This year’s WSOP Main Event was an interesting one to follow thanks to a number of compelling storylines. But as the tournament was narrowed to its final table in advance of a 102-day hiatus, nearly every one of those storylines was extinguished. The end result is the blandest final table lineup since the tournament moved to the “November Nine” format of delaying the final table.
This year’s tournament is being moved to October instead of November so as not to conflict with the U.S. Presidential election, and for this year, at least, its ultimate group is being called the “October Nine.” So here are my top five October Nine disappointments.
1. Dude.
The 2012 WSOP was a good one for women; among the highlights were Vanessa Selbst winning her second career gold bracelet, Australian Jackie Glazier finishing one spot shy of her first bracelet, and Amanda Musumeci finishing second in a bracelet event before making the final table of the WSOP Circuit National Championship. That success carried over to the Main Event, with France’s Gaelle Baumann seizing the overall chip lead on Day 3 and a number of women – including Selbst, Marcia Topp, Susie Zhao, and Norway’s Elisabeth Hille – making it not only to the money but all the way to Day 6.
Though the others fell aside day by day, Baumann and Hille were still in contention as Day 7 began. And as 16 other players busted out, the two of them remained within sight of becoming the first women to make the tournament’s final table since Barbara Enright first broke that ground in 1995. Then the boom lowered on the most compelling potential storyline for the October Nine: Hille busted in 11th place, and Baumann was taken out in 10th.
Instead of a history-making final table with two women, or at least one, we got nine guys. Again. Yawn.
2. USA! USA! USA!
One of the big factors in the growth of the Main Event over the last two decades has been the participation of players from outside the United States. For many years Americans dominated the final table, but international players had become a increasingly common since the poker boom. Their peak came last year, when just three of the seats at the final table were occupied by Americans.
Though the total registration numbers from abroad were still solid for this year’s Main Event – 2,019 players from 81 countries – the number at the final table was very nearly zero. Only Hungary’s Andras Koroknai, best known for winning the 2010 LA Poker Classic main event, survived to return in October. It’s the first time since 2006, when Erik Friberg of Sweden finished in 8th place, that only one player from outside the U.S. has advanced to the final table. That year saw the biggest Main Event field ever – nearly 2,200 more than this year’s tournament – which makes the international drought in 2012 even more disappointing.
3. No repeat performances.
For several days during the Main Event there was a small chance that the November Nine would see its first repeat member. Among the contenders were Joseph Cheong, the 2010 3rd-place man who advanced to Day 5 for the third straight year; Eric Buchman, the New York pro who finished 4th in 2009 and later won a gold bracelet; and the United Kingdom’s Sam Holden, last year’s 9th-place finisher. Both Buchman and Cheong fell short on Day 5, but Holden survived to Day 6. As he was eliminated in 55th place, so was one of the more compelling potential final table storylines.
4. Low profiles.
According to my highly scientific method of pulling a random number out of thin air, any poker fan out there who’s looked at this year’s final table line-up is something like 72 percent likely to mutter the phrase, “Who are these guys?” None of them are very well known pros like past November Niners Phil Ivey and Michael Mizrachi. Only two of them have won gold bracelets (Steve Gee in 2010 and Greg Merson this year). And only one (Koroknai, the Hungarian) has a televised poker tournament win to his credit.
None of this is intended as a knock on the players who will be playing come October – to make it to the final table of the Main Event is one of the more impressive feats a poker player can accomplish, and it will be a lifelong memory for all of them. BUT from the standpoint of the more casual viewer, there’s not much of a hook in this year’s line-up.
5. It’s all about the money.
With no women at the table, no big international presence as in past years, and no repeat performers, the biggest remaining storyline for the Main Event is the top prize. In any other year an $8,527,982 top prize would be a pretty compelling figure – it’s more than most people will make in their lifetimes, and even more than some elite athletes and high-profile entertainers make in a year. But this year it will only be the third-largest prize of the year, thanks to The Big One for One Drop.
The mega-tournament, which boasted an unprecedented $42.6 million prize pool and awarded $18.5 million to winner Antonio Esfandiari and $10.1 million to runner-up Sam Trickett, reset all the standards for money in tournament poker. That’s good news for the game in general – big money draws big attention – but it’s bad news for the WSOP Main Event. Since the very beginning the Main Event has been the game’s gold standard for prize money, especially since the poker boom. With the Big One’s shadow hanging over it, this year’s Main Event prize doesn’t look nearly as impressive.
