Last night was the night the poker world had been eagerly anticipating for three months. The final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event began last night as the nine remaining players in the tournament, known as the “November Nine,” reconvened to battle it out for poker immortality. And what was nine at 5:00pm Las Vegas time Monday is now just two; Jay Farber and Ryan Riess will face off Tuesday to determine the winner of the $8,361,570 prize.
Here what the final table looked like at the start of play Monday:
Seat 1: Sylvain Loosli, 19.6 million
Seat 2: Michiel Brummelhuis, 11.275 million
Seat 3: Mark Newhouse, 7.35 million
Seat 4: Ryan Riess, 25.875 million
Seat 5: Amir Lehavot, 29.7 million
Seat 6: Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, 26.525 million
Seat 7: J. C. Tran, 38 million
Seat 8: David Benefield, 6.375 million
Seat 9: Jay Farber, 25.975 million
J.C. Tran, widely considered the best player at the table, had a solid lead, holding 38 million chips. After him, Amir Lehavot, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Farber, Riess, and Marc-Etienne McLaughlin were bunched up in the mid-to-upper 20 million range. Sylvain Loosli was just under 20 million, Michiel Brummelhuis followed with 11 million, and two internet stars, Mark Newhouse and David Benefield, were the short stacks with under 8 million each.
Those two short stacks, as one might expect, were the first two eliminated. Though there were some all-ins in the first few orbits, it wasn’t until Hand 36 that Newhouse was knocked out in ninth place. All-in pre-flop with pocket Nines, Riess called with A-K and flopped a King.
Two hands later, Benefield was gone. He moved all-in with K-2 suited and was called by Farber, who had A-K. Benefield rivered his 2, but Farber had turned a Broadway straight, so that was it for the man known online as “Raptor.” That hand also got Farber rolling, growing his chip stack to almost 39 million, only about a million behind the first place Tran.
After a couple more orbits, the tournament saw its next elimination. Just two hands after doubling-up, Brummelhuis four-bet all-in pre-flop for about 16 million with pocket Nines. Unfortunately for him, Riess woke up with Aces and Brummelhuis was out in seventh place.
At the start of Level 37, six players were left. Riess was the chip leader with 54.25 million, followed by Farber with 41.125 million. Tran had been having trouble finding any real traction, but was still in good shape with 34.75 million.
During the second orbit of that level, on Hand 68, Riess became the first player to eclipse 60 million chips when he flopped a set of Tens against Tran. He was up to almost 65 million and had taken command of the table holding a third of chips in play.
After that, things slowed down for a while. There was still plenty of action as the blinds were so high that players were frequently put to decisions for large portions of their stacks, but it all resulted in chips being shuffled around. Riess and Farber continued to control the top two stacks, while Tran continued to struggle get on track and Loosli, Lehavot, and McLaughlin tried to stay alive.
Finally, on Hand 157, McLaughlin was eliminated in sixth place. He and Farber raised and re-raised each other pre-flop until all the chips were in the middle. It was a cooler for McLaughlin: he had Kings and faced Farber’s Aces. The Aces held and the table was down to five players.
As slow as the eliminations were earlier, now players were dropping like flies. Four hands later, Tran had to go all-in pre-flop for his final 10 million chips with A-7. Farber called him with K-Q, flopped a King, and that was it for the former chip leader.
On Hand 170, Loosli was about as short as Tran was on his last hand and shoved with Q-7. Riess made the call with A-T and his hand held, sending Loosli to the rail in fourth place.
On the very next hand, Farber folded pre-flop, Riess raised to 1.9 million, and Lehavot decided to move all-in for 21.15 million with pocket Sevens. Riess called with Tens and again, his hand never fell behind. Lehavot was eliminated and the first day of the final table had come to an end.
Going into heads-up play, Jay Farber leads Ryan Riess 105 million to 85.675 million. Play will resume during Level 39 with blinds at 500,000/1 million and an ante of 150,000. Despite those lofty stakes, both players have plenty of wiggle room, so it should be a great match. Each man is already guaranteed $5,174,357, but they are gunning for additional $3 million, the bracelet, and the title of World Champion.
