Name: The November Nine, delayed gratification, the longest tournament break in history.
Age: 2008-2016.
Appearance: Nine players ready to compete for the WSOP Main Event bracelet (after 4 months of coaching).
I remember that trial. ‘Free the November Nine!’ I think you’re confused. Perhaps you’re thinking of the ‘Chicago Seven’, the ‘Guildford Four’ or the ‘Birmingham Six’, all famous and controversial court cases from the last century.
What? I’m talking about when those poor poker players had to wait 4 months between hands! Ah yes, we’re on the same page (for once). The idea of the November Nine was to delay the WSOP Main Event final table long enough for the rest of the tournament to be edited and screened on TV, building buzz for the climax and creating a bigger potential worldwide audience.
And that took four months? Apparently. ESPN wanted viewers to be able to tune in for the 2008 final table without already knowing who the winner was.
So the final table was shown live? Almost, but not quite – there was still a bit of a delay.
So viewers did know who won? Only if, err, they watched ESPN. The winner was shown on the channel’s sports ticker before the broadcast actually began.
Oops! Was it good for the players, at least? That depends who you ask. Ylon Schwartz, who made the first November Nine in 2008, was quoted as saying, ‘It ruins the integrity of the tournament,’ and that ‘the antiquity and purity of the tournament have been liquidated into pure greed and capitalism’. Schwartz finished 4th for more than $3.7M.
He must have been good? He was probably better in November than he was in July. Having a months-long break allowed players to fine-tune strategy, get coaching, run simulations, and work on their game. Dennis Phillips, who finished 3rd, later told reporters, "We travelled around viewing the other players and monitoring them to see if their games were changing. We literally had a three-ring binder playbook with a segment for each other player.”
But the idea didn’t last? It was retired in 2016 after Qui Nguyen’s victory. During the break Nguyen trained with bots designed to simulate the different styles of his final table opponents.
Doesn’t the WSOP frown on this sort of thing? Getting coaching during a tournament is allowed, as long as you’re not in the tournament area. And if you’ve got months to kill before playing for many millions of dollars, what would you do?
Good point. Now that so much poker is streamed (almost) live, is there the need to delay a final table for editing purposes? Not really — nowadays people are more comfortable watching an 8-hour stream online than they would have been 16 years ago. And the WSOP has promised free daily livestreams for much of the series, although exactly when and where we’ll be able to see the Main Event is still to be announced.
So the days of the November Nine are all behind us? Or are they? When the 2026 WSOP schedule dropped this week, there was one notable omission: the dates for the Main Event final table. It’s confirmed that there will be a break when they reach the final table, but at the moment no one knows just how long it will be.
That might make it tough for me to arrange some coaching. I’ve seen you play: I’d start the coaching now.
Do say: “The best things come to those who wait...”
Don’t say: “...that’s what I tell everyone I owe money to.”
Featured image courtesy of Joe Giron/pokerphotoarchive.com.
