Surrey's Matthew Jarvis made $811,823 US on Sunday morning. Now he has to wait nearly four months to see if he can parlay that into $8.94 million.

Jarvis is one of the November Nine, the nine finalists who will be seated at the final table of the World Series of Poker's main event when it resumes in Las Vegas on Nov. 6.

"It's pretty crazy," Jarvis said over the phone Sunday. "This is kind of every poker player's dream. It's nice that the dream has become a reality."

When the Texas Hold 'Em tournament began last month, the 25-year-old Jarvis was just one of 7,319 players who had each contributed $10,000 for a shot at chasing poker's largest prize. The final table was set just after sunrise in Las Vegas Sunday morning when Jarvis knocked out the 10th-placed player, Kansas auto dealer Brandon Steven.

Jarvis had pocket queens and Steven went all-in with ace-king. Jarvis's queens held up and the table went crazy.

"I really tried to keep my emotions in check the whole way, but when that happened everybody started yelling," Jarvis said. "I had a big crew of people out, my girlfriend was here, two of my best friends, my sister, we were all jumping around and everyone at the table was coming up to high-five me because I was the one who knocked the last guy out."

Jarvis will head to the final table with 16.7 million chips, the fifth biggest chip stack of the nine finalists. The only other Canadian to make the final table, Jonathan Duhamel of Boucherville, Que., is the chip leader with nearly 66 million chips. The tournament winner will pocket $8.94 million, but Jarvis is trying not to think about that right now.

"The next four months are going to be a lot of preparation. I am going to take a lot of time off, though. I am not going to play poker for the next month. I am planning to go to Mexico and spend some time with my dad."

Jarvis's dad is Norm Jarvis, a longtime area golf pro who recently played on the Champions Tour. He and his wife Diane stayed up all night to follow Matthew's progress online.

Norm Jarvis has had his share of nervous moments on the golf course, but they paled to what he went through in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

"It was tough," Norm said. "Particularly when he had the chip lead and then started falling down."

At one point early Sunday morning, Norm called his son to offer support.

"My dad is probably my No. 1 fan," Matthew said. "The kind of relationship I have with my parents is special -- we talk five or six times a day. Whatever is happening, they are trying to help me stay positive and not get down. They were a big help to me this past two weeks."

Matthew seemed particularly pleased that his big win Sunday brought some joy for his dad, who is battling cancer.

"He was diagnosed right before I took off to play in the World Series," he said. "I really considered staying home, but he said no, keep doing what you are doing. He is doing good, though, and is taking such an optimistic approach to this. I am really proud of him."

Matthew began playing poker online four or five years ago and until Sunday his biggest tournament prize was $20,000 for an 11th-place finish at last fall's B.C. Poker Championships. Until Sunday, he really didn't consider himself a full-time poker pro.

"I had a few decent wins that allowed me to not have to look for a job," said Jarvis a former business student. "Maybe after this it will become a full-time thing, but before this it was a hobby that started going well and allowed me not to have to go out and find a 9 to 5 job."

He said that his big payday, with possibly a lot more still to come, won't go to his head.

"It is a little overwhelming right now. Early this morning we must have had 40 or 50 photographers all taking four pictures a second and I've done a lot of interviews. It's pretty overwhelming for a guy who comes from sort of humble beginnings and to be under the spotlight like this is something. But I'm not going to let it go to my head or anything like that. The main thing is to take some time off and get ready for November."

The remaining nine players all received ninth-place money of $811,823 on Sunday and Jarvis learned a little something about U.S. income tax.

"They withheld 30 per cent," he said.

bziemer@vancouversun.com