The major story of the week in our industry was the final table of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, which played out at the Rio in Las Vegas and saw PocketFives.com member John $JMONEY$Racener (pictured) play second fiddle to Jonathan Duhamel, but take home $5.5 million. Racener, who represented CardRunners on Saturday as the field dwindled down to two and Full Tilt Poker during heads-up play, sat down with PocketFives.com to discuss his monumental run.

PocketFives.com: Tell us how you’re feeling a few days after the fact.

John Racener: It’s just now sinking in. I’m still a little mentally and physically drained between grinding the final table and then the interviews and everything.

PocketFives.com: Talk about your emotions during the hand where Joseph subiimeCheong (pictured) moved all-in pre-flop with A-7 against Duhamel’s pocket queens.

John Racener: I was talking to Tommy Vedes during three-handed play and he said that Cheong and Duhamel might muscle each other around and get it all-in against each other. I didn’t think they’d do that, though. I was sitting there and once I saw it happening, I was like, “Oh my god.” I didn’t want them to see my emotions and wanted to be as calm as possible.

PocketFives.com: Would you have preferred to play Cheong heads-up instead of Duhamel given that you would start as a big underdog against either?

John Racener: It didn’t really matter. I would have preferred to play Duhamel since Cheong was playing better during the final table. Cheong would have played more aggressively heads-up, whereas Duhamel was playing pretty snug and patiently.

PocketFives.com: What preparations did you make in the months leading up to the November Nine? We heard there was a mock final table simulation.

John Racener: That was the best thing I did. We set it up to where everything was the same. My manager set it up for me, but I didn’t like it. I told him that we could run this two million times and nothing like it could happen, but it ended up benefiting me a lot. I started understanding how big the money jumps were and how patient I could be to last deep into it. Both days we ran it, we started nine-handed because that was the most crucial spot.

PocketFives.com: What preparations did you make in the hours prior to heads-up play?

John Racener: Nothing special besides resting and getting a massage. I play a lot of heads-up, so I like my heads-up game. All I was doing was envisioning a double up and the crowd going wild. I wanted to be patient and get one hand where I was in with an overpair or had him dominated. There wasn’t much strategy to do that and the pressure was on me. My original strategy was to limp a lot of buttons and see a lot of flops. Besides the pocket queens, my next best hand was A-2, so I couldn’t get anything going.

PocketFives.com: You had quite a bit of support on forums like PocketFives.com. Talk about how important that was.

John Racener: I’m so grateful to have all of the support. I was just really grateful. I had almost 100 people there and for them to all fly out made me feel good. It made me feel good to hear them chant for me.

PocketFives.com: We want to hear about your Bubble Yum superstition. Where did that originate?

John Racener: It was on Day 5 or 6 after one of the dinner breaks. I had a bad taste in my mouth, so I started chewing gum. Normally, I wouldn’t chew because I would give away tells, but everything started to go well. Chewing gum controls my breathing in big situations.

PocketFives.com: What are your plans poker-wise for the future?

John Racener: I definitely plan on continuing at a strong pace, but I don’t know if I’ll be doing a lot of the preliminary events because you’re drained by the time you get to the Main Event. I’ll play $5,000 WSOP Circuit Events and $10,000 tournaments. I don’t think I’ll become a cash game player.

PocketFives.com: What did you learn about yourself during the 2010 WSOP?

John Racener: I learned how fortunate I am and how to be grateful for things. I’ve been working with Sam Chauhan and he taught me that. Coming out here and being so successful made me realize how fortunate I am. I also learned how much support I have.

PocketFives.com: Are you a fan of the November Nine concept?

John Racener: I’m actually a huge fan of it because of the extra endorsements. I made a good amount of side money because I wore patches and did other things. I got to go to a bunch of professional and charity events and went to ESPN’s headquarters. I was really pleased with it.

PocketFives.com: Can you talk a little bit about promoting Fein energy drink?

John Racener: They did a lot for me. They paid for that commercial on ESPN and I have a percentage of their business now. It’s a close friend back home who started it. My manager introduced me to them and said it’d be good advertising.