The nine players who survived the grueling two weeks of competition last July in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker will reconvene today in the Penn & Teller Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. They will battle for more than $27 million in prize money at the final table.
Competition among the so-called "November Nine" is expected to extend through Sunday before the final two players meet for heads-up competition on Monday. Highlights will be broadcast by ESPN in a Tuesday prime-time special.
This marks the second straight year the World Series of Poker has gone with a delayed final table in hopes of building suspense.
Play was suspended on July 16 with the top nine chip holders remaining from among thousands of players who anted up $10,000 each to participate in the richest and most prestigious tournament in the world of poker.
Every participant will walk away from the table a millionaire. The winner will earn $8.5 million, the runner-up $5.2 million, and third place finisher $3.5 million. Even the first player eliminated will take home a cool $1.25 million.
It's going to be a real "horse race," so let's take a moment to handicap the field with my predictions on the order of finish:
1. Joseph Cada -- I'm going for a real long shot here with this brash 21-year-old from Shelby Township, Mich. He would become the youngest Main Event champion should he pull off the upset.
2. Jeff Shulman -- This rugged and wily pro is usually right there, and he'll be at the top of his game. He'll start with 19,580,000 in chips and play aggressively from the opening bell.
3. Phil Ivey -- Here's the obvious one to beat and a huge favorite in this tournament. Ivey is regarded as one of the best players in the world by virtue of more than $3.4 million in tournament winnings and seven gold bracelet victories in World Series of Poker competition.
4. Darvin Moon -- This Maryland logger was unknown until this tournament. He goes into the final table as the chip leader with a whopping 59,930,000.
Even though that will give him the advantage at the start, his opponents will be trying to whittle his chip total down from the get-go, and he'll have to survive the pressure to take it all.
5. Eric Buchman -- Has shown some encouraging WSOP performances going back to 2004, and he has 34,800,000 chips to work with.
6. Steven Begleiter -- Another relative unknown, the former Bear Stearns executive finds himself in good position early with 29,885,000 in chips.
7. Antoine Saout -- Outsider did finish seventh earlier this year in the Main Event at the World Series of Poker Europe.
8. Kevin Schaffel -- He cashed in last year's Main Event (324th place) and remains in a tough spot in this field.
9. James Akenhead -- Native of London, has the credentials to better this rating but starting with the lowest chip total among the finalists (6,800,000) will put the pressure on.
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The opinions expressed are solely the writer's. Reach him at jbrokopp@comcast.net.
