Do You Care About the November Nine?

by Aaron Angerman

While it's not quite like inserting a four month break between games six and seven of the NBA Finals, or deciding to postpone the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl to build suspense, the 117 day layoff before the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table definitely brought the poker world to a screeching halt. Thanks to a jaw-dropping decision by Harrah's Entertainment in the weeks preceding the WSOP, 11 days of Main Event action has left the poker world with one hell of a cliffhanger and Harrah's with some serious publicity to do.

In an attempt to boost attention and publicity, and crown a new champion in almost-live TV, Harrah's Entertainment, with the approval of the Players Advisory Council, came up with the idea now tagged as the "November Nine". The lucky nine who make the Main Event final table will get a nearly four months off, before returning to play for the $8.25 million prize November 9th and 10th. The program will air on ESPN on November 11th.

While the idea was met with mixed reviews, there was no denying that the delay would provide players with some great opportunities, whether it be sharpening your game or negotiating a nice sponsorship deal. The final nine will have the choice to pick up some poker coaching, or squeeze in countless hours of live tournament practice. Your new sponsorship deal will help you with the buy-ins. No more signing with an online site in the Rio hallway. The "November Nine" hold onto the most premium ad real estate in the poker world to date. Expect the big two to be fighting for the services of the human billboards, maybe including some tournament entries during your Main Event downtime.

So what's in it for Harrah's and ESPN? Suspense. Anticipation. Hype. Why have one day each when you can have 117? To be fair, it appears that the PPV experiment of last year didn't pan out, so this was the only option that allowed viewers to tune in to find out who will win, rather than who won. While poker fans still tuned into ESPN to watch now household names Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and Joe Hachem grab their gold bracelets in 2004 and 2005, knowing the results months in advance soured a lot of the viewing experience for many people. If given the choice, nobody wants to watch a tape-delayed telecast of anything, let alone the Main Event final table. But in the end, it's all about the money. Poker fans were going to tune into ESPN every Tuesday for 2008 WSOP episodes anyways. They definitely weren't going to miss the final table. These four months will give Harrah's the chance to make each of these final tabler participants a household name. If they are successful, this will be far-and-away the most viewed final table of all time.

"This is no different than the final chapter of American Idol or The Apprentice. It's about building interest and excitement for the final chapter of this story," said WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

Maybe J.J. Abrams is to blame. I hear those WSOP guys watch a lot of "Lost". Excessive viewing makes you wish everything was preceded by a giant cliffhanger.
So here you go, Harrah's. The "November Nine". They appear to be a great bunch of guys. Four of them are from outside the U.S.; just more evidence of that poker is here to stay. They must have played great, or they wouldn't be here. Now the big question. Can you market them?

Everybody has railbirds. For this final nine, the rail crowd is mostly comprised of friends and family. For the big names, spectators are lined up six-deep on the rail, each clawing their way towards the table for a snapshot, or just a glimpse, of their favorite poker pro. Sadly, we have no big names.

The "November Nine":

Dennis Phillips - St Louis, MO, United States - 26,295,000 chips

Ivan Demidov - Moscow, Russian Federation - 24,400,000

Scott Montgomery - Perth, ON, Canada - 19,690,000

Peter Eastgate - Odense, Denmark - 18,375,000

Ylon Schwartz - Brooklyn, NY, United States - 12,525,000

Darus Suharto - Toronto, ON, Canada - 12,520,000

David 'Chino' Rheem - Los Angeles, CA, United States - 10,230,000

Craig Marquis - Arlington, TX, United States - 10,210,000

Kelly Kim - Whittier, CA, United States - 2,620,000

Not exactly the "Murderer's Row" Harrah's was hoping for, but there are a few players with some notable experience on the felt. Ylon Schwartz and Kelly Kim have been cashing steadily over the last few years. Each of their 30+ cashes prior to the Main Event had earned them $250K and $300K, respectively. David "Chino" Rheem had $600K in career before making the 'November Nine', including a runner-up to Allen Cunningham two years ago in the $1K NLHE w/Rebuys event for more than $300K. Scott Montgomery burst onto the tournament scene with a 5t -place finish at the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic, worth just under $300K. The Main Event was Montgomery's fourth cash of the series.

