One year earlier, Joe McKeehen had won one of the most one-sided WSOP Main Events in history. As impressive as McKeehen’s wire-to-wire victory procession had been, the poker-watching public craved drama. In the final year of the ‘November Nine’ era, they got it. With one of the most controversial years ever on the WSOP, a high-profile bust-up preceded a final table where everyone’s chickens came home to roost.
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Florida’s Finest Celebrates Player of the Year Win
With no WSOP Europe or WSOP Asia-Pacific festivals in 2016 – the latter being postponed in its entirety – everything happened in Las Vegas as one of the most dramatic Main Events in poker history played out to a rapt audience. There was a great deal of excitement as The Rio once again played host to a stunning series of bracelet events in which poker legends and newbies alike thrived.
There were three multiple winners of WSOP bracelets, as Benny Glaser took home gold twice, winning the $1,500-entry Omaha 8 and $10,000 buy-in Omaha 8 Championship events for over $650,000, cementing his mixed game credentials. Ian Johns won the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship events, for a cumulative total of $500,000, but it was Jason Mercier, the Floridian PokerStars Team Pro, who won the Player of the Year award.
Mercier, at this point one of the biggest poker players on the planet, took down the $10,000 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Championship for $273,335 before also winning the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship for $422,874. As well as bagging those two Championship event bracelets, Mercier cashed another nine times, reaching a total of four final tables across the series to deservedly claim the title of 2016 WSOP Player of the Year.
In another series where female players starred in many events, Kristen Foxen (then Bicknell), won gold in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, while Safiya Umerova won her first and only bracelet to date in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, beating a final table that included Argentina’s Damian Salas and Umerova’s heads-up opponent, Scottish poker legend and Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell.
After the $111,111-entry NLHE for One Drop event was won by Fedor Holz for $4.8 million when he defeated Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith to claim the top prize, the ‘Year of Fedor’ was heralded. Holz would not get anywhere in the Main Event, which was to be one of the best over the entire history of the World Series Of Poker.
Former World Champions Dig Deep
The 2016 WSOP Main Event was the 69th and final event in 2016 as the November Nine format, which delayed when the final table would be played from October 30th to November 1st, was to be the last time players would come back to compete months after making the final nine. It was a welcomed switch back to the more logical playing out of the drama in one go. The November Nine format was proven to favor the younger players who made the final, with each of the first four won by the youngest player at the felt and many seasoned pros standing against the ‘study break’ as many saw it between July and November.
One final November Nine was to take place later in the year but before then, there was sensational drama that came out of nowhere. The Main Event was played by 6,737 players as the WSOP went past the $2 billion mark in winnings awarded to players over 47 years of poker action.
Another strong showing from former world champions saw four legends finish inside the money places. While the reigning champion McKeehen would bow out on Day 3 before the money places, the 1983 champion Tom McEvoy came 644th of 1,011 paid players. Others went a lot further, with Ryan Riess (271st), Johnny Chan (180th) and the 2004 champion Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer (121st) all going deep. There was to be a new name in the annals of poker history however, but it wasn’t necessarily the winner himself that everyone would remember for 2016.
Nine High Excitement as Main Event Explodes
While many big names cashed deep in the 2016 Main Event such as Mike Gorodinsky (87th), Daniel Colman (31st), Paul Volpe (29th) and James Obst (13th), there was one player whose run to 17th place was a rollercoaster ride, especially from inside the money places. With around 20 tables left, Will Kassouf was all-in with just nine-high on a ten-high board with Stacy Matuson pondering a big decision for a lot of her chips with pocket queens.
Kassouf’s incessant talking, what he called ‘speech play’ but what everyone else at the table called rude and even ‘taunting’, pressured Matuson into complaining to the floor. When tournament director Jack Effel strolled over then warned Kassouf to stop speaking or he’d get a one round penalty, the bolshy Brit proceeded to act out a ridiculous mime with the implication that if Matuson was to fold and show, he’d fold and show. Eventually, Matuson did indeed fold and show her pocket queens. To be fair, Kassouf did indeed show his bluff. To also be fair, he acted without any class at all, declaring ‘Nine high like a boss!’ as he scooped the pot.
Matuson busted soon after in 169th place for just $42,285, while Kassouf made it all the way to the final two tables of action. Interestingly, the player to his left at the table where he goaded Matuson – eventually receiving that one round penalty from Effel – was Gordon Vayo and the same player was at Kassouf’s table when down to 17 players in the final event and on the feature table.
