The November Nine
After 117 days since the November Nine was decided, the action is back at the Rio in Las Vegas to decide who will be the champion of this year’s World Series of Poker. Much has been written about whether the delay of the final table purely for tv purposes will actually give the WSOP and poker more appeal around the world. Not since pocket cams has such a radical change been introduced to the event, again it is to try and improve the glamour of the game.
Since July, the Olympics and the US election have been the major events that have made headline news. For those who are new to the game, these events will have likely pushed the WSOP to the back of the agenda, whilst for those in the know, life has moved on. A few of the November Nine have used professional coaching services to enhance the game whilst others have decided that they will just play it with whatever comes.
One really comes to wonder whether the hype is truly justified with this event. Will it change the life of the winner or the other final table players? Previous winners and final table players have gone on to become professional poker players whilst others have gone back to their old jobs to continue life with extra dollars in the bank account. A growing debate is that the WSOP has so many satellite qualifiers that it is no longer a tournament for the best of the world’s poker players, but rather a large grouping of majority amateurs hoping to have a good run of cards to make it to the final table. A dream comes true for the few who survive to the end, for all the rest, a good experience for all who fail trying.
