A few weeks ago, I recieved an email from Bernard Lee, the spokesperson for Foxwoods and ESPN\’s Inside Deal asking me to give him a shout about something I maybe intrested in.  I quickly did and he told me about an event he was planning that for the first time in known history, would bring all the 9 players from the just passed WSOP Main event together to play again, a \”reunion of the November Nine\” of sorts.  He told me if we made our way down, they would cover the rooms and put press credentials in place. It sounded awesome!

How Bernard and I first got in touch was on of those fluke things that wind up having a greater purpose down the road.  A few months ago, a player named John Agelakis, I had met here in Calgary had been the \”winner\” of an event that had seen an almost unheard of 23 way chop.  Poker media and forums jumped all over it, with mixed reviews.  I had been waiting to write a story on John, as he had also chopped for a title in a major event here in Calgary and his name just kept seeming to come up. Having the winner tell his side of how the deal was struck at Foxwoods seemed like a good article for Poker Pro Canada, so one thing led to another and I ended up with Bernard on the phone.

The kicker was that Foxwoods is almost 2000 miles and across the border from where I live.  I started looking into flights and immediatly was hit with big dollars and long layovers.  Writing poker articles is still just a hobby and once you consider time off work, this wasn\’t looking good.  Sure, I would make a few bucks covering the story, but it seemed like major negative ROI on the surface.  I asked other writers and media companies if they were interested, with the hotel being comped and full access to these superstars, I figured someone closer wouldn\’t want to miss out. One friend decided he was in.

A few weeks ago I was presented with a poker media oppurtunity I couldn\’t…but almost passed up.  I recieved an e-mail from Bernard Lee, the spokesperson for both Foxwoods Resort Casino and ESPN\’s Inside deal, asking me to give him a call as he had something I may be intrested in.  I immediatley gave him a call and he told me of an event they would be hosting, that for the first time in known poker history, all of the final nine from the just passed WSOP Main Event would be brought together to play with each other in the same event again.

Being in touch with Bernard was one of those trested and said that if I went, he would meet me there. I put the event out on Facebook and through my social networks and it turned out, several people in the USA that I have networked with in the past were also going to be there to cover the event.  Now, just to meet them face to face, it seemed like this was a can\’t miss oppurtunity.

I got thinking and started looking at flights to Montreal. Quite a bit cheaper and only about a seven hour drive to Foxwoods.  As per my last blog post, I was very intrested in the poker clubs in the area and figured a first hand look would be great. I called my friend back and eventually we decided that I would arrive in Montreal on the Sunday, so we had a chance to go visit them, then leave the next day to arrive at Foxwoods the night before the event.  I let Bernard know the plan and he made sure everything was in place for our arrival.

So off to Montreal I went on February 6th and visited the 3 clubs.  My friends introduced me to a few of the people in charge, but that is a story for anther day.  We headed down to Foxwoods and I was excited to drive through New York State an see places I had never been. We arrived at Foxwoods that evening and checked in without a hitch.  An hour later we met up with some mutal friends and sat and talked with Duhamel, Jarvis and the Grinder on a few other things.  I also finally met Rob Perelman, a player who recently won a Heartland Poker Tour Main Event for $170,000+, who also is involved on the technical side of many poker TV or live stream events and Jay \”WhoJedi\” Newnum, who is works with the WSOP blogging and tweeting for the World Series, as well as many other major events. The next day was going to be busy, so we turned in to be ready.

The first thing in the morning we set up and got one of two tables behind the ropes.  Rob and Jay had the others.  The morning started with a press confrence and photo shoot will the famous nine and we all had an oppurtunity to talk to the players in a closed quiet environment. Being Canadian, I mostly stuck to talking to Matt Jarvis, having met him here in Calgary when he won the $5000 heads up at an event I helped to organize.  We also have a few mutal friends, so it was the most comfortable for my first press experince of this size.  Michael \”The Grinder\” Mizarchi signed a hat for my wife, who has been a long time fan. There again, Chris Torina, CEO of Deepstacks Live and University, who is Mike\’s agent, helped to make the situation not feel awkward.  I had bought a \”grinderknot\”, part of his charity efforts the evening before and we had all chatted, so at least we were familiar with each other.  He had also just travelled to one of the clubs in Montreal to run a boot camp with DeepStacks and having been involved behind the scenes a little with that, at least we are all starting to do business here in Canada.

After the photos, Lon McCarron of ESPN did an amazing job of the introductions, as can be seen on the video shot by Canada Poker here, along with photo galleries from the press conference and event:

http://www.canadapoker.com/foxwoods-casino-introduction-of-the-wsop-november-nine-reunion

The event itself had had thirty players and a ton of prop bets between the WSOP elite.  In the end, Matt Jarvis was the last man standing of the nine, collecting almost $30,000 and winning a hiliarious prop bet between him and the WSOP Main event Jonathan Duhamel.  For all the details, you should check out this video by Jay \”Whojedi\” Newnum:

Duhamel was also kind enough to sign a \”Happy Birthday\” on a Foxwoods World Poker Tour shirt for a friend who would much appreciate it later.  Even though his english is choppy, he was patient and outgoing with everyone, always smiling and having fun.

That evening, to wrap things up, Bernard had everyone to the Shrine at MGM.  The place was packed with people from the east coast of the USA, letting loose and having a great time.  They had reserved a VIP section, there were about 15 of us all together, most of the Nine and some of the press and agents who had covered the event.  Although I am not a drinker, having a couple of smoking hot waitresses, bottles of Heiniken on ice, Patron and Grey Goose all being free poured on the house was still an experince that felt pretty \”balla\”.  I couldn\’t help but to turn to Jarvis and say, \”so this is how you all roll now, pretty sweet!\”  Smilling he agreed.  It was cool to see how close of friends the group had all become, having spent so much time under the spotlight together.  Watching the final on TV, one would have thought it would be hard to be in the same company with players who had crushed your dreams of owning the ultimate bracelet and title in the poker world, but in reality, this is clearly not the case.

Had I not gone, I would have never known what I would miss.  It was a fast trip, but well worth the inside look on what it would be like to spend a day in their shoes.  And for the record, Foxwoods Resort Casino was awesome!  I can honstly say I prefer it to Vegas.  It was just less \”hustle and bustle\”, but still had everything the strip has to offer under one extremly large roof.  There were 40+ cash tables spreading every limit and discipline from Stud to No Limit Hold\’em running on a Tuesday afternoon and the fields for the Mega Stack events were massive, so no lack of action!

Back Soon!

Jon