The 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event has seen its final table set, with two players making their second appearance at the Main Event’s final.
This year, not one, but two November Niners will be part of the event’s final table. The first one of them, the French poker player Antoine Saout, had his first appearance at the November Nine back in 2009. The other – Ben Lamb – became a November Niner two years later, in 2011. An interesting fact about their performances back then is that both of them finished at the third place in the respective years.
Ten days ago, we have all witnessed the start of the WSOP Main Event, which accounted for an overall players field of 7,221 entrants. Now, only nine of them have remained in the competition for this year’s Main Event title.
This is also the first year when two November Niners at a time have reached the Main Event’s final table. Antoine Saout currently occupies the seventh position in chips, while Ben Lamb is last, taking the ninth position in the ranking. A third November Niner, Michael Ruane, could have been part of the final table, too, but eventually, he did not manage to become part of the last remaining players.
This year, however, no November Nine is planned, as the three-month break has been removed from WSOP schedule. That is the reason why the final table will see the last remaining players return to compete for the Main Event’s title after two days only. The nine remaining players will play the rest of the tournament from July 20th to 22nd, with the final table of the Main Event to be televised.
The entire final table is to be broadcast virtually live. There will be a 30-minute delay due to gaming regulations. The 2017 WSOP Main Event has already become an event for the record books. It is the third-largest Main Event in the history of the World Series of Poker, accumulating a players field of 7,221 entries. Despite it has not managed to surpass the all-time record of 8,773 entrants set in 2006, it set the record for the biggest single-day starting field, with Day 1C of the event seeing a total of 4,262 players.
The final table will see the nine remaining players return on July 20th, with the US poker player Scott Blumstein holding the chip lead for the time being, with 97,250,000 in chips. The British John Hesp is second, with 85,700,000 in chips, followed by Benjamin Pollak, who has a considerably smaller number of chips compared to the leaders, as he holds 35,175,000 in chips.
The US player Bryan Piccioli is fourth, followed by another American – Dan Ott. The Argentinian Damian Salas is currently sixth, with a total of 22,175,000 in chips, while the seventh position is reserved for the November Niner Antoine Saout. Another British player – Jack Sinclair – managed to get to the final table, holding 20,200,000 in chips. As mentioned above, the other November Niner – Ben Lamb – is at the bottom of the final table ranking, with only 18,050,000 in chips for the time being.
- Author
Harry Evans
