Home / Poker News November 2009 / WSOP November Nine preview and predictions
WSOP November Nine preview and predictions
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2009-11-08 10:06
With the November Nine final table confrontation upon us, pundits and poker experts are all busy running various more or less intricate algorithms to attempt to predict the eventual winner. Truth be told, most of these guys have
Full Tilt Poker Pro Phil Ivey as the winner, despite the fact that his stack is far from being the heftiest one at the table. These predictions may be based on the fact that pound for pound, Phil Ivey is probably the best poker player at the final table indeed. The problem with poker is however that the luck element is always there, even more so at an MTT’s final table, where the action often degenerates into a series of coin-flips. Skill or no skill, when it comes to a coin-flip, it won’t matter much whether Ivey is indeed the best player there.
Some of the predictions pointing to Ivey as the eventual winner may be results of some wishful thinking. Poker industry insiders and some of the experts are convinced that an Ivey win would somehow pave the way towards the legalization of online poker in the US. While I don’t exactly share that view, I must admit I secretly hope I’ll be proven wrong once Ivey does indeed secure the title and embarks on crusade to legalize the game. You too have to admit though that this expectation might indeed push some of the pundits to single Ivey out for the win.
Because he’s the current chip leader in the
2009 WSOP, Darwin Moon is another player some pundits see emerging as the eventual winner. In most of the top 10 lists I’ve seen compiled here and there, Moon tends to consistently show up in the top 3, which is pretty good news for him, especially if one considers that Ivey’s high ranking predictions are based on a good dose of hype, without any substantial roots in reality.
Another guy some of the experts see capable of rising straight to the top is Jeff Schulman. Schulman starts off on a nice stack and an attitude which may be just the right one for such an epic confrontation.
Whatever the case will be, one thing is just about certain: we’ll see a long heads-up battle (pundits estimate it to 7.5-15 hours in length) before the title finally finds an owner.
