Mark Newhouse creates history in an action-packed WSOP Main Event
As the final 27 players resumed for Day 7 one man quietly looking to make Main Event history was American Mark Newhouse. In 2013 Newhouse made it all the way to the November Nine as the second shortest stack before busting out in ninth. As he sat down for this year’s Main Event he tweeted, ‘Just bought into the main event day 1c. Not fucking finishing 9th again’.
Remarkably, after making back-to-back Main Event final tables for the first time since Dan Harrington in 2003-2004, a ninth place finish is once again a possibility for Newhouse.
Yet, with 26m chips to play with it’s a better bet that Newhouse will be troubling the top prizes this time round. Given that Newhouse has had to battle 13,029 players in the past two Main Events and has only been eliminated once, it will take a lot to stop him going all the way in November.
The biggest bubble
As the November Nine loomed over the final day, there was a noticeable increase in tension as the players were under more pressure than ever before. There was heartbreak for the UK when first Iaron Lightbourne busted in 22nd, before former bracelet winner Craig McCorkell’s brilliant run was halted in 13th place when his K-5 shove couldn’t overcome 7-7.
Then it was Mexican player Luis Velador who suffered the ultimate despair, finishing in 10th place after his shove with 4-4 was called by Newhouse with 5-5. The $565,193 prize will have been scant consolation for Velador, who had to sit and watch the remaining nine players and their families celebrating the formation of another dramatic November Nine.
That hand brought to a close the 2014 WSOP until November when this ragged collection of Main Event history-makers, table football legends, EPT stalwarts and complete unknowns will return to the Rio to write the last chapter in the story. We can’t wait to see how it ends.
The 2014 November Nine (odds from Betfair)
[table id=113 /]
2014 Main Event payouts
[table id=114 /]
You can subscribe to PokerPlayer for just £12.99:
