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#836 – 2009 WSOP #94 – Seen & Heard #29 – Ivey Makes the November Nine
BOOM! Like that, it’s over until November. Poor Jordan Smith. The guy played great, built a stack after starting the day short, and twice in the abbreviated ten-handed session picked up pocket aces. First time, he raised, got no action, and showed them. Second time, he reraised with them, forced out the original raiser, and got Darvin Moon’s second flat-call of the hand. After a flop of 8-4-2, Smith check-raised all-in with his A-A, only to see Moon’s 8-8.
Maybe these guys are playing too high above the rim for me to see, but Moon wasn’t getting the right odds to hit a set against Smith’s 2.6 million reraise. Maybe he was enticed by all the dead chips in the pot and thinking he could take Smith’s temperature after the flop and outplay him in position … but he wasn’t getting the right odds to outflop Jordan Smith. Smith just wasn’t that deep.
Phil Ivey makes the November Nine just by watching the action. He’ll be one of the shorter stacks come November, unless he knows some way to chip up between now and then. Eric Buchman and Stave Begleiter are among the chip leaders and both were wearing the Full Tilt colors today. James Akenhead, who ended the day on a short stack, is also a Full Tilt pro.
I’ll pass along more info on the November Nine, Full Tilt’s players at the final table, and the stacks and seat positions. I’ll also – likely after going home tomorrow and taking a couple days off – post a half-dozen to a dozen blogs about the Series that are in process, including some profiles, a discussion about the good and bad of the Series with Jeffrey Pollack, and what it was like watching Jeffrey Lisandro run over the final table in Razz and make history.
September 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
i hope phil ivey manages 2 win bracelet been a while since a big time pro won main event now its like playing powerball with so many entrys into it just think u have 2 be extremely lucky 2 even make past 1st day more luck then skill involved in main event now but good luck phil
October 13th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Why cant you at least have some periods in your sentences?
Idiot from northern Europe.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
good luck ivey.. i need a share of yur winning.. full tilt pick me to win a piece of his winnings please, im playing to donate to the cancer fund. i had cancer when i was younger now i want to give back
October 27th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
To say that there is more luck than skill involved in the tournament with the best structure in the world is just flat out wrong IMO. With 120-minute blind levels and a starting stack of 30k you just have so much room to outplay all the amateurs and make good plays. I definetely think it’s A LOT more skill involved than luck.
The thing that makes people say it’s so much luck involved is that the starting field is so big every year. With over 6,000 players you probably have to win a couple of coinflips to get to the final table, and you can’t just win the main event on skill ALONE. But if you are an extremely skilled player, like for example Phil Ivey, you can manage to give yourself a much bigger shot at winning it that anyone else. That’s way Phil has made it deep numerous times in this event, finishing in 10th in -03 and in 20th in -05 with starting fields of 800 something in -03 and over 5,600 in -05.
Poker by it’s nature is a game where luck is a big factor but where skill dominates. I just think it sends the wrong signals to be talking about luck being a bigger factor than skill in the one tournament in the world where there actually is a lot of room for play and in which skill is going to have such a bigger impact on the outcome than luck. I think people need to get this straight. Of course you can play perfect poker and still get knocked out because you’re unlucky. But the last 100 guys out of the 6,000 player field isn’t going to be there by luck alone. Most of them have probably played the poker of their life – pro or amateur. And even though it’s extremely tough to win a tournament with 6,000 players, the pros are going to get deeper than the amateurs on average. Of course there are always on or a couple of amateurs at the final table, but think about how many amateurs that play in this tournament. There are thousands and one or two of them is bound to make a deep run. Enough said.
October 31st, 2009 at 4:25 am
WELL WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE… ITS ALL IN FUN AT THE END OF THE DAY!
November 6th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Great job Phil hoping you win it all been watching your play along time,and having fun doing it. Best of skill to you’
John cHICAGO AREA