The rest of the table only share a handful of career cashes between them. Chip leader Dennis Phillips has less than $5K in tournament winnings and won his main event seat in a $200 satellite. Darus Suharto turned $80 into his Main Event seat. Suharto has one prior cash on his poker resume; a 448th-place finish in last year's main event. The remaining players, youngsters Ivan Demidov, Peter Eastgate and Craig Marquis, have had some success in their short time as poker players, but are far from being 'names', by any stretch of the word.

With five tables left in the Main Event, Harrah's Entertainment was drooling. The two loudest legends in the game, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow, each held onto chips. To land just one of those players at the final table would make the show a slam dunk. Of course, Hellmuth was bounced in 45th -place. "The Mouth" would follow a short time later, settling instead for 30th. With the big names gone, the camera crews turned their attention to Tiffany Michelle. The new "it girl" looked poised to highlight the "November Nine", entering the second-to-last day with a huge stack. Sadly, for ESPN, it wasn't meant to be and Michelle was out in 17th, leaving ESPN to scramble for a final table star.

Since the Main Event has become an ESPN staple, unknowns continue to rise and claim the big one. But at least they're not alone at the table when they do it. Chris Moneymaker may have been a nobody when his image began dominating ESPN, but he had to outlast Sam Farha, former Main Event champ Dan Harrington, Jason Lester , David Grey and a then unknown David Singer to get there. In the first year post-poker boom, Greg Raymer had to not only outlast Harrington, who was making another appearance, but brash youngsters David Williams and Josh Arieh as well. Andy Black and Matusow each made a final table appearance in 2005, only to come up short to Joe Hachem. Jamie Gold steamrolled through new tournament fixtures Paul Wasicka and Michael Binger on his way to $12 million, but not after eliminating living-legend Allen Cunningham in 4th. Even last year, during the Jerry Yang show, Lee Watkinson was able to make a run all the way to the final table. If Watkinson wasn't enough firepower for you, the eclectic table make-up was a great site for poker. If that wasn't enough, love him or hate him, Hevad Kahn commanded your attention. For better or worse, new rules reduced the 2008 version of Hevad Kahn to a bore and eliminated any chance of seeing anyone that over-the-top in the 'November Nine'. So who is Harrah's going to hype?

The answer... everybody.

This will be the ultimate test for the final table delay, nine relative unknowns. Harrah's Entertainment and ESPN will have to do everything in their power to make poker fans care about the "November Nine". Nobody at this table has ever really won anything before. Not sure that any of these players had wore Full Tilt or PokerStars on their clothing previously, unless they purchased it with player points in the online store. Let's hope that ESPN puts out the "November Nine" preview specials they're promising, along with a lot more press than we're seeing just two weeks removed from the burst of the final table bubble. Fans wouldn't be lining up on the rail to sweat these players. Will they tune in on November 11th to see it unfold if the roster looks like the final table of a $1,500 NLHE donkament?

"This is a huge step forward for poker and more specifically poker on television, because it will help create more buzz around the final table and that is good for all of us," said Players Advisory Council member Daniel Negreanu. "Not only will this innovative step create more buzz for the final table, the added time prior to the final table will help get poker mainstream media attention."

Straight from the mouth of "Kid Poker", it's about the buzz. If the biggest names in poker are applauding the decision, they have to be doing something right. Right? Currently, there are 99 days remaining before the "November Nine" reconvenes to play it out. Will the delayed final table experiment prove to be exactly that, an experiment? If it fails, will Harrah's get rid of the 117 day hiatus? In the end, it's the Main Event. Everyone is going to tune in. But expect that buzz to start warming up soon. It's going to take some time to make Darus Suharto a household name.