JOHN DOLAN

MEET THE NOVEMBER NINE

Dolan was born in New Jersey.  But he grew up in Florida.

John is a junior.  His dad is John Dolan, Sr.  His mother’s name is Kathy.

Dolan played football and baseball in high school.  He was a shortstop at Bishop Verot High School as well as the quarterback on the football team.

Dolan was a student at Florida State University for almost two years.  He was studying business.  But he left school because he was uncertain about a career path.  Dolan considered returning to school and finishing his degree, and still may do so.  But he is determined to play poker a while longer and see how it goes.  John’s younger brother Jason is a medical student at FSU, and his younger sister Jessica is a freshman at FSU.

Dolan is a professional poker player. 

Dolan currently lives in Bonita Springs, FL. 

Dolan is single.

Dolan began playing poker for fun with friends after graduating from high school.  He then played some in some of the low-limit games at casinos in South Florida.  Dolan played a bit of poker while in college and then started to really take the game seriously when he discovered his ability to beat the game as an online player.

Dolan won a tournament at last year’s Bayou Winter Poker Challenge, at Harrah’s New Orleans, which is classified as a WSOP Satellite event.  He won the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event and collected $31,874.

Dolan’s overall career tournament earnings total more than $200,000, not counting his finish in this year’s Main Event.

Dolan credits Brian Hawkins (a.k.a. “Snowman”) with helping him improve his game.

Dolan cashed in the WSOP Casino Employees Championship back in 2007.  He finished 91st.

This marks Dolan’s sixth time to cash at the WSOP, and third in-the-money finish this year.

Dolan admits he has endured a few rough years at the WSOP prior to this showing.  He went through a 20-tourament stretch over two years where he did not cash one time.

Question:  What were your expectations coming into this year’s WSOP?

Dolan:  I really wanted to finally final table something.  This was my third year of playing.  The first year, I did not cash one event.  I was like zero for 13.  It was the worst summer imaginable.  Last year, I cashed in two events.  But I had no deep runs.  This year, I came and I started out zero for 7.  Everything at the World Series had been terrible.  I did decently at some other tournaments.  But I had miserable experiences at the World Series – up to this point. 

Question:  What helped you to turn things around?

Question:  When you go through a slump, do you think about changing strategy or do you ever get to the point where you just want to give up?

Dolan:  I did change some things.  I realize that in live (versus online) you can make some bigger folds that you would not do so much online.  There is a player named Tyler Smith who really helped me out.  He talked to me about the slight differences between live and online.  That helped me, I think.  

Question:  Let’s talk about the lead up to the final nine.  You played from 27 down to 9 and survived.  Tell us about that experience.

Dolan:  It’s one of those things that you want to get there to the end.  But you also want it to be over.  I did try to take it all in when I was sitting there at the feature table (televised by ESPN).  But honestly, I wanted it to be over and be down to the final nine, so long as I was one of the nine.

Question:  It took about six hours to play from ten players down to nine.  That gave each of you a fair amount of experience now playing together.  Each of you knows the other, at least a little bit.  How might that change what happens in November?

Dolan:  Actually, I think I learned more about the players when we were six-handed and seven-handed at various stages, rather than when we were at the final ten.  That’s because people played extremely tight when we were at the final ten.  I doubt that we will see play that tight in November.  I mean, making the final nine is so huge for so many reasons, even outside of the money.  There are a lot of other things that go along with that.

Question:  What if a genie were to pop out of a bottle and make you an offer.  Right now, the genie offers you second place.  You get $5.5 million as the runner up.  You get plenty of face time on television.  But, you do not get the win.  Would you take the deal?

Dolan:  Yes.

The Main Event championship final table, also known as the November Nine, will be played starting on November 6th, 2010.  The initial session of play will narrow the nine finalists down to two survivors.  The final two players return two days later on November 8th to play heads-up for the 2010 world championship.  This year’s winner will receive $8,944,138 in prize money, the coveted WSOP gold bracelet, and designation as the 2010 world poker champion.

To see a full list of all players who cashed in this year's Main Event, click here.