It was another relatively short day at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, as play lasted for just four levels before the tournament staff sent everyone home for the night. Sixty-four players began Day Seven of the Main Event, but only 27 survived to return on Wednesday and play down to the November Nine that will comprise this year’s final table.
At the start of play on Tuesday, there were numerous former bracelet winners and big name pros still vying for the title, but several of them saw their Main Event hopes fade away just shy of the finish line. Shortly after the cards were in the air, former bracelet winner Prahlad Friedman was knocked out of the tournament as the first elimination of the day in 64th place. Friedman was one of the shortest stacks coming into Day Seven, as was PokerRoad Founder and President Joe Sebok, who was the next big name to fall in 56th place.
Former WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider began the day with plenty of chips, but he couldn’t get anything to go his way before he was knocked out in 52nd place. The same could be said of French player Fabrice Soulier, who made his exit shortly after Schneider in 49th.
The last remaining member of the inaugural November Nine, Dennis Phillips, appeared focused and ready to make the final table once again. He got a crucial double up early on Tuesday when he was all-in on an ace-high all-club flop holding pocket queens with the [Qc]. Steve Sanders called him with pocket aces for top set. The turn was no help to either player, but the [Jc] on the river brought Phillips his flush and earned him the pot. Phillips would get it all-in again just a little while later holding [Ad][Kd] against Francoise Balmigere’s [As][Ks]. A chopped pot seemed imminent, but the board brought a spade flush to knock out Phillips in 45th place.
Other big names who busted out on Day Seven include WPT event winner Eugene Katchalov (39th) and Blair Rodman (34th). Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey spent his day slowly chipping up and keeping pace with the leaders. He will return Wednesday with the fourth largest stack at 11.3 million. While Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari did not fare as well on Day Six, he doubled up late in the day to give himself around 4.5 million chips to start Day Eight. British pro James Akenhead, Card Player magazine owner Jeff Shulman, WSOP bracelet winner Jordan “scarface_79” Smith, and the last woman in the event, Leo Margets, also remain in contention for the bracelet.
It looked as though Darvin Moon, the chip leader at the start of play on Tuesday, was going to fade into the background, but a rush of cards during the last level surged him back up to the top of the leaderboard with 20 million chips. The player who spent most of the day with the chip lead was Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp of Erlanger, Kentucky. Kopp’s chips got as high as 19 million, but he doubled up Jonathan Tamayo towards the end of play when his top pair and nut flush draw could not catch up with Tamayo’s pocket kings to drop him back down to the 15 million chip range, good enough to end the day in second place.
The unfortunate bubble player of the day was Joe “LatestLines2” Ward, who took a bad beat on the final hand of the night to bust out in 28th place. Ward and Jamie Robbins got it all-in preflop with Robbins holding A-Q to Ward’s A-K. The ace-high flop did not change anything, but a miraculous queen on the river gave Robbins aces-up to win the pot. Since the two players had virtually identical stacks, Ward had to wait while the chips were counted down before it was confirmed that he was the last elimination of the night.
With Ward’s bustout, the final 27 players are now guaranteed a payout of $352,832 and one-third of them will be millionaires by the time play ends on Wednesday. Here are the top ten chip counts heading into the final day of play, which kicks off at 12:00pm Pacific Time and continues until the final table is set:
1. Darvin Moon – 20,160,000
2. Billy Kopp – 15,970,000
3. Steven Begleiter – 11,885,000
4. Phil Ivey – 11,350,000
5. Kevin Schaffel – 11,245,000
6. Antoine Saout – 11,135,000
7. Jeff Shulman – 10,170,000
8. Eric Buchman – 10,005,000
9. Jamie Robbins – 9,795,000
10. Ben Lamb – 9,410,000
Phil Ivey is the most dominant poker player in the world. He continues to excel at online poker, big live cash games, and poker tournaments. He is definitely the Tiger Woods of poker.
No Doubt. Phil Ivey is the man
Eastgate really should have won this time. I respect him a big deal more than that donkey of Joe Cada. Peter has more skill than luck, while Joe has more luck than skill. Luck runs out sooner or later. I hope Peter continues his good work in the Main Event of 2010..Good Luck Peter!!!