Statistical Insight Into the 2014 World Series of Poker November Nine

November 05, 2014 Mickey Doft

What began with 6,683 players, the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event was down to just 27 hopefuls on Day 7 of play. However, only nine would navigate their way to the final table. Each took their own path to reach this year's November Nine, and PokerNews decided to take a closer look to see how they did it.

The analysis of the stats below are not necessarily the way these players play usually, but it does paint a picture as to how they were able to lock up their seats at poker's most prestigious final table. Please keep in mind that this is a small sample size, only looking at the last day of seven grueling days played by these players.

Seat Player Hands VPIP% PFR% RR% 1 Billy Pappas 197 17.8% 13.2% 5.6% 2 Felix Stephensen 178 24.2% 18.0% 3.4% 3 Jorryt van Hoof 197 27.4% 17.8% 3.0% 4 Mark Newhouse 178 33.7% 22.5% 1.7% 5 Andoni Larrabe 202 21.8% 17.3% 3.5% 6 William Tonking 197 23.4% 16.2% 3.0% 7 Dan Sindelar 220 26.8% 19.1% 4.1% 8 Martin Jacobson 196 23.5% 16.3% 2.6% 9 Bruno Politano 178 18.5% 10.7% 3.4%

VPIP%: The percentage a player voluntarily puts chips into the pot preflop. This includes raising, calling, and completing from the small blind, but does not include checking the option from the big blind. The higher the VPIP%, the more active the player.

PFR%: The percentage a player is raising preflop. This includes an opening raise, a three-bet, a four-bet, and so on.

RR%: The percentage a player is reraising preflop.

Observations

Seat 1: Billy Pappas (17,500,000 — 43 BB)

Even though he had the lowest VPIP% of the entire group, Billy Pappas actually began Day 7 fairly active. With 25 players left, though, he ran jacks into William Tonking's aces on a ten-high board. Despite still having an above-average stack, Pappas tightened up considerably. He stayed between the eight- and 12-million mark much of the day, but didn't play many hands to pad his stack. To avoid getting too short, Pappas three-bet more than anybody else, and for the most part, he did so effectively to finish with a comfortable stack of more than 40 big blinds.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 68,775 104,900 Did Not Report 757,000 3,370,000 15,640,000 17,500,000 Rank -- 774 Did Not Report 97 24 4 6 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 2: Felix Stephensen (32,775,000 — 81 BB)

Felix Stephensen began Day 7 ninth in chips out of the remaining 27 players, and his path to the final table was slow and steady at the start. By the time 18 players remained, Stephensen had added about 20 big blinds to his stack and did so without a single three-bet. From there, however, the road became a little bumpy. With top pair, second kicker, Stephensen paid off Mark Newhouse, who held top pair, top kicker on the fifth hand after the two-table redraw.

Down to about where he began the day, Stephensen soon found himself in two very good spots. First, Newhouse got overly aggressive with the and ran into Stephensen's . Next, Thomas Sarra Jr. committed more than half his stack four-betting with the and called off his remaining 25 or so big blinds when Stephensen five-bet shoved with the . With a massive stack at that point and 14 players remaining, Stephensen stayed fairly active, chipping up a bit more before reaching the November Nine second in chips.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 39,350 120,800 362,000 739,000 1,355,000 7,740,000 32,775,000 Rank -- 634 185 102 56 9 2 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 3: Jorryt van Hoof (38,375,000 — 95 BB)

Sitting 15th in chips at the start of Day 7, Jorryt van Hoof finished the day as chip leader and the second most active player. Jump starting van Hoof was a crucial 80-big-blind coin flip against Dan Smith with 21 players remaining. Van Hoof's held against Smith's on the 45th hand of play at their table, giving the Dutchman more than 13 million. This marked the first and only three-bet van Hoof made before the two-table redraw.

From there, van Hoof stepped up the aggression, but he also made some monster hands to really accumulate chips. He flopped a straight to crack Andrey Zaichehnko's aces post flop, then rivered the nut flush against Eddy Sabat's inferior flush. Finally, he picked up aces of his own and eliminated fellow Dutchman Oscar Kemps. Those three hands added about 16 million to van Hoof's stack and are the main reasons he'll be taking a chip lead of 5.6 million into the final table.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 77,925 65,700 197,500 131,000 3,900,000 5,395,000 38,375,000 Rank -- 1,218 404 282 15 15 1 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 4: Mark Newhouse (26,000,000 — 65 BB)

By far the most active player on Day 7, Newhouse's stats are perhaps the most telling. His VPIP% and PFR% are the biggest of any player, but his RR% is the smallest. In fact, Newhouse reraised preflop on only three hands of the entire 178 he saw on Day 7. Two were four-bets after his initial raise was three-bet, and just one was an actual three-bet. Newhouse opened plenty of pots to steal the blinds and antes with his aggressive image and had 20 preflop calls, keeping pots small and using his post-flop play to add to his stack.

