Kevin Schaffel has made the November Nine.

Schaffel, of Coral Springs, played his way to the final table at the World Series of Poker late Wednesday night, meaning he's among the nine players remaining who have a chance at the $8.5 million first prize. (He's the eighth from the left, or second from right.)

As happened last year, the World Series now stops play for 115 days, while ESPN airs footage of what has happened so far in the 6,494-player main event. Then in November, Schaffel and the eight others will play it off while ESPN does a quick live-to-tape edit and same-day coverage (like in the Olympics).

Schaffel sits in sixth place with about 13 million chips, well behind leader Davin Moon with 58 million. There's also two noted poker pros alive: Jeff Shulman is in fourth and Phil Ivey in eighth. Schaffel, who had been battling the flu slept in Thursday (can't blame him), then had a WSOP 2-hour meeting in Las Vegas in the afternoon. He'll fly home Friday, and I'll try to catch him before he gets on the plane.

That WSOP orientation also includes issuing a check to all nine players for ninth place, the worst they can finish. They get $1,263,602 right now.

Schaffel's brother, Jordan, said Kevin has been playing poker since age 11.

"We played for nickels and dimes," Jordan said, noting that Kevin also is a scratch golfer who has won the club championship at Eagle Trace Country Club in Coral Springs.

They both graduated North Miami Beach High (Kevin in 1975) and helped in their father's print shop, The Mail Man. When the direct mail industry went south last year, Kevin began playing in more professional events in Las Vegas and California. That included a run where he finished in the money in four out of five events in 2008-09.

Jordan, who now lives in Washington, D.C., received updates from Kevin's son, Jeremy, who also is in Las Vegas, and via the internet. He then relayed info to friends and family.

"It's been unbelieveable," he said. "I have an email list, a Skype list, a text list and a phone list."

Last night Jordan set up a "conference bridge" for four cousins, two sisters and friends, scattered across Texas, central Florida and Maryland.

"Everybody has carpal tunnel from clicking the refresh button every 10 seconds," he said, about following the results on poker sites.

Jeremy called often, including about 2 a.m. Thursday, when the players were down to 10, and Darvin Moon was trying to knock out Jordan Smith. Jordan Schaffel patched in the call to everyone.

When the river card came up a blank, eliminating Smith and cutting the field to nine

"All I hear is pandemonium over the phone," Jordan said.

For more info, go to www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Also, PokerStars.net did this interview with him.