November Nine Keep Busy Until Main Event

This relatively new format of holding the Main Event of the World Series of Poker being held three months after the excitement in Vegas may take some getting used to, not least of all among the nine players who make up the final table of this popular event.

In the past, the players would fight until the end during the competition in Vegas with one taking home the title, and everyone would go back to their respective countries to prepare for the next year’s championships.

But the players who now need to take a three month break until November find themselves, for the moment, in a kind of temporary limbo – on a high for making it into the prestigious November Nine club, in nervous anticipation for the Main Event to actually begin and busy with their day to day lives that cannot, for practical reasons, be put on hold for three long months.

So what are this year’s November Nine doing until the Main Event starts?

Some, like Antoine Saout, are using the time to play as much as poker as possible in order to gain multiple hours of experience. For Saout, getting this far in the competition was his first career break, and he plans to play in the European Poker Tour before November to hone his skills to perfection.

Some players, such as Darvin Moon and Steve Begleiter, have no choice but to return to their day jobs – Moon who logs trees in the forests of Maryland and Begleiter as a corporate strategist in a New York investment firm. But both have already spent some of the guaranteed money they will make in November, with Moon planning to buy his father a new Cadillac and Begleiter vacationing with his family in Europe before Vegas.

Others have decided that the three month period will be a time for sheer relaxation. Eric Buchman said that he will not be doing anything beyond the normal, and won’t be increasing his practice time, while the youngest of the group, Joseph Cada said: “I’m going to spend a Michigan summer on the water!”

Only Phil Ivey, the man who wants the title so much, could be seeing heading off to the Bellagio for some intense cash game play after the final table was announced, in anticipation for the action ahead.

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