Quick look at 2010 November nine poker players
Let’s take a quick look at this year’s November nine poker players.
Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips): As one of the youngest players in this year’s tournament Cheong, 24, is being considered as the one of the lead, and most experienced player who will sit at the final table. Having played in over 10,000 tournaments, or so he claims, Cheong is certainly one of the more prepared and serious players. He doesn’t only rely on skill but he stands alone in being a real full time player.
John Racener (19.0 million in chips): Racener is coming into November as a rising start. He began catching the attention of poker pundits as he made his rounds through the nationwide tournaments, including a WSOP Circuit title for approximately half a million dollars. Apart from this he has 11 WSOP cashes. Racener is preparing to make his name known and this year’s World Series tourney may be the venue he was looking for.
Matt Jarvis (17.6 million in chips): Another young competitor is the one and only Matt Jarvis. This 25-year-old Canadian, has made a commendable comeback ever after he declared that he needed to refocus on his poker style and skill. Jarvis also considers himself a fulltime poker player, with most of his fame coming from online play. Spotlighting this fact is his single five-figure cash in during a live play tourney. He will enter November with more confidence than ever and with many saying that he has a very good chance at going the full distance.
Filippo Candio (16.4 million in chips): Mr. Candio, the only European in the pro tournament hails from none other than Sardinia, Italy. He is the poker aficionado in Italy but back here in the U.S. he is only a top ranking poker star. After wining the Italian Poker tour Campionato Italiano ’09 he began to make a real name for himself across the world. He is a proud player who sees the World Series of Poker as a venue to put not only his name on the map but his country’s as well.
In addition to these men are the following high rollers:
Michael Mizrachi (14.4 million in chips)
Soi Nguyen (9.6 million in chips)
Jason Senti (7.6 million in chips)
Jonathan Duhamel (65.9 million in chips)
John Dolan (46.2 million in chips)
Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips)
John Racener (19.0 million in chips)
Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey, at 34, is listed in 2010 as first in the world among all-time money winners in tournament poker. He is revered by his opponents and poker enthusiasts and is known as the best all-around player in the world today. Ivey has appeared at eight World Poker Tour final tables, won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and one World Poker Tour title. He’s fearless, enjoys a wealthy lifestyle, and wins big at his favorite sport.
At the 2010 WSOP, Ivey won his eighth bracelet in H.O.R.S.E. which got him $329,840. He has been called ‘the Tiger Woods of Poker‘. Ivey is the youngest player to win eight (Phil Hellmuth was 39). In addition, no other player has accumulated eight bracelets more quickly; it took Ivey only ten years from the time of his first bracelet to his eighth, (it took Johnny Moss 11 years).
Ivey is first on the all-time money list with over $14 million in tournament earnings. Ivey lives in Las Vegas and is a regular participant in the $4,000-$8,000 mixed cash game at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. In February 2006, he played heads-up Limit Texas Hold’em against Texas billionaire Andy Beal. With stakes at $25,000/$50,000, Ivey won over $16,000,000 over the course of three days. A group of poker professionals joined Ivey, called themselves “The Corporation”, pooled their money and took turns playing against Beal. Earlier in the month, Beal beat the Corporation out of $10,000,000. After losing to Ivey, Beal claimed that he was giving up poker. But he had said that before.
Ivey was taught poker by his grandfather at a young age in New Jersey where he grow up. He was hooked immediately. He is known for his intense and intimidating look when he plays poker. His eyes dart back and forth and he’s been called cold hearted. Ivey has a generous side and has started a charity and given money to a number of charitable causes. He is the one to watch.
2010 November Nine
The November Nine have been officially announced in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Following eight competitive days of poker over a two week period, only nine players remain in the most famous poker tournament in the world. The current leader is Jonathan Duhamely who brought his $55,375,000 of past winnings into the tourney.
To recap some of the action, Matt “mcmatto” Affleck reached 15th place for $500,000, Meanwhile, Jonathan Duhamel check-called a five million bet from Affleck to see the queen of diamonds hit on the turn. Duhamel then checked and Affleck, dramatically moved all-in for over 11 million. After several minutes, with millions on the line, Duhamel called and flipped up a pair of pocket jacks and a straight draw. Affleck tabled his pocket aces and, watched painfully as an eight hit on the river, which came to match Duhamel’s straight.
Another exciting episode during the course of the tournament was Hasan Habib. Habib moved all-in pre-flop, which drew a call from John Racener. In turn Racener turned over A-K of clubs which was followed by a flop of 10-9-3 with two clubs, this development helped Habib by giving him a pair of nines, yet giving Racener a flush draw. Once again a ten came to hit on the turn, which brought Racener to pray for an ace or king on the river. And as luck has it the ace hit.
John Dolan, also one of the short stacks like Habib, opened the small blind with K-6 of diamonds, however, Duy Le called an all-in from the big blind with A-Q. Le’s chances were ruined when a King appeared on the flop destroying his chances. Le was moved in to 13th place and picked up the $500,000 consolation prize.
2010 November Nine:
1. Jonathan Duhamel – 65,975,000
2. John Dolan – 46,250,000
3. Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000
4. John Racener – 19,050,000
5. Matthew Jarvis – 16,700,000
6. Filippo Candio – 16,400,000
7. Michael Mizrachi – 14,450,000
8. Soi Nguyen – 9,650,000
9. Jason Senti – 7,625,000
Here are the payouts at stake for the members of the 2010 WSOP November Nine:
1st Place: $8,944,138
2nd Place: $5,545,855
3rd Place: $4,129,979
4th Place: $3,092,497
5th Place: $2,332,960
6th Place: $1,772,939
7th Place: $1,356,708
8th Place: $1,045,738
9th Place: $811,823
Double Aces
Poker is a game of intricacies. The cards you hold are only one part of a winning hand. The other is comprised of the player’s style and strategy.
Your hand has an almost limitless amount of variables. Sometimes your hand can be good in one pot and bad in another, different cards have different capabilities – this especially comes into effect depending on which game you will play. A great hand in one form of poker may be garbage in another version of the game.
For this brief case study, let’s take the play of the “middle ace.” The middle ace, meaning – A-9 through A-6, can usually be trashed without much loss. A confident poker player will throw this hand regardless of the action on the table, even if the session allows the player to limp into play; it is only in special cases that the “middle ace” can even be thought of as a card to play.
However, in some versions of poker “middle aces” can be a slick hand to play against your challenger, and may characterize you as a “loosing” player, – a characterization that will assist you when you play stronger hands.
If we take the Texas Hold’em, the “middle ace” can only be played when the position is available. The danger in playing the “middle ace” has two angles.
One, if you flop your ace, you may end up be playing from behind against a stronger kicker. An A-8, for instance may bring you into a situation where you could be going against a player holding a bigger ace (A-K or A-Q) – as a result you will be thinning your chances in hitting your kicker.
The second point is that unless you are able to absolutely guarantee that your challenger is sitting on a fat pair (pocket kings or queens), you must go in with caution and maintain a small pot. If you flop your kicker, the dangers increase.
Remember the “middle ace” is not the ideal hand by any means and should be disregarded as a form of battle in any form of poker.