Day 7 of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event began with 27 players filling three tables and finally ended at around midnight Pacific time as the nine member of the final table – best known in the poker world as the “November Nine” – were determined. Leading the way is New York’s Cliff Josephy with 74.6 million chips.
Josephy is probably the best known player at the table. He made a name for himself over a decade ago as one of internet poker’s first stars. Going by the screen name “JohnnyBax,” Josephy became the top ranked online tournament player in the world according to the PocketFives rankings in April 2005 and held the top spot for more than a year spanning 2005 and 2006. He amassed more than $4.1 million in recorded online tournament winnings, but who knows how much more he has won that has not been tracked on various websites.
One thing that made Josephy unique in his online heyday was that he was significantly older than most successful online players. Now 51 years old, he is the oldest player at the WSOP Main Event final table, but when he was the top online tournament player in the world, he was about 40, dominating an arena filled with people in their late teens to mid-20’s.
The unofficial final table every year is set when ten players remain, as WSOP organizers prefer not to have two tables of five, but the real final table is reached when that tenth place finisher is eliminated and the field is down to nine. That player who came at the same time must feel quite happy with his accomplishment, yet incredibly disappointed that he isn’t a part of the November Nine is Josh Weiss. On the November Nine bubble-busting hand, Weiss moved all-in for 850,000 pre-flop, which was basically a necessity with blinds at 250,000/500,000 and a 75,000 ante. He had A-8, which was as good a hand as any with which to commit, and was called by both Michael Ruane and Gordon Vayo. Ruane and Vayo checked it down on a board of J-7-3-5-4, as players are apt to do in a situation like this. Vayo had Q-7 for one pair, but it was Ruane who took the pot with J-5, good enough for two pair. Weiss was eliminated and had to be content with a measly $650,000 for tenth place.
All nine remaining players are guaranteed at least a million dollars. The payout table for the November Nine is as follows:
1st place: $8,000,000
2nd place: $4,658,452
3rd place: $3,451,175
4th place: $2,574,808
5th place: $1,934,579
6th place: $1,463,906
7th place: $1,250,000
8th place: $1,100,000
9th place: $1,000,000
Since shifting to November, the final table of the Main Event has typically been held on the second week of November, but is actually starting on October 30th this year so that it does not interfere with the U.S. Presidential election on November 8th (not that the WSOP would interfere with the tournament, it’s just that players and spectators will want to be able to go vote and pay attention to the news of the evening). The final table will span three days.
2016 World Series of Poker Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Cliff Josephy – 74,600,000
2. Qui Nguyen – 67,925,000
3. Gordon Vayo – 49,375,000
4. Kenny Hallaert – 43,325,000
5. Michael Ruane – 31,600,000
6. Vojtech Ruzicka – 27,300,000
7. Griffin Benger – 26,175,000
8. Jerry Wong – 10,175,000
9. Fernando Pons – 6,150,000
