2010 November Nine Jonathan Duhamel leads withs 65m chips

Twenty seven players returned for Day 8 of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. Several big names started the day including Michael Mizrachi, Scott Clements, Adam Levy, Hasan Habib, and Johnny Lodden. However, as the day progressed, only Michael Mizrachi would emerge from those names to make the November Nine.

2010 November Nine

Just after 5 a.m. PDT Sunday morning, the 2010 November Nine was reached when Brandon Steven was knocked out in 10th place. He moved in with A-K and ran into pocket queens from Matthew Jarvis. Jonathan Duhamel has a sizable lead going into 2010 November Nine play with 65.9 Million in chips. John Dolan is the next closest player with 46 Million. The November Nine and their starting chip counts are below:

Jonathan Duhamel 65,975,000
John Dolan 46,250,000
Joseph Cheong 23,525,000
John Racener 19,050,000
Matthew Jarvis 16,700,000
Filippo Candio 16,400,000
Michael Mizrachi 14,450,000
Soi Nguyen 9,650,000
Jason Senti 7,625,000

Jonathan Duhamel starts as chip leader and hails from Boucherville, Quebec, Canada. He is a former finance student and learned how to play the game of poker from friends. Regardless of where he finishes, this will by far be his largest cash to date. He has just over $119,000 in lifetime career winnings, and this is his 3rd WSOP cash of the year.

John Dolan is 2nd in chips and hails from Bonita Springs, Fl. He began playing in 2004 and is listed as a professional poker player. He has over $216,000 in career tournament earnings heading into the November Nine. He has two career victories and one WSOP final table. He final tabled Event #36 of this year’s WSOP where he finished 6th to eventual winner Scott Montgomery.

Joseph Cheong hails from La Miranda, CA and also lists himself as a poker pro. Originally born in Seoul, South Korea, Cheong holds two degrees, one in Psychology and a joint degree in mathematics and economics. Cheong only has about $39,000 in career tournament earnings, but he does hold one WSOP Circuit ring that he picked up in March in Rincon.

The most experienced player outside of Michael Mizrachi at this final table in live events would be John Racener. This poker pro from Port Richey, FL taught himself the game and has amassed over $1.18 Million in career earnings so far. This is his 3rd WSOP final table of his career and he has one WSOP Circuit Main Event title that he picked up at Harrah’s Atlantic City in 2007. He just so happened to beat 2009 November Nine member Eric Buchman for that title. This will be Racener’s largest cash to date and should put him well over $2 Million in career earnings.

Matthew Jarvis is listed as an online poker pro from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The 25 year-old business student has about $61,000 in live tournament earnings. On his WSOP bio, he stated that he credited his success in poker due to reading poker books and plenty of “trial and error.”

Filippo Candio WSOP is a pro poker player from Cagliari, Sardinia. Filippo Candio has been playing professionally for four years and has over $248,000 in career earnings. His biggest triumph to date was winning a preliminary at the 2009 Campionato Italiano, where he took $185,271. This is only his 2nd WSOP cash ever and he looks to be making some moves, starting 6th in chips.

Michael Mizrachi WSOP – alias “The Grinder” is easily the biggest name at this November Nine final table. Michael Mizrachi won the 2010 WSOP $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship earlier in the year and is in line to become #1 on the all-time money list should he win the Main Event. Mizrachi currently has over $8.8 Million in career tournament earnings, which has him 4th all-time at present. This is also the 4th final table of the 2010 WSOP for Mizrachi. Should he win the Main Event, he will tie Frank Kassela for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year.

Cuong Soi Nguyen WSOP – is the only person at this final table that could be considered a true amateur player. He hails from Santa Ana, CA and works as a medical supply salesman. Cuong Soi Nguyen has been playing poker for the last 10 years however, and has over $148,336 in career tournament winnings. Many of his tournament cashes have been in the greater California area. His largest tournament win over the last few years has been just under $4,000, so to say this even will be his largest career cash ever is easily an understatement. Nguyen starts as the 2nd shortest stack.

The short stack of this event is Jason Senti. The St. Louis Park, MN resident is listed as a 25 year-old poker pro and former engineer. He plays online with the moniker “PBJaxx” and is an instructor on the online training site Bluefire Poker. He only has one professional live cash, which was a 21st place finish in the Heads-Up World Championship at the 2009 WSOP. He normally prefers Pot-Limit Omaha over NL Holdem, but his final in this event may change his mind.

Each player received 9th place prize money on Sunday. They will then be free to negotiate any deals with online poker sites and other sponsorship deals heading into the November Nine. Players will return on November 6th to begin final table play. While the format has not been officially announced, it is assumed they will play to heads-up and return on the 7th to play things out. The final will then be edited on the 8th for broadcast on November 9th on ESPN from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.