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3 5
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7 6 4
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1 Jorryt van Hoof
2 Felix Stephensen 3 Mark Newhouse
4 Andoni Larrabe
5 Dan Sindelar
$38,375,000 in chips
$32,775,000
$22,550,000
$21,200,000
Your chip leader, van Hoof had one of the 10 shortest stacks when he finished Day 4 before he came roaring back. Though van Hoof prefers pot-limit Omaha, Phil Hellmuth says the 31-year-old Dutchman is the one to watch at this year’s final table.
One of two players at the 2014 final table to never even cash in any WSOP event, the 23-yearold Norwegian entered this year’s tournament with only $22,118 in live career earnings (though he’s racked up more than $300,000 online). He once harbored dreams of playing pro soccer, but now lives in London, where he focuses, like van Hoof, on pot-limit Omaha.
$26,000,000
Last year, Newhouse came into the final table as the short stack and busted out first. The fact he’s part of the November Nine again should be absolutely terrifying to other players, given how insanely sharp your game has to be to navigate more than 6,000 competitors two years in a row. At 29, the Las Vegas resident has already amassed more than $2.8 million in career winnings.
If you’re sensing a trend, it’s because Larrabe is also impossibly young (22) and also lives in London, although he’s a native of Spain. Looking to become the second Spaniard to win the Main Event— Carlos Mortensen was the first in 2001—Larrabe has a couple of big online cashes on his résumé, including one for $229,212. He has $341,266 in live earnings.
Sindelar is our second Las Vegan—by way of Nebraska— and has cashed 17 times in WSOP events to the tune of nearly $150,000. Sindelar told PokerNews.com he’s been playing more golf than poker lately, though the 30-year-old will have plenty of ammo to swing that balance the other way after cashing.
6 William 7 William Tonking Pappaconstantinou $15,050,000 $17,500,000
Meet your fivetime world champion of foosball. Pappaconstantinou appears at the final table in between foosball tournaments, because poker suffers from a terrible dearth of tiny men to spin around. Along with Stephensen, the 29-year-old is the only other member of the November Nine with no WSOP cashes, though he does have $16,379 in career live earnings.
The 27-year-old New Jersey online pro comes in with three WSOP cashes to his name and a total of $93,306 in live tourney winnings. He also claims to be a Dallas Cowboys fan, so if you’re looking for somebody to root against at this final table ...
8 Martin Jacobson 9 Bruno Politano $14,900,000
$12,125,500
Like the other Europeans on this list, Jacobson also lives in London. But unlike anyone else in the field, the 27-year-old Swede has earned $1.2 million in various WSOP events. Jacobson, who has $4.8 million in total tourney winnings, doesn’t have much farther to go to eclipse two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjôrin’s $5.5 million in career tournament earnings as the all-time, top-earning Swede.
Politano, 32, is the first Brazilian to ever make the final table. He hit with a splash this year, cashing in three of 10 WSOP events, to the tune of $25,404. Odds are against Politano navigating his way to the top. Then again, the Main Event is held at the Rio, just in case you’re a believer in the stars lining up …
PHOTOS BY JOE GIRON
November 6–12, 2014
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VegasSeven.com
2014 November Nine Lineup