For the first time in recent memory, the members of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine will reunite under one roof at the Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge on February 8th. The gathering will take the form of a three-table, 27-man tournament featuring Foxwoods qualifiers and members of the 2010 WSOP November Nine.
Jonathan Duhamel became the first Canadian WSOP Main Event champ ever after defeating Floridian John Racener in November at the Rio in Las Vegas. Now, the action moves 2,000 miles eastward to the forests of Connecticut. The Main Event in Las Vegas featured the third cycle of the November Nine format, which saw the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament paused for four months starting in July once its final table was determined.
Poker News Daily Guest Columnist and Foxwoods ambassador Bernard Lee commented in a press release distributed on Monday that he was looking forward to this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence: “This will be a legendary reunion watched by the entire poker community. Not only will the November Nine meet at Foxwoods to resurrect memories of their last game, the players will also test their skills against the casino’s strongest poker players.”
Foxwoods will be filling the seats in the three-table event through qualifiers taking place between now and February 3rd. Then, the 19th Mega Stack Challenge will get underway on February 4th and stretch for nine days. The series boasts $400,000 in guaranteed prize money spread across six events, the granddaddy being a $1,200 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $150,000 purse. The $1,200 buy-in contest begins on February 12th and runs for two days. It awards players starting stacks of 40,000 in chips and blind levels run for 50 minutes apiece until the final table, when they’ll be extended by 10 minutes.
In addition to facing off against each other, members of the November Nine will host events during the Mega Stack Challenge XIX in the casino’s World Poker Tour (WPT) branded poker room. Joining Duhamel and Racener will be seven other household names: Joseph Cheong, Filippo Candio, Michael Mizrachi, John Dolan, Jason Senti, Matt Jarvis, and Soi Nguyen.
Three separate $75,000 Guaranteed tournaments are also part of the Mega Stack Challenge schedule. One is a $600 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament that begins on February 4th and crowns a champion the next day. It offers up starting stacks of 20,000 in chips and ticks off blind levels every 45 minutes. The second $75,000 Guaranteed contest is a $400 buy-in two-day event that starts on February 10th, 48 hours after the big November Nine reunion. Players will collect starting stacks of 15,000 and blind levels will run for 40 minutes.
The final $75,000 Guaranteed tournament boasts a $300 buy-in and offers up 10,000-chip stacks. The price of poker will go up every half hour and two starting days will be held, one on February 7th and one on February 8th. The finals will take place on February 9th and the first day of every event begins promptly at 11:00am ET. Single-table satellites to each tournament are also available and start at an affordable $75.
You can listen to Lee break down the news in an exclusive video interview right here on Poker News Daily. The Foxwoods pro told us, “I don’t ever remember hearing that the full World Series Main Event final table ever reassembled again and so I really believe that this is part of history that they’ll all be back together again. I think it’ll be an exciting time for the world of poker and it’ll be exiting at Foxwoods during the Mega Stack.”
Foxwoods is about a 2.5 hour drive from the Big Apple and less than two hours from Boston. Providence, Hartford, and Worcester are all with an hours’ striking distance. We’ll have more information for you on the November Nine reunion at Foxwoods on February 8th as it develops.
