In what is now the third edition of the November Nine, Jason Senti is hoping to have a better result than the previous short stacks who arrived at the delayed final table. James Akenhead entered November’s place ninth in chips last year and finished the tournament in ninth, while Kelly Kim was only able to squeak up one spot on the ladder into eighth place in 2008.
Senti, a 25-year-old poker pro from Minnesota, is primarily a cash-game player, specializing in heads-up and six-max no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha online. He is an instructor for the poker training site BlueFire Poker, a company which poker phenom Phil Galfond serves as lead pro.
Senti doesn’t have too many tournament cashes to his name since he mostly plays cash. Coming into the main event, he had earned just $65,112 in tournament winnings, most of which came from a $47,000 score in a $5,000 SCOOP event in May.
But that doesn’t mean people aren’t confident in his abilities. Galfond himself, considered one of the best young players in the game today, took a piece of Senti before the main event began.
Senti admits he was trying to do whatever it took to reach the final nine.
“I hung in there well enough to sneak through,” said Senti, who was an electrical/software engineer before deciding to take up poker full-time.
The young pro talked to Card Player about why he decided to give up the 9-to-5 routine to become a poker pro.
“In the previous year [to leaving my job], I had started to make more money from playing poker in the evenings than I was working full-time at my job,” said Senti. “The stars kind of aligned, and I went for it.”
Now, Senti’s days are a little more carefree.
“I probably get up at like 10 or 11 in the morning and play video games a little bit. I don’t play tons, maybe an hour a day tops,” said Senti, who says he plays mostly first-person shooter games like Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2, and any of the Halos. “Then I play poker for a few hours, study opponents, and discuss strategy with friends.”
Senti also golfs and plays softball in his spare time, but his major hobby would probably be his band.
“I’ve been in a band for a very long time. I play guitar and sing. We do that a couple nights a week,” said Senti.
Like most players, Senti started at the tiny stakes online before moving up.
“I started at $0.05-$0.10 no-limit hold’em cash, and quickly worked my way up,” said Senti, who now plays anywhere from $5-$10 to $25-$50.
Preferring the online environment to the Rio, Senti only played three events in the 2010 World Series. He failed to cash in the first two events, but made sure his trip was more than worthwhile with his final table appearance in the main event.
“Surreal is the only appropriate word that describes what I’m feeling right now,” Senti told Card Player after making the final table. It feels absolutely great. I’m very, very happy to be here.”
