On Tuesday, after seven days of action, the November Nine of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event was reached. The day began with 22 players with dreams of poker immortality, and after a long, grueling day on the felts, the names of those who will battle for the bracelet in November are now known.
Lars Bonding was the first player eliminated on Day 8 of the 2011 WSOP. On a flop of 
, Bonding shoved with pocket aces and Konstantinos Mamaliadis turned over pocket fours for middle set. Bonding failed to catch an ace and hit the rail. Chris Moore began the day as the shortest stack in the tournament and was eliminated early when he called a preflop shove from Anton Makievskyi with pocket kings. Makievskyi had 
and needed help. An ace on the flop gave Makievskyi the lead, and when the turn and river failed to bring a king, Moore was eliminated in 21st place.
A bit later, Gionni Demers open-shoved from the button with 
and Konstantinos Mamaliadis made the call with pocket kings. The board ran out 
and Demers was eliminated. Aleksandr Mozhnyakov hit the rail nearly at the same time as Demers. He was all-in preflop for his last 1.5 million and Sam Barnhart made the call. Mozhnyakov turned over 
and faced the for Barnhart. The board fell jack-high and Mozhnyakov finished in 19th place.
With 18 players left, Anton Makievskyi was still in the chip lead with 29.7 million, over 8 million more than Eoghan O’Dea’s 21.5 million. Ben Lamb had climbed his way up to third in chips with 18.6 million and the pressure was mounting for the remaining players. The pace of eliminations did not slow after the final two tables kicked off. With the average chip stack of 13 million and only 6 players above average, the short stacks had to make a move. Kenny Shih has just 5 million and raised it to 525,000 under the gun preflop. John Hewitt made the call from the big blind to see a flop of 
. Action was checked to Shih, who bet 700,000. Hewitt then check-raised to 2 million and Shih shoved. Hewitt made the call and turned over 
for the nut flush draw while Shih held 
for a single pair. The turn brought the 
and Shih was drawing dead and out in 18th place.
Sam Barnhart followed Shih out the door after a battle of short stacks with Pius Heinz. After Barnhart raised to 550,000, Heinz shoved for 5.51 million. Barnhart had only 4 million and called all-in. It was 
for Barnhart against 
for Heinz. The flop failed to bring a nine and the WSOP Circuit National Champion fell in 17th.
Ryan Lenaghan was down to 4.63 million and shoved with 
preflop and Samuel Holden made the call with 
. A flop of 
gave Holden a flush draw and took away one of Lenaghan’s outs. Lenaghan hit an eight, but it was the wrong eight because the fell on the turn to give Holden his flush and send Lenaghan out in 16th. Andrey Pateychuk started the day fourth in chips and quickly dropped to about 10 Million. He lost half of that stack when Pius Heinz flopped top two pair with . With just 4.3 million left in his stack, he shoved under the gun with . Heinz woke up with pocket jacks and made the call. The board ran out 
and Pateychuk exited in 15th.
Scott Schwalich had a roller coaster day to finish in 14th place. Early on, he doubled up with aces against Alexsandr Mozhnyakov’s kings to move up to 12.4 million. A bit later, he tried to push Bryan Devonshire out of a pot preflop by four-bet shoving with 
. Devonshire had pocket tens and quickly called for his tournament life. The flop fell 
to give Devo a boat and left Schwalich with three outs. An ace didn’t come and he was down to just 605,000. A couple of hands later, Phil Collins raised to 550,000 and Schwalich was all-in for 25,000 more. Eoghan O’Dea popped it to 2 million and Collins got out of the way. O’dea held versus Schwalich’s 
. The flop and turned missed both players and the river gave both a pair of tens. O’Dea’s kicker played and Schwalich headed out to receive $478,174.
Konstantinos Mamaliadis started the day with 8.1 million in chips and after a rocky couple of levels was down to 4 million. Eoghan O’Dea raised to 625,000 from the hijack seat and Mamaliadis shoved from the button with in the hopes of picking up the blinds and antes. O’Dea made the call and showed pocket sevens. A flop of 
left Mamaliadis needing an eight or running straight cards. The turn 
actually took away outs from Mamaliadis. He did pick up a straight draw, but now an eight would give O’Dea a superior straight. The river brought the and O’Dea’s straight sent Mamaliadis out in 13th. With that pot, O’Dea moved up into the chip lead with 33 Million.