In 2013, Newhouse's Day 7 was much different. He started as one of the shorter stacks and was actively three-bet shoving in an attempt to accumulate chips. He doubled up three times and was the chip leader with 21 players left. He stayed quite active three-betting and played several big pots, but they did not go his way and with 18 remaining he was back down to 14th in chips and on the short stack. From that point, he tightened up significantly. In the end, his VPIP% and PFR% were much lower (22.1% and 17.6%) last year compared to this year (33.7% and 22.5%) while his RR% last year (4.5%) was well more than this year (1.7%).

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 29,675 220,400 423,500 1,301,000 7,400,000 6,820,000 26,000,000 Rank -- 139 131 27 1 11 3 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 5: Andoni Larrabe (22,550,000 — 56 BB)

Andoni Larrabe came out swinging on Day 7 and was easily the most active player at the beginning of play, raising preflop nearly 25 percent of the time before the two-table redraw. The strategy did not work so well for the Spaniard as he lost more than half of his stack by the time 18 players remained. From there, he tightened up.

After raising preflop 17 times in his first 73 hands, Larrabe only raised 18 times the rest of the 129 hands that he saw. He arrived at the unofficial final table with about the same stack he had with two tables remaining, but was able to nearly triple his stack by the time nine players were left thanks large in part to a huge win against Luis Velador.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 86,125 289,300 923,000 2,195,000 5,470,000 15,280,000 22,550,000 Rank -- 48 6 7 5 5 4 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 6: William Tonking (15,050,000 — 37 BB)

Tonking was also very active to start on Day 7. His VPIP% was the biggest of any player by the time two tables were reached. Doubling with aces against Pappas' jacks was crucial to get the ball rolling for Tonking early on, but the rest of the day saw Tonking trend down. He made it to the unofficial final table on the short stack with 20 big blinds. Luckily for Tonking, Martin Jacobson misclicked and limped in, allowing Tonking to see a cheap flop where he flopped the nuts and scored a crucial double through the Swede.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 45,275 158,200 179,000 740,000 1,295,000 5,870,000 15,050,000 Rank -- 376 453 101 58 13 7 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 7: Dan Sindelar (21,200,000 — 53 BB)

Always finding himself at the table that played fastest on Day 7, Dan Sindelar saw 18 more hands than his closest competitor and 42 more hands than his farthest. As a result, Sindelar raised more pots than anybody else. He captured the chip lead early in the day, but wasn't able to get on a rush afterward. He stayed active throughout the day, finishing with the third highest VPIP% and second highest PFR% and RR% to maintain a middle-of-the-pack stack.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 40,850 152,900 421,500 1,621,000 5,240,000 16,345,000 21,200,000 Rank -- 407 132 17 7 3 5 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 8: Martin Jacobson (14,900,000 — 37 BB)

Beginning Day 7 as the chip leader, Jacobson was active and aggressive at the start. Unfortunately for the Swede, it didn't result in adding to his stack. In fact, except for an early raise and take of the blinds and one pot won with 18 players remaining, Jacobson didn't add more than a few big blinds to his start-of-day stack. Along with Newhouse, Jacobson had the smallest RR% of any one at the final table, preferring to keep pots small.

One key pot that Jacobson lost was when he accidentally limped in from the under-the-gun position and ended up doubling up Tonking after Tonking flopped a straight out of the big blind. That pot could've sent Tonking home in 10th place and secured a better chip position for Jacobson, but instead Jacobson will come into the final table second to last instead of a top-three stack.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 200,100 342,700 721,500 1,594,000 3,925,000 22,335,000 14,900,000 Rank -- 21 29 18 14 1 8 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

Seat 9: Bruno Politano (12,125,000 — 30 BB)

Bruno Politano began Day 7 sixth in chips and is the short stack entering the November Nine. The stats indicate that he was the most passive player to reach the final table, though he was fairly active and successful early on Day 7. When play reached the final two tables, Politano was second on the leaderboard. However, he clashed with Newhouse in three pots big pots and lost two of them. He tightened up from there and while his VPIP% was slightly bigger than Pappas', Politano's PFR% was the smallest. In 178 hands played, Politano only raised in 19 of those hands.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 End-of-Day Chips 66,800 72,400 110,000 2,289,000 5,475,000 11,625,000 12,125,000 Rank -- 1,134 598 5 4 6 9 Total Players Left 4,770 1,864 746 291 79 27 9 Chip Average 42,031 107,559 268,753 688,969 2,537,848 7,425,555 22,276,666

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