WSOP 2011 Main Event - November Nine Betting Update
Story by Robert Alexander on 2011-11-03 17:48:21
LAS VEGAS, NV - Over three months of waiting is nearly over for the November Nine as they return to the Rio Casino in Las Vegas on November 6th to play down to the final three. The final three will have a day off before returning to the Rio on Tuesday November 8th where play will continue until a winner is crowned. The eventual champion will win $8.7 million and the coveted WSOP Main Event bracelet.
Martin Stazko is the current chip leader (40.175 million) and the first player from the Czech Republic to make a final table at the WSOP. Stazko can be backed at best odds of 9/2 (bet £2 to make £9 profit) at William Hill and 888 Sport to win the title. Little is known about the Czech player but with his big stack he is in a great position to take down the opposition.
Twenty-six year old Irishman Eoghan O'Dea is second in chips with 33.925 million and will be a popular champion if he manages to complete the job over the next few days. Eoghan is the son of two-time WSOP Main Event final tablist and Irish poker legend Donnacha O'Dea, and has a chance to fulfil his father's dream. O'Dea is quoted at best odds of 5/1 with his sponsors Paddy Power and Bwin.
Despite sitting fifth in chips with 20.975 million, Ben Lamb is third favourite to win the biggest tournament in the world at best odds of 11/2 at Ladbrokes and Sportingbet. Lamb's incredible WSOP performance in the summer saw him win his first bracelet and make three more big cashes and two final tables. His incredible Main Event run saw him top the Player of the Year rankings as well.
Popular pro Phil Collins is fourth in chips with 23.875 million and fourth in the betting at best odds of 7/1 at Ladbrokes. Collins will likely be one of the more active players at the table due to his aggressive style, he will not be scared to lose if he has the chance to increase his stack.
Matt Giannetti is currently third in chips with 24.75 million and is in good form after winning WPT Malta for €200,000 in September. Somewhat surprisingly, Giannetti has been a little overlooked by the bookmakers and is a top priced 15/2 chance with Boylesports and William Hill. The Texan is certainly not short on confidence but he will have to navigate a tough final table to claim the title.
Outside the top five, there are three shortstacks and an amateur player considered relatively weak, who are not given much hope by the bookmakers to win the Main Event and take home $8.7m.
Young German player Pius Heinz is quoted at best odds of 11/1 at William Hill and Sportingbet to work his 16.425 million stack to victory. The German's style will likely see him go close to victory or bust early. He will continue his fearless approach as he looks to accumulate chips early to give himself the best chance of a win.
Ukraine's Anton Makievskyi is the youngest player in the November Nine and could become the youngest ever winner if he can find a way of turning his 13.825 million second-shortest stack into all the chips by the end of the final table. He can be backed at best odds of 12/1 at bet365 and William Hill to win the tournament.
Sam Holden has British hopes resting on his shoulders, but unfortunately is the November Nine shortstack with just 12.375 million. Holden will need to find a double-up in the early stages of the final table to give himself some breathing room and a chance of victory. The young Brit is available at best odds of 15/1 at bet365.
Belize are represented for the first time at a WSOP final table by Badih Bounahra who has 19.7 million chips to play with. He is considered the weakest player at the table by players and bookmakers alike, with William Hill offering best odds of 16/1 on him winning the bracelet.
The final table will be streamed near-live (15 minute delay) on ESPN 2 and ESPN3 on Sunday 6th November and on ESPN and ESPN3 on Tuesday 8th November.
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Forum Comments
Comment posted at: 2011-11-03 17:48:00
Heinz at 11/1 could definitely be worth at least an each-way punt. He is experience online and know how to work a 30 big blind stack very well. With blinds at 250k/500k for over an hour and a half of the first days play (not 100% sure about this as wsop.com server down), he has a good chance to accumulate some chips and put pressure on all his opponents with his relentless aggression.
No-one at the table is really deep stacked so they are all under pressure to a certain extent to keep winning pots. Sure, Stazko (80bbs) and O'Dea (68bbs) are not at risk to begin with, but everyone else has less than 50 big blinds and will be keen to double up. I fancy day one to go have plenty of knock-outs early on as there are a lot of very good, aggressive players at the table.
Comment posted at: 2011-11-03 18:00:05
Obv there's a lot of luck involved but I'd far rather be on the big price runners for a value wager.
Comment posted at: 2011-11-03 22:18:35
Comment posted at: 2011-11-03 23:30:26
Comment posted at: 2011-11-07 09:02:52
I'm not sure that's correct. There are/were clearly some players who were better than others and some with far more experience in this sort of event. I think skill plays a major part, although obviously having chips plays a part.
We've seen in previous years that even hopeless players can make it to the final table of the WSOP, if they get hit in the face by the deck on the way to the final table.
I think pricing up purely on the basis of chip stacks is also potentially wrong because the value of a small chip stack is relatively higher per chip than a value of a big stack in most tournament structures. Although I haven't looked closely at this year's WSOP final table payout structure so I may be wrong about that....
Comment posted at: 2011-11-07 10:28:45
The final three is probably about fair as Heinz used his chips to great effect to get over 100million, Lamb admittedly got lucky against O'Dea to stay in the tournament but also used his stack to great effect and Stazko did remarkably well to break even considering he was pretty much card-dead for the whole table and had relentless pressure from the active Heinz and Lamb to his left.
Comment posted at: 2011-11-07 15:34:40
Heinz 9/10
Lamb 9/4
Staszko 4.2/1
Not available in huge size but at the prices I like Lamb. He's been super lucky at the final table but he's also brave and if the most aggressive of the players. I think he's a smite of value.
Comment posted at: 2011-11-07 16:48:55
1 Pius Heinz 107,800,000
2 Ben Lamb 55,400,000
3 Martin Staszko 42,700,000
So Heinz has 52% of chips, Lamb 27% and Staszko has 21%.
So on chip counts:
Heinz 10/11
Lamb 2.7/1
Stas 3.76/1
Comment posted at: 2011-11-07 16:54:19