Home / Poker News July 2009 / WSOP Main Event Day 8 – November Nine set
WSOP Main Event Day 8 – November Nine set
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2009-07-18 11:25
It’s official, the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table has been set, and Phil Ivey, the player considered the best in the world by some experts, is among the final 9.
Day 8 of the Big Dance was a much shorter one than anyone would’ve expected. The 27 player field which bellied up to the table at the beginning of the day included Phil Ivey, Leo Margets, the last woman in the tournament and Antonio Esfandiari.
Darvin Moon started out with the chip lead, and by the end of day he managed to increase his advantage, eventually finishing behind a 58,930,000 stack, almost twice as big as that of the nearest competitor, Eric Buchman, who mustered 34,800,000 chips. Steven Begleiter finished the day 3rd in chips, with 29,885,000. Jeff Shulman was 4th with 19,580,000 chips. Joe Cada was 5th, with 13,215,000, followed by Kevin Schaffel in 6th, with 12,390,000 chips.
Phil Ivey’s 9,768,000 chips were only g
ood for 7th place as he was followed closely by Antoine Saout, with 9,500,000.
The final November Nine spot went to James Akenhead who managed to amass 6,800,000 chips.
Warren Zackey drew first blood on day 8, disposing of the last woman left in the field, Leo Margets. Zackey kicked off the confrontation by firing out a preflop raise, which prompted Margets to go all-in on an A,7o in an attempt to intimidate him. Zackey made the call with A,10o though and Margets was in deep trouble. The board bricked out and her final table dreams went up in smoke as she headed to the rail in 27th.
The same fate befell Francois Balmigere and Jesse Haabak shortly. Antonio Esfandiari’s Main Event run came to an end too, in 24th place.
Steven Begleiter was the main culprit in the elimination of the Magician, after his K,10 caught a pair of 10s on a flop of 4,2,10 against Esfandiari’s pocket 5s. Help failed to come for Esfandiari and his hopes of joining Ivey in the November final vanished.
Zackey had picked up some chips when he bounced Leo Margets, but the attrition soon got to him. He got all his chips in with pocket 2s against Ian Tavelli’s Js, Qs. The classic race offered Tavelli the advantage this time, giving him a Q on the flop.
No help came on the turn and the river to bail Zackey out.
Jonathan Tamayo followed Zackey to the rail in 21st. He was in turn followed by George Caragiorgas in 20th.
Andrew Lichtenberger ran his J,J into Darvin Moon’s pocket Ks to bust out in 18th. Ian Tavelli took his chances on a pair of 9s he’d picked up. He got called by Steven Begleiter’s K,K though and the board failed to offer him the miracle he needed to survive.
14 players survived past the dinner break and as soon as the action resumed, the filed thinned further.
Billy Kopp was eliminated by Darvin Moon in 12th place, a move which gave Moon a solid chip lead as the final table bubble loomed on the horizon.
Jamie Robbins busted in 11th, followed by Jordan Smith in 10th who thus became the official final table bubble boy and who took home $896,730 for his efforts.