As mentioned earlier, Bryan Devonshire doubled-up through Scott Schwalich and was sitting with around 14.5 million. From that point, Devonshire slipped to around 7.5 million by the dinner break. Shortly after returning from the break, Khoa Nguyen doubled-up through Devonshire when his 
held against 
. Devo was crippled at this point with only 3.5 million in chips. A few hands later, Devonshire came over the top of a preflop raise from Eoghan O’Dea and shoved all-in with . O’Dea made the call and had Devonshire dominated with 
. The flop 
missed both players, and the turn 
meant only a king would save Devonshire. The 
fell on the river and Devo’s run in the 2011 WSOP Main Event ended with a 12th place finish.
Khoa Nguyen had 8.2 million in chips after his double-up through Devonshire and after anteing off for a few hands, he took another shot at doubling-up. Martin Staszko raised to 675,000 preflop, followed by Nguyen making it 1.75 million to go. Staszko then moved all-in and Nguyen made the call. Nguyen turned over 
and found himself crushed behind Staszko’s . The board ran out 
and Nguyen hit the rail in 11th place.
The final ten players were then combined on the ESPN Mothership feature table, but one more player needed to be eliminated before the November Nine was set. At the start of the last table, Eoghan O’Dea was still in the lead with 39.5 million and had a 9.5 million lead over Martin Staszko. Ben Lamb was third with 24.6 million. Samuel Holden and Matt Giannetti were the short stacks of the last table with 12.45 and 9.53 million respectively.
O’Dea and Staszko continued to battle for the chip lead at the last table but it was Staszko who chipped up. He gained over 10 million in chips during ten-handed play to finish over the 40 million mark. O’Dea slipped a bit, but still managed to finish with 33.9 million. After starting the last table with short stack, Matt Giannetti continued to slide and with 5.5 million left in his stack, it looked as though he could be the final table bubble boy. A double-up through Jason Hewitt began to change those fortunes. Giannetti open-shoved for 5.5 Million preflop with pocket jacks and Hewitt made the call with . The flop fell king-high, missing both player. The turn and river brought low cards to double Giannetti up to 11.7 million. From that point, Giannetti continued to play aggressively and more than doubled his stack before the end of play.
Badih Bounahra began the series of events that lead to the final nine. Bounahra was the short stack with 9.3 million after Giannetti’s double-up and found the perfect time to wake up with pocket kings. After a raise to 1.1 million preflop by John Hewitt, Bounahra shipped his 9.3 million to the middle. Hewitt made the call and turned over . Bounahra turned over his and was in great shape to win the hand. The flop missed both players, but the turn made things interesting. Hewitt now had two outs to make Bounahra the bubble boy. The fell on the river to allow Bounahra to double-up to 19.9 million, crippling Hewitt and leaving him with 4.12 million.
Hewitt dropped down to 3.9 million before attempting his own double-up against Eoghan O’Dea. O’Dea raised to 1.1 million preflop and Hewitt moved all-in. O’Dea wasted little time in calling and found himself racing with against the pocket threes of Hewitt. O’Dea flopped the world when hit the board. He now had an open-ended straight draw as well as his two over cards. The turn brought the , sealing the deal. Hewitt was drawing dead and was the final table bubble boy.
After two weeks of action, the November Nine is finally set. Martin Staszko leads the field with 40.17 million, followed by O’Dea with 33.9 Million. Phil Collins and Ben Lamb are the headliners of this final table and finished with 23.8 and 20.8 million respectively. Samuel Holden will take the unenviable task of short stack into the November Nine with just 12.3 million. Your November Nine participants are below, along with their seat assignments and starting chip count.
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Giannetti | 24,750,000 |
| 2 | Badih Bounahra | 19,700,000 |
| 3 | Eoghan O’Dea | 33,925,000 |
| 4 | Phil Collins | 23,875,000 |
| 5 | Anton Makievskyi | 13,825,000 |
| 6 | Samuel Holden | 12,375,000 |
| 7 | Pius Heinz | 16,425,000 |
| 8 | Ben Lamb | 20,875,000 |
| 9 | Martin Staszko | 40,175,000 |
With the November Nine now set, the 2011 WSOP Main Event will be on a brief hiatus. Players will return to the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio on November 5 and play down to heads-up. The final two will return on November 7 to play for the bracelet and $8.7 million. We will learn a lot more about the players between now and then and PokerNews will be there in November to bring you all the action.
Podcast
Throughout the 2011 World Series of Poker, the PokerNews Podcast crew has brought you news, previews, and interviews with the biggest names in poker and the stars of the Series. If you missed any episodes, or if there is an interview you would love to hear again, you can find every episodes in our archives.
Check out the podcast archives for more.
Video of the Day
With the 2011 November Nine now set, the WSOP wraps until November. Kristy Arnett brings you the final video update of the Series and introduces you to the November Nine.
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