News: Should we bring back the November Nine? – pokerstrategy.com

Would a return to a three month final table delay solve the branding, visibility and coaching issues currently facing the Main Event?

I watched the OnlyFriends podcast this week as they were discussing the aftermath of 'LaptopGate' and they went on an interesting tangent which I wanted to steal build upon.

They suggested (around the 13-minute mark in the video below) that now would be a good time to bring back the November Nine. The poker landscape is very different to the last time we did that, most notably the WSOP is shown behind a paywall on PokerGO and we are very much in the solver era.

My stance on the November Nine has always been it was a great thing pre-Black Friday when players could get lucrative sponsorship opportunities during the break, but pointless since then. I must say, however, in 2025 it could make sense.

The big visibility issue the Main Event has in 2024 is that it is behind a paywall. It is no longer on ESPN, it is on PokerGO. That means that realistically it is only poker enthusiasts who are watching it, not potential new players who stumble upon it by accident, like most of us did.

A three-month delay could mean that PokerGO produces a lot of in-house content focussing on the November Niners. That material could be free on YouTube. Much in the way that a lot of free content comes out to hype boxing matches, we could learn more about the final nine players and, if it was compelling enough, it could sell a ton of PokerGo subscriptions (or a one-time box office payment).

Sponsorship opportunities are not there anymore, as they were at the start of the November Nine concept, but a lot of poker players these days are becoming one-person media empires with YouTube/Twitch channels, coaching products, and so on. So while the November Nine may no longer guarantee a Stars patch, it might still prove a brilliant branding opportunity for those players who want to be in the public eye. As the OnlyFriends guys suggested, this is what Espen Jorstad did after his Main Event win. A November Niner who starts a Vlog after making the final table could have a big audience by the end of the final table.

The timing is also good for the WSOP because it would be just after the WSOPE and just before WSOP Paradise. The November Nine would be an extra opportunity to plug both of those events.

There would be inevitable coaching for the final nine players, and this might help curb the worst parts of what we saw with 'Team Tamayo' on the rail. There would be less need to give a 'crash course' on the various spots via a laptop, all that could be worked out in the three months leading up to it. There would also be more time to vet each rail and police what they did better, especially if it happened in the PokerGO studio.

I'm still not sold on the idea, but it is an intriguing one. The biggest issue we have with regards to the WSOP Main Event is that the broadcast is behind a paywall. The return of the November Nine could at least lead to a lot of free content to entice new players to the game, if we can't make the final table itself free.

Do you like this idea? Let us know in the comments:

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO.

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News: Should we bring back the November Nine? - pokerstrategy.com