The six players to exit Sunday and their respective winnings are:

4th Matt Giannetti $3,011,655
5th Phil Collins $2,268,909
6th Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,396
7th Badih Bounahra $1,313,851
8th Anton Makiievskyi $1,009,910
9th Sam Holden $782,115

That left Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko and Ben Lamb left from the starting field of 6,865 players to fight it out for the title on Tuesday night.

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin. On hand #1, Ben Lamb on the short stack, pushed all in with KJ off suit and was called by Staszko’s pocket sevens. The sevens held up and Lamb is crippled with just 10 big blinds left.  On hand #4 Lamb has little choice but to shove with Q6 off and is called again by Staszko’s pocket pair, this time jacks. They hold up and Lamb finishes in third.

Heads up between the 22 year old Heinz and the 35 year old Staszko then begins on hand #5 with the blinds at $800,000/$1,600,000 and a $200,000 ante. Heinz, the more aggressive of the two is looking to become the 2nd youngest player to win the WSOP main event. (Joe Cada age 21 in 2009)

Heinz had trouble making hands in heads up play and fell behind to Staszko but the aggressive Heinz hung in and eventually pulled ahead.

The final hand saw Staszko,  down to just over $44,000,000 in chips, pushing all in with 10c-7c  against the As-Kc of Heinz. When neither player hit a pair, Heinz was the champion, winning $8,715,618. Staszko collected $5,433,086 for second.

The chip leader, Martin Staszko (40.1 million in chips) — A professional poker player for about one year, is 35 years old and admits that he plays much more online than live. In fact, since arriving in Vegas on June 2, he has played 15 tournaments, which he says is more than he has played in his entire life. He is the first player from the Czech Republic to make the final table.

In second is, Eoghan O’Dea (33.9 million) — He is a 26-year-old pro who has cashed in big tournaments before and his father, Donnacha, has also won a bracelet and cashed in the main event six times.

Next is Matt Giannetti (24.7 million) — A 26-year-old pro from Las Vegas, Nevada well-known in poker circles for his cash game play.

Phil Collins (23.8 million) — another 26 year old from Las Vegas, is in 4th place.

In fifth place is Ben Lamb (20.8 million) — He is considered by many, the best player at the table. He has already won a bracelet, made two other final tables and taken home $1.2 million before the main event.

In the sixth place is Badih Bounahra (19.7 million) — who at 49 is the oldest player of the nine. He is also an amateur and strictly a live player. He’s also the first player from Belize to make the final table at the WSOP.

In seventh is Pius Heinz (16.4 million) — He is 22 years old and is the first German player to reach the November Nine.

In eighth is Anton Makiievskyi (13.8 million) — The youngest player at the final table, the 21-year-old Ukrainian can become the youngest WSOP main event champion if he wins in November.

In ninth is Sam Holden (12.3 million) –a 22-year-old native of Canterbury, England who survived being short stacked for most of Days 6 and 7.

Seating for this year’s November Nine are as follows:

Seat 1:  Matt Giannetti (Las Vegas, NV) – 24,750,000 in chips

Seat 2:  Badih Bou-Nahra (Belize City, Belize) – 19,700,000 in chips

Seat 3:  Eoghan O’Dea (Dublin, Ireland) – 33,925,000 in chips

Seat 4:  Phil Collins (Las Vegas, NV) – 23,875,000 in chips

Seat 5:  Anton Makiievskyi (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 13,825,000 in chips

Seat 6:  Sam Holden (Sussex, UK) – 12,375,000 in chips

Seat 7:  Pius Heinz (Cologne, Germany) – 16,425,000 in chips

Seat 8:  Ben Lamb (Tulsa, OK) – 20,875,000 in chips

Seat 9:  Martin Staszko (Trinec, Czech Republic) – 40,175,000 in chips

The players are now on a three and a half month break before play resumes on November 5th. They will then play until only two players left and after a day off, will resume to determine the next No-Limit Hold’em World Champion.

The latest session finished March 29, 2011 with almost 1,100 hands being played. Jungleman 12 came out slightly ahead by about $40,000.  So far, 19,335 hands have been played out of the 50,000 to be played (with almost $130,000,000 having been bet to this point) and Daniel is winning the overall poker challenge by a little over $1,251,000.

