2010 WSOP Main Event: The November Nine

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The numbers for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) were staggering. Players came from 92 countries around the globe and broke the record for the second largest field ever with 7,319 entrants that included 150 former bracelet winners and 18 previous world champs in attendance.

In the end though, after 78 arduous hours of poker over the course of eight days of intensive play, the final nine will largely be made up of what Phil Hellmuth has referred to as “Math Brats.” Eight of them are in their twenties, eight play poker professionally, eight are representative of the new face of professional online poker. Only Soi Nguyen is uncharacteristic at 37-years-old, and the only amateur among the nine.

In alphabetical order, here is a closer look at this intriguing group.

Filippo Candio, twenty-six, is from Sardinia, Italy and a member of Team PokerStars Pro. He is the first Italian to make it to the final table of the Main Event, although he has earned a phenomenal $1,060,628 in his short career. His biggest score prior to the WSOP was winning the 2009 €2,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event in the Campionato Italiano, for a purse of $185,271. He is 85 percent fluent in English, which he has said he learned by watching American movies.





Joseph Cheong, twenty-four, resides in La Mirada, California, though he was born in Korea. Online, he plays under the username “subiime” and his best score to date was in a Mini Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) tournament in May of 2009 for over $55,000. His total WSOP and Circuit Earnings amount to $51,954, and he made 2 cashes in this year’s events. He is well educated, having earned a B.S. in Psychology and a Joint B.A. degree in Math and Economics from the University of California at San Diego.







John Dolan, twenty-four, is one of the three of the November Nine from the Sunshine State, and a resident of Bonita Springs, FL. In high school, was the shortstop on the baseball team and the quarterback of the football team. He went on to attend Florida State University where he spent 2 years studying business before dropping out. His online username is “JRD312” and in February 2009, he took down the Full Tilt Poker $1k Monday for over $94,000. In the summer of 2008, he won the PokerStars $100 rebuy for $40,400. He has six WSOP cashes, three in 2010 with a sixth place finish in the $1,000 NL Hold’em Event 36 for $82,804.



Jonathan Duhamel, at twenty-two, is the youngest of the nine. It was he who knocked UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy out in 12^th place and he is the chip leader with more than double the amount of second biggest stack, belonging to John Dolan. He was also the player who ended Matt Affleck’s dreams of making the final table. He is a Canadian from the greater Montreal area, who qualified for the 2010 WSOP Main Event through online poker site PokerStars. He also is a college dropout, having attended Universite du Quebec a Montreal for two years. He had 2 cashes in this year’s WSOP, including a 15^th place finish in the $ 2,500 No Limit Hold’em.





Matthew Jarvis, Twenty-five, is the second Canadian at the final table. His biggest fan is his father, Norm Jarvis, a golf pro in British Columbia who is currently in a battle against cancer. This is Jarvis’ first time at the WSOP, and previously his biggest score was finishing 11^th in the British Columbia Poker Championships for over twenty grand. He has worked a variety odd jobs and once worked the 12-hour graveyard shift at a B.C. lumber mill, before he realized he could make a better living playing online poker.





Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, is at twenty-nine, at the top of his game and undoubtedly the best known among this year’s November Nine, along with the distinction of being the only one with a proper poker nickname. He picked up his very first WSOP gold bracelet in grand style earlier this year by winning the Poker Players Championship Event #2, pocketing $1,559,046 as well as receiving the annual Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. Coming off a year that saw him facing financial difficulties with back taxes and foreclosures, “The Grinder” was able to summon incredible focus and his place at the final table is a testament to true grit and determination. The 2006 “Player of the Year” will unquestionably be the one to watch come November.





Cuong “Soi” Nguyen, the elder of the group at thirty-seven, was born in Saigon, South Vietnam. His family fled when Saigon fell in 1975, immigrating to the United States and eventually settling in Southern California. He is the only non-pro of the group, and actually claims to not play that much poker. His only reported live tourney cash was placing 69^th at the 2010 L.A. Poker Classic, Los Angeles for $1,980. The WSOP was just his fourth tournament ever. He is single although he has a one son, aged 12, and he works in the medical supply industry.







John Racener, twenty-four, is a resident of Tampa, FL. He began playing poker only four years ago, and when he began playing online, he turned $50 into $30,000 in the course of one year. Other than playing poker, he has never had a regular, full-time job. Shortly after turning 21, he entered the WSOP Circuit Main Event championship at Harrah’s Atlantic City placed in the top three. The following year, he won the event, raking in $379,392. Not counting 2010, he has earned $701,165 in combined WSOP and WSOP Circuit earnings. He cashed three times at this year’s WSOP and is the final table’s fourth biggest chip holder.





Jason Senti, Twenty-five, is a former electrical engineer who left that profession when he realized he could make more money playing poker. A dedicated traveler, he has been to almost every country in Europe and is a member of a rock group in Minneapolis. He also holds the position of instructor at the poker training website BlueFire Poker. He has the shortest stack of the bunch, and will have his work cut out for him in November. Online, he plays under the name “PBJaxx” and has been plying professionally for slightly less than two years.