The Highs and Lows of the World Series of Poker main Event 2009

The magic number for this year’s World Series of Poker main event is 6,494. It didn’t beat last year’s attendance, but certainly would have if the hundreds of disappointed day 1D wannabes registered on a different starting day. Among those who walked away with their feet dragging were Patrick Antonius and Mickey Appleman. The Amazon room at the Rio just about squeezed in 2,809 players that day, but there is no doubt that there would have been room for them previously, especially on day 1B which saw just 873 hopefuls turn out. These figures, however, make it clear that poker is standing strong in the face of the recession, and what is the most anticipated event of the year continues to see success despite adverse economic conditions.

Aligning of the Stars
Stars from the celebrity world merged with stars from the poker world with people like hip-hop star Nelly, former major league baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Brad Garrett mixed in with former champions and Texas hold’em phenomenons.

Starting day early bust outs saw the dreams dashed of Freddy Deeb, Doyle Brunson, David “Chino” Rheem, Daniel Negreanu, Marcel Luske, Jamie Gold, Dario Minieri, Phil Galfond, and former world champions Huck Seed and Chris Moneymaker. 648 players would see a portion of the hefty $61,043,600 prize pool, whether it be large or small, and the person to outlast everyone else would walk away with $8,546,435 in November. The payout this year also helped the WSOP cross an important historical milestone — It now has more than $1 billion in prize money on record in the 40-year history of the event.

Among those who fell on day 2a and 2b, before the players could form one solid group on day 3, were Gus Hansen, Sandra Naujoks, Johnny Chan, Brian Townsend, Katja Thater, Mike Caro, Phil Laak, Jason Mercier, Bruno Fitoussi, Alex Kravchenko, Todd Brunson, Gavin Smith, Amarillo Slim Preston, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Vanessa Rousso, Scotty Nguyen, Kathy Liebert, Howard Lederer, Gavin Griffin, Tom Dwan, and Nenad Medic. However, there were some professionals on day 2B who were able to set themselves up for a deep run going forward including Phil Ivey, J.C. Tran, Jeff Shulman, and Bertrand Grospellier.

Grospellier kept up the hard work with an outstanding day 3 performance, and Phil Ivey stole the limelight on day 4 with a stack of 1.2 million at close of play. Frenchman Ludovic Lacay was also slaying those around him and ended day 4 second in chips to Matt Affleck. WSOP event runner up from last year, James Akenhead, hung in there on the board also, sitting in fourth place.

Sights Set High
The same names kept cropping up as the battle continued on day 5 — Bertrand Grospellier, Phil Ivey, Ludovic Lacay, Darvin Moone, and Jeff Shulman; and on day 6, a situation occurred which you couldn’t dream up when four of the top players remaining were seated at the same table. Last year’s champion Peter Eastgate met once again with his 2008 final table-mate Dennis Phillips, and they sat with two-time gold bracelet winner J.C. Tran, and former world champion Joe Hachem. By the end of play, it was just Phillips remaining, as he hoped to make a consecutive final table appearance. Bertrand Grospellier also dropped off the radar during the day.

Here are their elimination hands from Card Player’s live updates:

Peter Eastgate Eliminated in 78th Place ($68,979)
The defending champion, Peter Eastgate was knocked out in 78th place for $68,979 after a tangle with Billy Kopp. Kopp raised to 105,000 preflop, and Phillips made the call to his immediate left. Action was folded to Eastgate in the small blind, who moved all in for 340,000 more. Action was back on Kopp, who made the call, as did Phillips. The board ran out A 6 4 J 3, as Kopp and Phillips checked it down. Kopp exposed the 8 8 for an 8-high flush, and Phillips mucked. Eastgate tabled the A J for top two pair but it wasn’t enough and Eastgate went home that bit earlier than last year.

Bertrand Grospellier Eliminated in 122nd Place ($40,288)

Grospellier bet 47,000 from middle position, and an opponent reraised to 150,000. “ElkY” moved all in for about 375,000 total, slightly less than what his opponent had in his stack. Grospellier’s all-in was snap-called, and he turned over the A K. His opponent tabled the K K. The board ran out 3 2 2 6 J, and ElkY was eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.

