by Barbara Rogers

The poker room boss at Connecticut’s famed Mohegan Sun must love it because he has devoted his entire career to the Mohegan Sun organization. Although not quite a year into his new position as poker room manager, Ricky Landry brings a wealth of knowledge and more than twenty years experience to our game.

You can go home again, and with a vengeance too. If you are Anthony Chester, you can even bring your own posse with you. Seventeen extremely talented and qualified individuals, to be exact, made the move back East. When he left the Venetian for Delaware Park, Anthony was determined to put the best possible team together. Mission accomplished.

Anthony and the majority of his polished handpicked staff were originally from the East Coast. When the opportunity arose at Delaware Park Racetrack and Casino in Wilmington, Delaware, Chester never looked back.

Shannon Keel, the new General Manager at Golden Gates at Black Hawk, Colorado, loves sports. This California girl is the daughter of a pro football player and she’s passionate about her Chicago Cubs, Bears and Black Hawks. She is also passionate about horse racing and one may say she has something in common with the Breeder’s Cup winner Zenyatta; they both know how to compete and succeed in a man’s world.

The 1983 World Series of Poker main event winner retains vivid memories of the days when he was one of the youngest players at most of the tables where he tried his luck. This year he is the oldest player, at the age of 65, being considered for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.
 
What does he think of his chances?
 

Saguhyon “Joseph” Cheong, 24, was born in Seoul, South Korea, but now makes La Mirada, California his home.  He graduated with a psychology degree and a combined economics-math degree from UC San Diego, which was quite a feat considering he started playing poker back in 2007, while still in college. Cheong plays online under the name “subiime” and won a mini FTOPS last year earning $55,000.  He has a solid reputation as an online player and has amassed impressive stats in online tournaments.
 

John Dolan, one of three Floridians in the November Nine, is sitting on the second biggest chip stack going into the final table, 46,250,000. The 24-year-old dropped out of Florida State University where he was studying business to play poker fulltime. His previous biggest cash was $94,500 in an online tournament and he had two cashes during this year’s WSOP for just over $100,000 including a final table in the $1,000 NLHE event won by previous November Nine member, Scott Montgomery. 
 

When the November Nine gather at the Rio, they will be starting with blinds of 250,000/500,000 and a 50,000 ante. The average chip stack is just over 24 million. So it is fair to say that Jason Senti, ninth in chips going into the final table with just 7,625,000, is facing a daunting task. But, he can look to 2007 winner Jerry Yang, who went from eighth to first, for inspiration. 
 

Twenty-four-year-old Florida native John Racener may be young, but he already has an impressive poker resume. He had four cashes and one final table in last year’s World Series of Poker and three cashes in this year’s WSOP preliminary events including one in PLO and another in 7-Card Stud. He has cashed thus far for just over $40,000, chump change compared to what he’ll earn for making the Main Event final table.  He currently sits in 4th place with 19,050,000 in chips, well below chip-leader Jonathan Duhamel’s 65, 975,000.

The biggest name left in the 2010 WSOP Main Event has the third smallest chip stack, but Michael Mizrachi is carrying big expectations for a year-making victory. Unlike his fellow November Niners, he has his own website, his own nickname, and his own dynasty—he and his three brothers all cashed in the Main Event, a stunning feat. He won the prestigious Player’s Championship at the beginning of this year’s WSOP for his first bracelet, then added three more cashes, including two final tables in $10,000 “Championship” events.

The poker pro they call “Chainsaw” made it look easy, cutting his way through the competition at this year’s World Series of Poker on his way to eight cashes in the 20 tournaments he played.