2009 WSOP Main Event Winner

November 11, 2009

2009 World Series of Poker Main Event – It’s a wrap and we have a WSOP 2009 Winner …

Joseph Cada or Joe Cada to his friends (and he’s sure to have more of those now)

After 8 days of grueling play in July and almost 4 months of waiting anxiously, the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, also known as the November 9, has finally arrived. And in a much quicker fashion than its arrival, the tournament is done and a winner has been crowned.

Let’s take a look at how it all unfolded.

2009 November 9 Summary

Prior to the first card of the final table being dealt, here were the starting chip counts:

• Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
• Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
• Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
• Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000
• Joseph Cada – 13,215,000
• Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
• Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
• Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
• James Akenhead – 6,800,000

Now, from looking at the chip stacks, one might assume that Darvin Moon would definitely be one that would easily take the down the main event since he had well over 30% of the chips in play. Additionally, due to his experience and just the simple fact that he’s one of the best players in the world, it would be assumed (and it was) and even wagered on (which it was) that Phil Ivey would come back from being one of the short stacks to make it to short handed play, possibly even win the event.

So, did it happen this way ? Ah, well, not quite …

It took 17.5 hours of play for 7 of the 9 players to be eliminated to get down to heads up play. Action was expected to be slightly more fast paced in comparison to last year since the payout was much, much flatter than the 2008 Main Event with last years jump from 9th to 8th at over $387k while this year it was hardly a 10th of that at around 38k. And as expected, there was quite a bit aggression, namely lots of 3-betting, that happened pre-flop with most of the hands ending before a flop was even seen.

But, that couldn’t last forever. Prior to the first break, there were several all ins coming from the short stack James Akenhead. The first shove of the two before they went on break he had KQ and was dominated against Buchman’s AK. The flop helped neither player while the turn brought a K and the river was a ever-so-lucky Q, allowing Akenhead to stay alive for a bit longer. Akenhead’s second shove was also KQ and was even worse off then before since he was against Robins AA. KQ is a great hand for Akenhead however, since he caught two pair on the flop which held up to double Akenhead up once again.

Sadly though, even though he doubled up several times, Akenhead was the first to bite the dust, busting out with pocket 3’s against Schaffel’s pocket 9’s. Akenhead finished in 9th place which earned him $1.26 million.

Kevin Schaffel was the next victim in the 2009 WSOP ME final table. In a classic case of pocket kings versus pocket aces, it looked surely as Schaffel would double up. However, a K-Q-J flop gave Buchman trip kings and even though Schaffel still had outs to catch up, namely a straight draw, a fourth king on the turn would give Buchman quad kings and would be the final nail in Schaffel’s coffin sending him to the rail in 8th place $1.3 million dollars richer.

After 175 hands being played at the final table, one of the heavy favorites to win the event and probably the best poker player on the planet, Phil Ivey, was the next player to hit the rail. Previously, Ivey had a hard time getting things going and this hand seemed like an exception. Ivey open shoved with AK which obviously dominated Moon’s AQ. Sadly, Moon caught a Q on the flop which held up sending Ivey packing in 7th place earning over $1.4 million for his efforts.

Only 12 hands later Steve Begleiter was eliminated for a 6th place finish when his QQ was out drawn by Moon’s AQ. An ace on the river gave Moon only one of 3 outs needed to chip up yet again sending Steve away with a check for $1.587 million.

Hand 236 was the death of Jeff Shulman, editor of Card Player Magazine which earned him $1.9 million for his efforts. His bust out hand was pocket 7’s against Saout’s A9 where a 9 was a part of the flop. Shulman didn’t improve and was the next to leave being the 5th place finisher.

After Shulman busted out, the last two players (before it was heads up) went rather quickly. Despite his rewarding aggression and the fact that he was even the chip leader towards the latter part of the final table, Buchman had to outdraw Moon who ran hotter than the sun the entire time he was involved in the tournament. Moon’s KJ suited outdrew Buchmans A5 off suit which sent Buchman home in 4th place $2.5 million richer and boosted Moon to over 76 million in chips. Only 5 hands later we saw Cada’s AK outdraw Saout’s 88 to send Saout home. For Saout’s effort he received $3.47 million and now has the opportunity to say he was 3rd in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Lastly, heads up play did not last long on day two of the final table. After exchanging chips back and forth over the course of 87 hands, the money finally went in with Cada holding 99 against Moon’s QJ suited. Moon’s hot streak seemed to taper off shortly before and could not catch a Q or a J to outdraw Cada’s 99. Moon went home in 2nd place and earned a bit over $5 million dollars and Cada became the newest Main Event Champ earning over $8 million for his victory and earning the rights to brag not only about his massive win, but the fact that he is the youngest player to ever win the Main Event beating last years champ, Peter Eastgate, and 20 year old record holder Phil Hellmuth.

And that is it; the 2009 World Series of Poker has now officially ended with many players making more than they could ever imagine while others faced more disappointing defeats. However your WSOP may have ended, there is still something else to look forward to; the start of the 2010 WSOP which should be starting within the next 6 months.

Written by admin · Filed Under Scrawnybob's Ramble