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After months of buildup, the final table of the WSOP Main Event kicked off on Saturday at the Rio in Las Vegas, NV. Nine men known as the “November Nine” gathered with one goal, win the NL Holdem World Championship and nearly $9 Million top prize. Jonathan Duhamel started the day as the chip leader but many were rooting hard for Full Tilt red pro Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

The first elimination of the day was Soi Nguyen. He was the short stack at this point with 7.6 Million and the other short stack Jason Senti made the call. Nguyen held Ad-Kc and was facing pocket queens from Senti. The flop fell Qh-3s-10c to give Senti a set of queens and Nguyen a straight draw. The turn and river both failed to produce Nguyen’s straight and he is out in 9th place. He receives no additional prize money as the 9th place prize of $811,823 was paid to all players in July.

Matt Jarvis went out in probably the most dramatic hand in WSOP final table history. Jonathan Duhamel raised pre-flop and Michael Mizrachi called. Jarvis then moved all-in and Mizrachi was his only caller. It was pocket nines for Jarvis against the A-Q for the grinder. The flop fell Q-8-Q to give Mizrachi the lead and Jarvis was down to two out. Jarvis then amazingly hit his two-outer when the 9s hit the turn. Now Mizrachi was down to 3 outs. Fate was cruel to Jarvis on this day as the river fell the As to give Mizrachi a better full house and send Jarvis out in 8th place. He took home $1,045,743.

Jason Senti started the day as the short stack, so the fact he was still alive with 7 remaining was relatively remarkable. His run would end in 7th place. He moved all-in pre-flop with A-K and ran into pocket tens from Joseph Cheong. The flop fell K-K-Q and it looked like Senti might live to battle some more. The turn fell the Jd to give Cheong a straight draw. Senti’s luck would end on the river as it fell the 9d to give Cheong an unlikely straight, and Senti was out in 7th. He took home $1,356,720, which is sizable jump in pay from the 9th place money he seemed destined for at the start of the final table.

Jonathan Dolan started the day 2nd in chips but steadily spewed off chips through the final table. Finally, he was the short stack and decided to try and steal with Qd-5d. Jonathan Duhamel either had a great read or decided to gamble as he called with pocket fours. The fours held and John Dolan finished in 6th place, good for $1,772,959.

Michael Mizrachi at one point of the final table was the chip leader and looked on his way to playing for his 2nd bracelet. However, this was short lived as he lost three decisive pots in a short span to put him on the short stack. He then ran into a bit of a cooler to end his day in 5th place. On a flop of Q-5-4, Mizrachi moved all-in with Q-8. Jonathan Duhamel made the call with pocket aces. Mizrachi was unable to catch lucky as he did with Nguyen and finished in 5th place. He took home $2,332,992 for his win. In addition, Frank Kassela is now the official 2010 WSOP Player of the Year.

Filippe Candio’s stack had been up and down for a good part of the day and he used a combination of good cards and well timed bluffs to put himself in the top four. In the end, fourth was his destined finish. He decided to shove pre-flop with Kd-Qd and Joseph Cheong made the call with Ac-3c. An ace on the flop left Candio drawing thin and the turn 5h left him drawing dead. Filippe Candio is the fourth place finisher, taking home $3,092,545.

Heading into three-handed play, it looked like that Joseph Cheong would be facing Jonathan Duhamel for the bracelet. They both had around 90 Million in chips with Racener around 30 Million. Then, inexplicable, Cheong got into a raising war with Duhamel and decided that A-7 offsuit was a great hand to shove with. Duhamel woke up with pocket queens and Cheong needed a lot of help. He was unable to catch an ace on the board, and wound up being crippled to around 6 Million in chips Now, Duhamel had 177.6 Million in chips. The 177.6 Million pot was the largest pot in WSOP history.

Cheong managed a double up through Duhamel, but that is about as far as he would get. The final hand of the day saw Cheong move all-in with Q-10 offsuit and Duhamel call with A-2 offsuit. Cheong picked up a straight draw on the flop, but he was unable to fill it. As a result, Cheong went from bracelet contender to victim of the worst blowup ever and out of the Main Event in 3rd place. He took home $4,130,049 but he will probably wonder for the rest of his life what might have been.

Heads-up play for the bracelet on Monday will be between Jonathan Duhamel and Full Tilt red pro John Racener. Duhamel has a 5 to 1 lead over Duhamel holding 188.95 Million to the 30.75 Million for Racener. Play will resume Monday at 8 p.m. PST and continue until our champion is crowned.

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Filippo Candio is an Italian born professional poker player, Candio is 26 years old and part of November nine in the 2010 World Series of Poker Championship in Las Vegas. Filippo Candio got his start in live tournament action because it’s the only way legally in his country. Filippo Candio is actually considered a villain by some as he enters the finals, in fact one online site would not even sponsor him because of excessive table celebrations and his proud Italian exclamations angering some players and fans. Candio at times does not seem to care about etiquette and sportsmanship and folks always let him know about it. He has reason to be proud though he is the first player from Italy to make it to to the final table making history.