For those unfamiliar with the Tom Dwan Full Tilt online poker challenge challenge, Tom puts up prize money at 3 to 1. If he wins, he gets the amount won at the tables and $500,000 from his opponent. If he loses,  his opponent gets the amount won at the tables and $1,500,000 from Dwan.

The first match (which hasn’t continued since August, 2010 ) has Tom Dwan playing Omaha Hi against Patrik Antonius. So far, 39,436 hands have been played out of the 50,000 hands to be played with Tom up a little over $2,000,000. Amazingly, over $342,000,000 has been wagered over those 39,000+ hands.

The chip leader, Jonathan Duhamel (65.9 million in chips) is a 22-year-old from Montreal who finished 10th last December in EPT Prague.

Next is John Dolan (46.2 million in chips) who is a 24-year-old from Bonita Springs, Fla. He is in great position to win, especially considering that starting Day 8, he had only 2 million in chips and was 24th out of 27 players.

In third place is Joseph Cheong (23.5 million in chips) and another young full-time player who is only 24 years of age. Joseph said he has played over 10,000 poker tournaments the last few years and feels this experience plays to his advantage. He says, “There are a lot of solid guys here, but I think I’m going to win this tournament.”

In fourth place is John Racener (19.0 million in chips) has been traveling the poker circuit for the past few years and has already had success, including  11 WSOP cashes (including this main event)

Fifth place is occupied by Matt Jarvis (17.6 million in chips) a 25-year-old Canadian, who’s been making his living online and has only one five-figure cash in live play to his credit, but is still confident about his chances at the final table.

In sixth is Filippo Candio (16.4 million in chips) who is a 26 year old well-respected pro from Sardinia, Italy. He plays in a number of events and he won the Italian Poker Tour Campionato Italiano in 2009.

Seventh place is held by Michael Mizrachi (14.4 million in chips) who is a Miami native and one of the best known players in the world, with more than $8.8 million in live tournament earnings. Michael has already had a great 2010 WSOP by virtue of his winning the $50,000 Players’ Championship.

In eighth place is Soi Nguyen (9.6 million in chips) who is a 37-year-old amateur from Santa Ana, Calif. This is only his fourth live tournament and he is soaking up the experience.

The final seat is occupied by Jason Senti (7.6 million in chips) is a 28 year old Minneapolis native who has been playing poker professionally for three years.

Congratulations to all nine.

Here is the 2010 November Nine Seating Chart with Chip Counts followed by the Payouts:

Seat 1: Jason Senti — 7,625,000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong — 23,525,000
Seat 3: John Dolan — 46,250,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000
Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi — 14,450,000
Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis — 16,700,000
Seat 7: John Racener — 19,050,000
Seat 8: Filippo Candio — 16,400,000
Seat 9: Soi Nguyen — 9,650,000

Main Event Final-Table Payout:

1: $8,944,138
2: $5,545,855
3: $4,129,979
4: $3,092,497
5: $2,332,960
6: $1,772,939
7: $1,356,708
8: $1,045,738
9: $811,823

If you’re not familiar with the challenge, check out the “durrrr” online Poker Challenge that I posted previously that explains many of the rules and details of the challenge.

As of today, there have now been 12,956 hands played of the 50,000 hands to be played as part of the challenge and even though Tom has won more hands than Patrik (6,835 to 6,078) he is down $162,558.00.  Of course, this is not much when you consider that the total bet so far is over $78,644,000.

The total time played up to this point over the 22 sessions is 1 day, 17hours and 14 minutes.

Be sure to read below to find out about Pacific Poker’s $20,000 Guaranteed poker tournament that runs six days a week.

Pacific Poker is another great place to play free online poker or for real money. If you’re trying to improve your poker game, Pacific Poker offers a lot of help. They have a complete How to Play section covering whichever brand of poker is your favorite game. From Texas Holdem poker, to Omaha High and Hi/Lo to Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, they cover it all.

Pacific Poker also has sections offering instruction on how to play no limit and pot limit games as well as how to play in a tournament. And they have a complete Terminology section.

$20,000 Guaranteed Tournament
This tournament runs six days a week with a guaranteed prize pool of $20,000 and the buy-in is only $50 + $5, making it one the lowest buy-ins online for such a prize pool. If that’s not good enough, daily satellites to the $20,000 Guaranteed are available from only $2 + 20¢.