Also present was Griffin Benger, who took on the role of hero as he and Kassouf both attempted to trap the other. Kassouf was giving all his best speech play lines (OK, the three same lines over and over) the full monty, little knowing that his trap with pocket kings was actually being trapped by Benger’s pocket aces.
Eventually, after being told to ‘check your privilege’, Kassouf shoved, Benger called and the aces held to take out the British player, who struggled to get players to shake his hand as he left a dumbfounded Thunderdome. Taking to the social media platform X (then Twitter), Kassouf was either loved or loathed in a polarising debate not unlike political discussions of the same time.
Johnny Bax is Beaten
When the final November Nine were reached, players who were at Kassouf’s table made the cut, including Griffin Benger, who was short with 26.1m – only 7.8% of the chips in play. Gordon Vayo (49.3m) who had been, in the words of Norman Chad, Benger’s “campaign manager” during the exchange, was third in chips behind Qui Nguyen (67.9m) and the chip leader, Cliff Josephy on 74.6 million.
Early levels saw players such as Spanish pro Fernando Pons (9th for $1,000,000) and Jerry Wong (8th for $1.1m) depart. Benger, so vital a part of the conversation with two tables left, slid out in seventh as merely a footnote, busting for $1.25m. Belgian tournament director and pro Kenny Hallaert left in sixth for $1.46m before the talented Czech player Vojtech Ruzicka exploded in fifth for $1.93m.
When Michael Ruane busted in fourth for $2.57m, the final three took their leave for one last sleep on Hallowe’en before returning with the ghosts of their past banished, prepared to win the final November Nine on the 1st of the month. Josephy, known as ‘JohnnyBax’ by most in the game, was a key backer of Joe Cada back in 2009, and had been the biggest support to Cada when he became the youngest-ever winner of the world Championship. Now much shorter than chip leader Qui Nguyen, the first hand was like a dream for ‘JohnnyBax’ as his ace-queen got a full double through Nguyen’s ace-four. Soon after, Josephy lost his last to Gordon Vayo whos’ king-six beat Josephy’s queen-three as both men paired the flop but brick turn and river sent play heads-up.
He Who Dares Nguyens
Vayo had a healthy lead with 200.3 million chips to Nguyen’s 136.3m but the irrepressible Nguyen kicked into another gear and was the chief aggressor as Vayo let his control of the duel slip away. Even McEachern and Chad on ESPN voiced how passive Vayo was. Perhaps his earlier role as lieutenant to Griffin Benger’s table captain when Kassouf was a shared enemy crept into his personality four months later. Too timid to dominate, Vayo was short when he got it in bad with queen-five against Nguyen’s ace-queen on a queen-high flop. Vayo was saved by a miraculous flush as Vayo went runner-runner to preserve his life but the fight seemed gone and it was merely a stay of execution.
In the final hand, the money went in with Nguyen holding king-ten to Vayo’s jack-ten. A flop of K-9-7 was followed by a deuce and a three as Vayo was finally beaten.
“It means so much to my friends and family – I’m so excited!” Nguyen declared as he celebrated becoming the 2016 WSOP Main Event world champion. At 39 years old Nguyen was the first winner of the November Nine era who wasn’t in his twenties. The oldest winner since Robert Varkonyi (40) in 2002, Nguyen also became the first player with the same surname as another winner, following in the footsteps of 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen.
After a chaotic run-up to the final table, Will Kassouf would never be forgotten, but he couldn’t make it to November. With Qui Nguyen’s victory, one of the most sensational eras of the WSOP Main Event was over and a four-month break would not no longer be needed to crown a champion.
From 2017 onwards, players would have no choice but to play from their chosen Day 1 until a winner was crowned. The World Championship was about to turn from a marathon back into a sprint.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Qui Nguyen | United States | $8,005,310 |
| 2nd | Gordon Vayo | United States | $4,661,228 |
| 3rd | Cliff Josephy | United States | $3,453,035 |
| 4th | Michael Ruane | United States | $2,576,003 |
| 5th | Vojtech Ruzicka | Czech Republic | $1,935,288 |
| 6th | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | $1,464,258 |
| 7th | Griffin Benger | Canada | $1,250,190 |
| 8th | Jerry Wong | United States | $1,100,076 |
| 9th | Fernando Pons | Spain | $1,000,000 |
2015 WSOP Main Event 2017 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.