From the stage of the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas were the ESPN.com “Inside Deal” crew. The trio – Laura Lane, Bernard Lee, and Andrew Feldman – recapped the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table.
Lane, Lee, and Feldman recapped the journeys of each of the nine final table members, who waited more than 100 days to battle for the $8.5 million first place prize. The entire weekend will be recapped on ESPN this evening at 9:00pm ET. On James Akenhead, who took ninth in the feature tournament, Lee explained, “When his kings ran into aces, he got deflated, but I feel like he had a shot.” Akenhead was a former train conductor and hails from England.
Finishing in eighth place was Kevin Schaffel, who largely played tight during the event’s conclusion. Lee observed, “He played really well. Up to the first break, he was really quiet and he was getting 3bet a lot of the time.” Next to go was Phil Ivey, who had the endorsement of nearly the entire poker industry. Lee noted, “You saw how much he cares and how well he can play the short stack. He was stealing a blind every single level.” Ivey headed out the Rio’s back door after being eliminated and was the only November Nine member not to speak with the media.
Backing Steven Begleiter were coaches Ylon Schwartz and Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. The presence of the former was largely unknown in the weeks leading up to the resumption of the Main Event. After his elimination in fifth place, Jeff Shulman told “Inside Deal” and other assembled media, “I was playing in my basement the last two months with people who are all tough and every single day was harder than this. Of course, I didn’t win there either.”
Joe Cada had 39 big blinds entering three-handed play and doubled up at the expense of Antoine Saout with pocket twos against pocket queens when the flop came 7-2-9. The pot left Saout reeling and he was out with pocket eights against Cada’s A-K several hands later in a stunning turn of events. Lee explained, “When we were down to three-handed, we were all wondering who Saout was going to play and that was probably his mindset. The next thing you know, he’s going home instead of preparing for the next day.”
The “Inside Deal” crew had been hovering around the Rio since early last week, procuring content for the worldwide leader in sports and even taking in a meatball eating contest just moments after the field in the Main Event was shrunk from nine to two. On the crew’s favorite moments, Lee fondly remembered, “The big moment was Kevin Schaffel. He went in with aces against Eric Buchman, who flopped a king. Schaffel still had hope and then the quad kings come on the turn.”
Finally, Feldman recalled the crowd getting into the action: “James Akenhead tripling up was the first time we saw the crowd into it. My second moment was away from the table watching Mike Sexton getting inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.” By the time Sexton was enshrined, which occurred during the dinner break on Saturday, seven players remained. The 2009 installment went down as the longest in WSOP Main Event history at over 17 hours.
ESPN “Inside Deal” also plans to release exclusive interviews with Cada and runner-up Darvin Moon.
Mighty useful. Make no mistake, I appceriate it.