Pacific Poker also has a lot of other great promotions that they’re always running, such as 100,000 Deep Stack Challenge Sundays where you can buy in for $140 or satellite your way in from as little as $1.20+ 10¢. And this is just scratching the surface.

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Real money players can take advantage of a 100% sign up bonus on their initial deposits up to $400. Pacific Poker also pays you $50 for each new real money player you refer and that player will receive a $25 bonus of his or her own.

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One thing I like is having the blind countdown clock (telling you what the blinds are now, when they will change and what they will change to) at the table. They’re usually in the lobby, but I like to be able to see it at a glance. There is also a nice “Your Best Hand” window helpful for players new to the game.

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Full screen: Yes
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Pro Players: Shane Warne
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T 9   “Countdown” Because countdowns usually start at ten…nine…

T 4   “Broderick Crawford” This comes from the television series Highway Patrol where he used to say 10-4 all the time. Also “Over and Out” or “CB hand”

T 2   “Doyle Brunson” Because Doyle won the 1976 & 1977 WSOP main events holding T2 each time.

9 8   “Oldsmobile” The Oldsmobile 98 model that was bigger than their 88 model.

9 5   “Dolly Parton” Dolly Parton starred in the movie “9 to 5″.

8 6   “Maxwell Smart” Because he was Agent 86 in the television series Get Smart.

8 4   “Orwell” Because George Orwell was the author of the book “1984″.

7 T   “Bowling Hand” The 7-10 split in bowling is one of the toughest splits to pick up.

7 8   “RPM” One of the very first record formats was a disc that spun 78 revolutions per minute. 

7 6   “Union Oil” Named after the Union 76 gas stations or “Trombones” named after the song “76 Trombones” from the movie movie “Music Man”.

7 2    “The Hammer” or “Beer Hand” This is considered the worst starting hand in holdem. It’s called the beer hand for a few reasons. One of which is, only a person full of beers would play this hand. 

5 T  “Woolworth” Because Woolworth’s was known as a five and dimes store. 

5 7  “Heinz” Because the Heinz company 57 varieties of condiments. 

4 5   “Colt 45” or “Jesse James” Because Jesse James was thought to have been shot with a .45.

2 4  “Lumberman’s Hand” A common piece of lumber is a two by four.
I hope you got them all!

Poker hand nicknames for hands without face cards:

T 9  “__________”   

T 4  “_______  _______” or “______ _____ _____” or “____ _____”

T 2  “_________  ___________”

9 8  “___________” 

9 5  “_________ _______”

8 6  “_______ _________”

8 4  “_________”

7 T  “__________ _________”

7 8  “_____”

7 6  “__________ _____” or “__________”

7 2  “______  ______” or “_____ ______”

5 T  “___________”  

5 7  “_________” 

4 5  “______ ________” “________  _____”

2 4  “____________  __________” 

Look for the answers in my next post. Good luck!

Hands with a queen:

Q J  “Maverick” Taken from Maverick TV show theme song, “Livin’ on jacks and queens…”

Q 9  “Quinine” Because queen 9 sounds like Quinine.

Q 7  “Computer Hand” Calculations tell us that this is the average hand.

Q 3  “San Fransisco Busboy”   “Gay waiter”

Q 3 suited  “Posh Gay Waiter”

Hands with a jack:

J 7  Jack Daniel’s (Jack Old No. 7)

J 6  “Railroad Hand” (supposedly, repeating “Jacks and sixes” sounds like a train on its tracks)

J 5  “Motown” The “Jackson Five” released their albums through the record company ‘Motown’.

J 4  “Flat Tire” Answer to the question “What’s a jack for?”.

I hope you got them all! Look for my next post where I’ll cover poker hand nicknames for starting hands without a face card in them.

Hands with a queen:

Q J  “___________” 

Q 9  “___________” 

Q 7  “___________ __________” 

Q 3  “_____ __________ ________”  “______ ________”

Q 3 suited “_____ _____ _____”
 

Hands with a jack:

J 7  “______ ________”

J 6  “_________ _____”

J 5  “_______” or “__________ _________”

J 4  “______ ______”

Look for the answers in my next post. Good luck!