game, hosting his own poker podcast.
He is also a formidable player, coming third in the last NBC Heads-Up championships for $125,000 and just this month winning a WSOP Circuit ring in Hammond.
But perhaps the most infamous story from the 2008 November Nine is David 'Chino' Rheem, who has since gone on to win both a WPT main event for $1.7 million and the very first Epic Poker League main event for $1 million.
Such a record would set most players up for life, but Rheem is also the most controversial figures in our list, whose stories of bad debt surpass his accomplishments at the table.
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| Eric Buchman |
Class of 2009
The purpose of the November Nine was to make stars of the final table, so that by the time it plays out the show was much more marketable. That was not going to be a problem in 2009, as the greatest player in the world was at the final table, which was eventually won by Joe Cada
Phil Ivey had already won two bracelets that series, plus five in previous years, as well a host of other accolades and titles. He has since gone on to win another bracelet and there are very few players in the world who would doubt that he isn't going to add to them in droves when he finally returns to poker.
Ivan Demidov making the WSOPE & WSOP main event final in 2008 turned a lot of heads. Anyone wondering if it could ever be repeated had their question answered very quickly, when both James Akenhead and Antoine Saout did it again 2009.
Akenhead has gone on to even more success since, which includes winning the Poker Million that same year for $500,000.
4th place Eric Buchman was one of the lesser known players that year but has arguably gone on to the most success.
The following year he captured his first bracelet in the $2,000 No Limit event, and this year scored a 2nd and 3rd in two further bracelet events.
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| Matthew Jarvis |
Class of 2010
If Phil Ivey was the talking point of 2009, Michael Mizrachi was the story of 2010. The Grinder made his triumphant return to poker following tax problems by capturing the $50,000 Players Championship before making the main event final table.
He has followed up that success just last month by capturing the €10,000 mixed format bracelet at the WSOPE for €336,008.
John Racener missed out on the bracelet heads-up and has since gone on to make a lot of big finals, including three more bracelet events and a 4th place finish in the WPT Championship.
8th place finisher Matthew Jarvis is yet another player who followed up his success by winning a bracelet, which he did this year in the $5,000 six max event for $808,538.
Class of 2011
We have not even got to the 2011 finale yet but the November Nine effect is already showing itself, as two of the final table have captured major titles during the break.
One of which we cannot even tell you about, because we do not want to ruin the end result of a prerecord TV tournament, but Google is your friend if you don't mind spoilers.
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| Gianetti goes back to Vegas as a WPT Champion |
But the best success to take place so far in the four month delay has to be Matt Giannetti, who captured the WPT Malta title in September for €200,000.
He returns to the final 3rd in chips and if confidence counts for anything, he will be one of the guys to beat next month.
So since its inception, every November Nine has produced one WSOP-C, two WPT, two TV studio tournament, and five WSOP bracelets from the players who did not go on to win the main event.
That is a pretty decent return for four years and 32 guys who were already guaranteed around a million dollars each for making the final table.
Being a November Niner obviously opens a lot of doors for these players and puts them in the position to play events they normally wouldn't. It could also be due to the fact that the significant amounts won at the main event final table was enough to let them feel like they were freerolling in the other events.
Or it could just be that making the final table of the WSOP main event requires plenty of skill in the first place, which all these men clearly have.
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