Others to hit the rail for a payday of $40,288 were J.C. Tran in 108th place, Joe Hachem in 103rd place, and David Benyamine in 102nd place. Meanwhile, the largely unknown, Darvin Moon clung to the top spot.

The Penultimate Day
On Day 7, Dennis Phillips’ run came to an end, while Phil Ivey surpassed the 10 million mark.

Dennis Phillips’ Second Trip to the November Nine Stopped by Francoios Balmigere

Antoine Saout raised to 165,000, and Francois Balmigere called. Dennis Phillips made it 450,000, and then Balmigere decided he would move all in after Saout got out of the way. Phillips called, and his tournament life was at risk.
Balmigere showed A K and Phillips had A K. Usually this ends up as a split pot, but Dennis Phillips didn’t like it when the flop came K 6 4. The turn was safe for Phillips when the 10 fell, but the river did him in, like so many others, as it put out the 5, ending Phillips’ main-event run.

Finding November Nine
Finally, on day 8, the 2009 main event final table was set, but not before it saw many casualties, and squashed many players and their supporters’ excitement. Here is a brief look at some notable busts as featured in our live updates:

Leo Margets Eliminated in 27th Place ($352,941)

Leo Margets has the honour of being named the last woman standing at this year’s main event.

After Warren Zackey raised to 350,000 preflop, Margets moved all in and was called by Zackey. Zackey showed A 10 and was way ahead of Margets’ A 7. The flop was 10 8 4 and Margets would need runners to stay alive. The 4 meant she was drawing dead and she was the first player eliminated on day 8.

The Magician Disappears; Antonio Esfandiari Eliminated in 24th Place ($352,832)

Antonio Esfandiari raised to 310,000 preflop from under the gun, and Steven Begleiter called from middle position. The flop came down 10 2 4 and Esfandiari bet 535,000. Begleiter raised it up to 1.6 million and Esfandiari moved all in for 2.5 million more. Begleiter made the call and tabled K 10 for top pair on the flop.

Esfandiari showed down 5 5 and needed help. The turn was the 6, giving Esfandiari a gutshot straight draw. But the A fell on the river and Esfandiari was eliminated.

Ludovic Lacay Eliminated in 16th Place ($500,557)

Jeff Shulman raised to 450,000 preflop and Ludovic Lacay came over the top for the rest of his stack of just over 3 million. Shulman made the call and their hands were:

Shulman: A K
Lacay: 7 7

It was a classic race and the flop came K 9 5, putting Shulman ahead. The turn was the 9 and the river was the 6. Lacay busted from the main event in 16th place. Shulman was up to 12.8 million after the hand.

Final-Table Frenzy
Phil Ivey took some hits during the final day but, much to most of the poker community’s relief, made it through to the final nine. Eight others including James Akenhead from England, Antoine Saout from France, and Card Player publisher Jeff Schulman, together with Ivey, will form the second ever November Nine and will return to the Rio from November 7-10 to battle it out.

Their chip counts and seating arrangements are:
Seat 1 Darvin Moon 58,930,000
Seat 2 James Akenhead 6,800,000
Seat 3 Phil Ivey 9,765,000
Seat 4 Kevin Schaffel 12,390,000
Seat 5 Steven Begleiter 29,885,000
Seat 6 Eric Buchman 34,800,000
Seat 7 Joseph Cada 13,215,000
Seat 8 Antoine Saout 9,500,000
Seat 9 Jeff Shulman 19,580,000

Each and every one of the final nine players is now a millionaire, and they are guaranteed at least $1,263,602 in prize money. The wait is now on, and for many this is set to be one of the most exciting WSOP main event final tables in a long time. Although Moon is heavily stacked, anything can happen on a table of such variety, and with short-stacked danger Akenhead, hungry-eyed Shulman, and Ivey on a roll, this is definitely one event worth waiting for.