The Return of the November Nine

The Dirty Dozen, the Magnificent Seven, the November Nine. Rolls off the tongue, does it not? Well, today the November Nine return to the Rio and resume their quest to become the new World Champion. We’ve waited nearly four months for the WSOP Main Event to reach it’s conclusion and now we just have to wait a little bit longer. Play resumes at noon today, Vegas time (that’s 3pm for those of us on the East Coast, consult your Almanac for the time in your location) and if you want to find out what’s going on during the day there are various outlets providing constant coverage.

Our sister-sit UltimateBet is sponsoring the live coverage over at Bluff Magazine, and Annie Duke and Hollywood Dave will be tableside providing commentary.You can visit the re-launched WSOP.com for a live-viewer and video updates and all sorts of info from the final table (and, by the by, Absolute’s Lacey Jones is the official hostess of the final table, so you’ll be seeing lots and lots of her). PokerNews will of course be providing hand-for-hand updates and chip counts throughout the day. ESPN’s Andrew Feldman will have a live-blog of the final-table, as will my friend the infamous Dr. Pauly. And then whatever particular poker publication you prefer as well.

It’s been awhile since Darvin Moon’s set of eights cracked Jordan Smith’s pocket Aces, and if you’re having trouble remembering who the heck Darvin Moon is, well, you probably need the scene to be set. Here’s the situation as play resumes this afternoon:

Current Level: 33 with 7 minutes and 16 seconds remaining
Blinds: 120K/240K with a 30K ante
Next Level: 150K/300K with a 40K ante

Chip Count:
Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000
Joseph Cada – 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
James Akenhead – 6,800,000

Seating Assignments:
Seat 1: Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) – 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead (London, UK) – 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) – 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel (Coral Springs, FL) – 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) – 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman (Valley Stream, NY) – 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada (Shelby Township, MI)- 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (St. Martin des Champs, France) – 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman (Las Vegas, NV) – 19,580,000

November Nine Payouts:
1st $8,547,042
2nd $5,182,928
3rd $3,479,670
4th $2,502,890
5th $1,953,452
6th $1,587,160
7th $1,404,014
8th $1,300,231
9th $1,263,602

They’ll play until they’re heads-up tonight, then stop and return Monday night at 10pm Vegas time (1pm EDT, you do the math for where you are) and battle for the World Championship. ESPN’s program will air Tuesday night, so it there’s a long, drawn-out heads-up battle there could be very little lead time between bracelet and broadcast. It’s the biggest event in poker and should make for a most interesting weekend for poker fans.