Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 28 October 2010 / Leave a Comment

We're getting close! The final table of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event -- a.k.a. the "November Nine" -- is just a little over a week away. On Saturday, November 7th, the nine players who survived those frenzied two weeks of poker back in July will return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to begin the process of determining this year's WSOP champion.

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Yesterday the WSOP and ESPN conducted a conference call with members of the poker media to discuss the upcoming final table. On Tuesday, November 9th, at 10 p.m. Eastern time -- just hours after the tournament concludes -- ESPN will be airing its coverage of the Main Event final table.

The call began with opening statements by the panel who would be fielding the media's questions.

Ty Stewart, Vice President of Harrah's Entertainment/WSOP, kicked things off with a few thoughts about how big of a spectacle the November Nine has become, with huge crowds including "the autograph seekers... the look-a-like phenomenon... and the body painters" who come out to the Rio to watch the action and cheer on the players.

Stewart described the WSOP Main Event and final table as a "hyper-accelerated version of the American Dream," the "ultimate game show" in which (this year) not one but eight individuals will become millionaires. He also added some words of praise for ESPN and 411 Productions who have played such a major role over recent years in expanding the popularity of poker in general and the WSOP brand in particular.

ESPN Producer Kathy Cook then shared some details regarding the quick turn-around that will once again be taking place in order to produce that final table show that will air on November 9th. "We're sending a terrific production team of 71 people," Cook noted. "We're going to have 21 cameras covering the final table. We'll have microphones on all nine players, the dealer, the tournament director, and the crazy crowd." A later question about the editing process allowed Cook to speak further about the incredibly busy 60 hours or so the ESPN team will be experiencing as they rapidly pull together the program to be aired on Tuesday night.

Cook also spoke about the new graphics and statistical information ESPN has added to its WSOP shows this year, included "to appeal to the hardcore fans." And she expressed excitement about the live streaming of the final table that will be happening on ESPN3.com on a five-minute delay with no hole cards and live commentary.

Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, co-commentators for ESPN's WSOP coverage since 2003, then spoke, both sharing their excitement about the upcoming final table. "You look at the final table and it's really a decent portrait of where poker is today," said McEachern. "There's a bunch of young, aggressive players... [with] an international flair sprinkled with a seasoned pro and an amateur."

Chad picked up on that latter comment when identifying what he believed to be the two main storylines of this year's November Nine. "We have the youngest Main Event final table ever," Chad pointed out. "Everyone is in their 20s, with the exception of the one true amateur, Soi Nguyen, who is 37."

The other primary storyline involves the presence both Nguyen the amateur and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, the established pro. "Last year we had Phil Ivey and Darvin Moon [in those two roles]," Chad noted. If Mizrachi were to win -- following up his victory in the $50K Player's Championship -- he "can rewrite the books," explained Chad. Meanwhile Nguyen "is the 'everyman' we always love to have" who like so many first got interested in poker and the WSOP watching Chris Moneymaker win back in 2003.

Members of the poker media then asked questions of the panel. Here's a sampling of some of the topics that were discussed.

Betting on the Final Table

Referring again to the fact that all but one of the November Nine are in their 20s, the panel spoke of the aggressive, intelligent play the final tablists have already demonstrated, and the feeling is we'll be seeing more of that once play resumes.

However, when it came to predicting a winner, no one was terribly confident. "My answer always when I'm handicapping poker or NFL football games is nobody knows anything," cracked Chad. "And anybody who says otherwise is lying to you."

Chad noted how Jonathan Duhamel, the leader, currently has about a third of the chips in play, and Soi Nguyen and Jason Senti were both on the short stacks. But all it would take would be one or two double-ups "and the dynamic changes."

Chad went on to point out that another difficulty they face -- and indeed, most observers face -- when trying to handicap the final table is a lack of familiarity with eight of the nine players. "The only one we have any sense of is Mizrachi, and even watching him I vacillate between [thinking he is...] incredibly brilliant and incredibly lucky, and it's probably somewhere in between."

Telling the Mizrachi Tale

A question was asked about the "Mizrachi tax story" -- last May it was reported that the poker pro owed nearly $340,000 in federal taxes and was facing foreclosure on his Florida home -- and how that story, or any negative story about the players, might be handled during the broadcast.

McEachern noted that they wouldn't "shy away from" talking about Mizrachi's situation, and in fact have mentioned it during the coverage already. "We're not the local 11:00 news, on the other hand," he added, noting that the primary focus will be the event itself, and if such stories about players' backgrounds are relevant to that primary focus, that's when they'll be addressed.

"For what it's worth, I have tax problems every year," joked Chad. Further discussion touched on how the Grinder's WSOP run now has a kind of "redemption" angle attached to it, in addition to that other remarkable storyline of his three brothers (Robert, Eric, and Donnie) all cashing in the WSOP Main Event as well.

Live Streaming

Londoner James Hartigan will be providing commentary for the live streaming of the final table over on ESPN3.com. Hartigan filled the same role for the WSOP final tables that were shown on ESPN3 this summer. He's also done a lot of commentating on the European Poker Tour, for Sky Poker, and elsewhere. Hartigan will be joined along the way in the booth by various poker pros, including Phil Hellmuth.

The precise reach of ESPN3.com was an issue that came up a couple of times during the call. It was stated that currently more than 53 million people can access the content provided by the site (U.S. only), although in order to do so one's cable/satellite provider must be an affiliate of the site.

Patches and Players

Of the nine players, it appears that seven are currently being sponsored by a single online site -- Full Tilt Poker. The WSOP has a rule that states sponsors are limited to having no more than three players at a televised table sport their logos. When asked, Stewart confirmed that the WSOP would certainly be enforcing that rule at the ME final table.

There was a follow-up question asking whether or not a penalty would be imposed if a sponsor did not abide by the rule. Stewart's response was "we don't expect" the rule will be broken, and hopefully communication between the WSOP, the sponsors, and the players is clear enough that the need for penalties won't arise.

Rounding Up?

There were a few rumors back in July about the first-place prize being topped off to $9 million even, but Stewart confirmed those were just rumors. There will be some interest added to the cash prizes for all nine players (as has been the case the last two years), but no "rounding up" will occur.

"To Present the Game in the Biggest Way Possible"

This year the nine players will each come out onto the stage at the Penn & Teller Theater in the Rio accompanied by "walk-on" music. Each has selected a tune for himself as a kind of theme song, something like we might see at a boxing match or baseball game.

When asked about the new addition to the proceedings, Stewart noted how "we feel it is our responsibility to present the game in the biggest way possible," and that this "new wrinkle" will do just that.

More seating will be made available to the general public this year -- a 50% increase in capacity. Those in attendance will also be seeing spotlights, show girls, and other choreography and theatrics -- including pyrotechnics (!) -- as part of the introductions and the traditional call to "shuffle up and deal." Some more "pomp and circumstance," said Stewart.

In other words, expect fireworks -- literally and figuratively -- at the final table this year. Quite a change from that small annual gathering at Binion's Horseshoe so many years ago!

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