2009 40th Annual World Series of Poker - World Championship NL Texas Hold'em (Event 57)

Buy In:
$10,000
Top Prize:
$8,546,435

Entrants:
6494
Pos. Paid:
648
9
Players Remain

Last Update

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:04:50 Meet Your November Nine What a day of poker! If you asked anyone in the media when we got here this morning if we thought the tournament would be down to its final nine players -- the November Nine -- before 11pm, we would have laughed and challenged you to put your whole bankroll on it. Yet here we are, just shy of 11pm, with the final nine players bagging and tagging for the night. But that's getting slightly ahead of the action. We started today at noon with 27 players. Leo Margets, the sole woman in the field, was the first elimination just twenty minutes into the day. That seemed to set the tone for play, as players got their chips into the middle with glee. Before we finished the first level of play, three more players were eliminated, including the good-for-television Antonio Esfandiari. All through the day, players continued to be eliminated at a rapid pace. We thought there would be mini-bubbles at 19 left, 16 left, and 13 left. In fact there were no such bubbles. The big stacks did their jobs today, as Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter and Billy Kopp all applied relentless pressure on the short stacks. It was unfortunate for Kopp that he ran a small flush into a bigger flush and went busto in 12th place, a classic elimination that is sure to haunt Kopp for a long time. Of course there's one other player whom everyone was watching today. Some consider him to be the greatest player in the world; all were hoping he'd make the final table. Phil Ivey started off trending dangerously downwards, but he seemed to recognize what many other players did not -- the stacks were still relatively deep and the levels were still two-hours long. No need to panic. Ivey didn't panic, and as a result he secured a spot in the November Nine. When Jordan Smith said "Good night, Moon" and exited in tenth place, the November Nine were determined. Here they are! Darvin Moon - 58,930,000 James Akenhead - 6,800,000 Phil Ivey - 9,765,000 Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000 Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000 Eric Buchman - 34,800,000 Joe Cada - 13,215,000 Antoine Saout - 9,500,000 Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000 Moon will be the chip leader for the next four months. Many will argue that this is the most talented Main Event final table to have been assembled in years. They'll have almost four months to argue back and forth over which player they think has the best shot. The final table festivities will take place from November 7 - 10. It has been our great pleasure to be your source of live updates during the 2009 WSOP. We hope you'll join us throughout the rest of the year as we cover major poker tournaments around the globe. Please stop back in November for what is sure to be an exciting conclusion to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Good night!

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:59:41 Jordan Smith Eliminated in 10th Place ($896,730) Eric Buchman opened for 650,000, Darvin Moon flat-called from the button and Jordan Smith reraised to 2.6 million from the small blind. Buchman folded and Moon called. The flop was . Smith checked, Moon bet 4,000,000, Smith moved all in and Moon called. Smith Moon The turn was the , Smith picking up an inside straight draw to a wheel. The river, though, was the and Moon took down the pot with his set of eights, eliminating Smith and setting the 2009 "November Nine." Moon has an estimated 59,770,000 chips. We'll post the remainder of the final table chip counts as soon as they're verified.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:46:02 No Flops Here The last two hands were raise-and-take-it with Joe Cada and James Akenhead each winning a set of blinds.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:42:46 Where's the Cocktails?! Master of Ceremonies Robbie Thompson just got on the mic and asked for a cocktail server to come to the final table area. All we can say to that is -- good luck. The railbirds are jammed so deep around the entrances to the final table area that we doubt a cocktail server can even get in.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:41:11 No Action Again for Smith Jordan Smith came in raising again on the very next hand, making it 650,000 to go. Again, no action for Smith and he picked up the blinds and antes.