November Nine Set!
Jul 20, '11
After eight days of play and nearly 72 hours of cards, the 2011 World Series of Poker has officially reached the November Nine.
Leading the way into the four-month hiatus is the Czech Republic’s Martin Staszko, who has a slight advantage over Ireland’s Eoghan O’Dea.
The final table will be a truly international affair, with seven different countries represented. The Americans will be the most prevelent at the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio, having three players in attendance. Matt Giannetti, Phil Collins and Ben Lamb also reside in third, fourth and fifth in the standings after some late night jostling.
Giannetti was handcuffed early on during the final table bubble, but picked up pocket jacks twice to give him a comfortable chip count entering November.
Barring a spectacular performance at the WSOP Europe series from Phil Hellmuth, Lamb has nearly locked up the WSOP Player of the Year honors. He has now earned nearly $2 million this summer and is in a great position to triple or quadruple that amount.
Badih Bounahra was at one point the shortest stack at the table, but he was able to pick up a big hand to double through, becoming the first player to represent Belize at the final table in WSOP history.
Germany’s Pius Heinz is certainly happy to have survived the bubble, especially after getting all in with K-J against a dominating A-K earlier in the day. Heinz would up making a straight to double, which was enough for him to advance.
The rest of the final table is rounded out by Ukraine’s Anton Makievskyi and the U.K.’s Sam Holden. Both players will have their work cut out for them in November, returning with less than 30 big blinds.
The unfortunate final table bubble boy was John Hewitt, who made a questionable call against Bounahra that saw his stacked crippled. He eventually lost a coinflip to O’Dea to see his Main Event run come to an end.
By surviving until November, Eoghan and his father, Donnacha O’Dea, have become the first father and son pair to make the WSOP Main Event final table. Donnacha finished ninth in 1991 and sixth in 1983.
Here is a look at the seating assignments and chip counts.
Seat 1 — Matt Giannetti — 24,750,000
Seat 2 — Badih Bounahra — 19,700,000
Seat 3 — Eoghan O’Dea — 33,925,000
Seat 4 — Phil Collins — 23,875,000
Seat 5 — Anton Makievskyi — 13,825,000
Seat 6 — Samuel Holden — 12,375,000
Seat 7 — Pius Heinz — 16,425,000
Seat 8 — Ben Lamb — 20,875,000
Seat 9 — Martin Staszko — 40,175,000
Player Tags: Matt Giannetti, Ben Lamb, Badih Bounahra, Eoghan O'Dea, Phil Collins, Martin Staszko, Sam Holden, Pius Heinz, Anton Makiievskyi
Level 33-34 Update: 12 Players Head to the Dinner Break
Jul 19, '11
NOTE: The final 12 players are now on a two-hour dinner break and play will begin again at 8:30 p.m.
Note: Play will continue until the field reaches 9 players.
Blinds: 150,000-300,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining: 12 out of 6,865
Average Chip Count: 17.2 million
Chip Leaders:
1. Eoghan O’Dea — 33,000,000
2. Ben Lamb — 27,875,000
3. John Hewitt — 26,095,000
4. Anton Makievskyi — 26,020,000
5. Phil Collins — 21,000,000
6. Martin Staszko — 14,000,000
7. Pius Heinz — 12,395,000
8. Badih Bounahra — 12,205,000
9. Matt Giannetti — 9,490,000
10. Samuel Holden — 8,795,000
Eliminations:
13. Konstantinos Mamaliadis — $478,174
14. Scott Schwalich — $478,174
Featured Poker Tweets:
Bryan Devonshire
Philip Collins
Ben Lamb
Hands:
Scott Schwalich Eliminated in 14th Place ($478,174)
Phil Collins raised to 550,000 and Scott Schwalich reraised all in for 575,000 total. Martin Stazsko made the call and then Eoghan O’Dea reraised to 2 million to isolate. Both Collins and Stazsko mucked and the final two players in the pot then flipped over their cards:
Schwalich: J
10
O’Dea: A 10
Board: Q
6 2
Schwalich was eliminated in 14th place and he will take home $478,174 in prize money. O’Dea now holds 28.1 million in chips.
Konstantinos Mamaliadis Eliminated in 13th Place ($478,174)
Eoghan O’Dea raised to 625,000 from the hi-jack preflop and Konstantinos Mamaliadis reraised all in for 4 million. O’Dea made the call and they flipped over their cards:
O’Dea: 7 7
Mamaliadis: 8 2
Board: J 9 5 6 8
Mamaliadis was eliminated in 13th place and the took home $478,174 in prize money. O’Dea now holds 33 million as the chip leader in the tournament.
Player Tags: Eoghan O'Dea, Scott Schwalich, Konstantinos Mamaliadis
Eoghan O'Dea Eliminated in Sixth Place ($1,720,831)
Nov 06, '11
Eoghan O’Dea was one of the favorites entering the 2011 World Series of Poker main event final table, but a series of missteps against Pius Heinz cost him the majority of his stack.
Early on, O’Dea was caught bluffing with ace high against Heinz and his pocket queens. Later it was bad luck that saw him crippled.
O’Dea raised and Ben Lamb moved all in. After a few minutes in the tank, O’Dea called with A 9, but Lamb was drawing live with his Q 8. The board rolled out J J 6 4 8 and Lamb doubled up, leaving O’Dea with just 2.6 million in chips.
They went in two hands later from under the gun with Q 6 and was called by Martin Staszko’s 8 8. The board failed to produce a match for his overcard and he was sent to the rail in sixth place.
The 26-year-old Irish pro picked up $1,720,831 for his finish.
Be sure to follow all of the main event action on Card Player’s official twitter page.
Player Tags: Eoghan O'Dea
A Look at the Stage!
Nov 06, '11
We are just about two hours away from the start of the 2011 World Series of Poker main event final table here at the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio. Here’s a look at the crew cleaning up the ESPN final table stage.
You’ll notice that the stage is nearly identical to the stage used this summer in the Amazon Room. The only difference is that the bleachers have been spread to the sides to form a half circle. Take a look.
Player Tags: Matt Giannetti, Ben Lamb, Badih Bounahra, Eoghan O'Dea, Phil Collins, Martin Staszko, Sam Holden, Pius Heinz
The third ranked all-time Irish poker player in terms of live earnings, Eoghan O’Dea, has joined the field and his now at the feature the table. O’Dea has $2.7 million in live life-time earnings with more than $1.7 million coming from his sixth place 2011 
Some of the most recent eliminations include Eoghan O’Dea, Con Collins, Jiri Havlena, Gary Anderson, Colum Miller, Tom Hanlon, Norbert Laszlo, Lee Taylor, Thomas Middleton and Joe Baker.
Coming in late into the action on a 10