It was going to take eight full playing days of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event to determine the names and faces of the November Nine. As the $10K No-Limit Hold’em World Championship played down, Day 6 was only a stepping stone on the way to that goal, but an important one nonetheless.
The tournament started on July 5 with four starting days that resulted in an initial field of 7,319 players. After two individual second days of play, Day 3 brought all of the surviving 2,557 players together. Day 4 started with 1,203, and Day 5 had only 574 when it began but worked it down to less than half of that number.
Day 6 then began on Thursday, July 15, with 205 players, and the current payout level was $48,847. Johnny Chan started the day in the top 10 chip counts, though there were many other recognizable faces, including two of the Mizrachi brothers, Michael and Robert.
Action began with some of the short stacks doubling up, like Hasan Habib and Jesper Hougaard. And then the eliminations began, starting with Paul Dlugozima in 205th place and Hans Hein in 204th. The bustout announcements were being made over the PA system as they happened, and the room gave players a round of applause as their names were read throughout the day. Some of the key eliminations involving notable players happened through the afternoon and evening. For example:
Matt Keikoan was one of the first to go, as he pushed all-in with 
on a 
, but he was outflushed by the 
of Matthew Pearson. Keikoan left in 196th place with $48,847.
Croatian player and PartyPoker pro Dragan Galic pushed his last 490K chips all-in with 
, but Scott Clements called with 
. The board came 
, and Galic was gone in 183rd place.
Two-time WSOP Main Event champion Johnny Chan took some bad beats early in the day and finally pushed his 550K stack all-in with 
, but Jonathan Driscoll had 
, and the board blanked with 
to send Chan out in 156th place with $57,102.
At the first break of the day, John Racener and Robert Pisano both held approximately 4.5 million chips and were vying for the lead.
Next up on the chopping block was Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, who put his tournament life on the line with 
against the of Josue Sauvageau. The dealer gave them a board of 
, and Galfond’s lesser two pair sent him out in 141st place.
The second break of the day found a familiar name atop the leaderboard, as Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi sat with about 5.5 million chips and the overall lead.
After that break, the last woman standing in the tournament, Breeze Zuckerman, took her chances with 
, but Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin made the easy call from the button with 
. The flop of 
gave her hope, but the turn and river took it away and eliminated Zuckerman in 121st place, which was worth $57,102.
Team PokerStars Pro and Brazilian race car driver Gualter Salles lost ground on Day 6 and finally pushed all-in with , but Team UB player Adam Levy called with , and Levy’s hand only improved on the board. Salles finished the tournament in 117th place.
Robert Mizrachi was one of the last two brothers left standing of the four who made it into the money, but he finally had to take a chance with and his last 196K. Sauvageau called with , and the board blanked with 
to eliminate Robert in 116th place. Only Michael was left to carry on for the family.
JP Kelly got involved in a big hand when he moved all-in for 827K preflop with 
, but Theo Jorgensen called with 
and caught the flop. The turn and river allowed the trip aces to hold, and Kelly was gone in 111th place.
When players took their 90-minute dinner break, it was Michael Mizrachi still holding the lead, and play eventually resumed with the 103 players remaining in the field. And action wasn’t lacking in the evening hours.
Christian Harder made his move with , but Matt Affleck was quite a bit ahead with his . The board came , and Harder was gone in 100th place.
Juha Helppi lost a big pot when his tens lost to queens, and his last 360K chips or so went all-in with 
against nothing but , that time held by Gianni Direnzo. The board of 
only gave Direnzo the set of queens, and Helppi was eliminated in 86th place, which was in the $79,806 pay level.
And with just a few more eliminations, the night ended early. The original plan was to play a full five levels, which would have taken them to about 1:00am, but the rate of bustouts was faster than expected, and once they surpassed the 81-player mark, they stopped play with only 4.5 levels completed. With just 78 players remaining, the leaderboard showed the following players in the top ten:
| Theo Jorgensen | 9,300,000 |
| Michael Mizrachi | 7,535,000 |
| John Racener | 7,200,000 |
| Jonathan Driscoll | 6,570,000 |
| William Thorson | 6,525,000 |
| Matthew Jarvis | 6,125,000 |
| Edward Ochana | 5,950,000 |
| Alexander Kostritsyn | 5,715,000 |
| Cuong Nguyen | 5,650,000 |
| Joseph Cheong | 5,555,000 |
Play was set to resume for Day 7 at noon on Friday, July 16, and presumably play down to 27 before ending the night. As a refresher, here are the stats for the tournament as it stands now:
Total Players: 7,319
Prize pool: $68,798,600
| 1st | $8,944,138 |
| 2nd | $5,545,855 |
| 3rd | $4,129,979 |
| 4th | $3,092,497 |
| 5th | $2,332,960 |
| 6th | $1,772,939 |
| 7th | $1,356,708 |
| 8th | $1,045,738 |
| 9th | $811,823 |
| 10th - 12th | $635,011 |
| 13th - 15th | $500,165 |
| 16th - 18th | $396,967 |
| 19th - 27th | $317,161 |
| 28th - 36th | $255,242 |
| 37th - 45th | $206,395 |
| 46th - 54th | $168,556 |
| 55th - 63rd | $138,285 |
| 64th - 72nd | $114,205 |
| 73rd - 81st | $94,942 |