2009 November Nine Live Blog – Heads up for the title

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

2009 World Series of Poker Bracelets
Photo credit: Pokerati.com

After a 40 hour pause of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event final table, the two remaining players will take their seats to play Heads Up for the most coveted championship in the game. The amateur Darvin Moon will attempt to continue his incredible run through the Main Event field and professional Joe Cada will be trying to break the short record of Peter Eastgate as the youngest Main Event champion. Both showed an incredible ability to come from behind when their tournament life was on the line so we are looking at a battle between two players looking to stay lucky.

The stacks of money are laid out across the felt while the WSOP staff prepares the stage and the hallways outside are full of returning friends, family, and spectators. The only remaining tasks are to open the doors and the player to unbag their chips. Cada enjoys more than a 2-to-1 chiplead and will most likely look to outplay his opponent, Moon on the other line very may well gamble it up early to reduce the advantage.

I will be back once the cards in the air to bring you updates from the Sky Box. Here you can find the 2009 November Nine Live Blog that got us to this point.

22:00PT – Late start

Play was intended to begin at 10pm but the players are just now unbagging their chips. The crowds are streaming into the auditorium, already getting loud and rowdy. Unsure but I assume they are Joe Cada supporters if Saturday/Sunday taught us anything. The VIP seating area around the stage is full of people milling around in anticipation of our start. There is definitely a ton of excitement in the air whether you are pulling for either player or just a fan of poker.

In unrelated news, Sasquatch has been spotted rolling through the lobby and may be leaning up against the bar.

Things should be underway shortly.

Darvin Moon – 58,850,000
Joe Cada – 135,950,000

22:30PT – Card in the air

Both WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and Tournament Director Jack Effel warmed things up by welcoming the crowd and pumping up the supporters. Amusing that Effel’s voice seems to go up an octave with each new sentence, sounds a bit like Alvin and the Chipmunks by the time he takes a breath. Both players were introduced to loud applause with a Darvin Moon fan even sporting a toy chainsaw.

The theater is completely packed with an even bigger line down the hallway. The line stretches from down to the rotunda near the Amazon Room and halfway back up. An incredible turnout and it should make for a very energetic match. They surprised everyone in the room when metal legend Vince Neil of Motley Crue was given the honor of commanding “shuffle up and deal”.

We’re getting different predictions for the number of hands we will have during heads up play with the highest being 60 and the lowest (by yours truly) of just 10. They restart play with blinds at 500,000/1,000,000/150,000 ante.

23:00PT – Everything back even

It didn’t take very long for Darvin Moon to erase the sizable lead of Cada. On the very first hand of heads up play they built a huge pot with pre-flop and post-flop raises. In the end Moon drug the pot worth over 40,000,000 with QQ versus 99. The two kings and ace on board probably saved some chips for Cada as they both checked the river.

At this time Moon has a very small chip lead and my 10-hand prediction is down the drain, though neither has seemed very shy about getting large numbers of chips in the middle. As Mike Matusow said about Cada “this kid has no idea what small ball is“.

Darvin Moon – 101,850,000
Joe Cada – 92,950,000

00:00PT – Back and forth

As the clock rolls over to the new day here in Las Vegas, play has settled down a bit as the stacks evened out. Cada retook the lead from Moon after flopping the nut flush but might have played it a little too slow. He probably could have taken more chips as Moon easily called the value bet, a bigger bet probably also gets called. They are still pushing chips back and forth easily although they have been generally much larger pots than we anticipated. As Matusow continues to says they are either limping or playing 10,000,000 pots.

Just before the end of the hour Moon made another push and we are a virtual dead heat, just 500,000 difference with 97,000,000 for both players. That’s less than one small blind.

The hallways continue to be crowded with spectators unable to enter the auditorium. The Rio has been kind enough to have monitors spread throughout the area which is showing the live feed to those unable to make their way in. There is also a major line to the lobby bar with everyone it seems loading up on the adult beverages. The WSOP swag shop is selling out of all their gear and the coffee shop has an endless line.

The players are on the first 20 minute break.

00:30PT – More swings

The stacks were pretty even going into the break but Darvin Moon took the initiative when they returned. Because there were few showdowns we’ll have to wait until the ESPN broadcast to see what was moving Moon along but he has built up a chip lead over his young opponent. After several big pre-flop raises Moon is sitting on a nearly 3-1 chip lead.

Darvin Moon – 145,200,000
Joe Cada – 49,6000

01:00PT – Big punches, no knockouts

We saw our first all-in moment with nothing to show of it than a few chips shipped over to Cada. Moon re-raised pre-flop to 8,000,000 only to have Cada 3-bet allin for another 50,000,000. Moon took his time to make a decision, going so far as standing up which had some of believing we’d see a call and possibly a new champion. He ended folding and getting the chips back a few hands later. Still no sign of either player slowing down as we’re continue to have some massive pots.

With the big swing of chips towards the Darvin Moon side of the table, the rowdy fans of Joe Cada have spent some time sitting on their hands. Earlier in the event 3 guys and a girl took off their shirts, each with C-A-D-A painted on their bodies. That lasted just long enough to get the attention of Jeffrey Pollack and security took care of the fun loving fans. For all the loud fans on either side, it’s get spooky quiet among the 1,500 in the auditorium when a big hand is in progress.

Darvin Moon – 136,050,000
Joe Cada – 58,750,000

01:25PT – New World Series of Poker Champion crowned

It didn’t take long for two huge hands to develop and bring us the 2009 World Series of Poker Champion. Just 25 short minutes ago Darvin Moon enjoyed a significant chip lead over Joe Cada but that changed quickly.

Joe Cada doubled up on a hand when all the chips went in the middle on the turn. Darvin Moon re-raised Cada allin and made him think long and hard about putting his tournament on the line. Cada eventually called with his paired 9 versus the open ended straight draw for Moon. A meaningless 3 hit the river and the chip lead swung back in favor of the young pro. Just 8 hands later and both players once again had all the chips in the middle, this time pre-flop.

The Cada side of the stage erupted when he tabled pocket 9′s and he was racing against the QJd of Moon. There were complete bricks on the entire board and Joe Cada is now the 2009 World Series of Poker champion, replacing Peter Eastgate as the youngest Main Event winner.

It was a well fought match by both players and the entire final table should make for some very interesting TV when it is broadcast on ESPN tomorrow evening.

Signing off from the Sky Box at the Penn & Teller Theater. I will be back tomorrow with my thoughts and review of the broadcast.

1st – Joe Cada – $8,547,042
2nd – Darvin Moon – $5,182,928
3rd – Antoine Saout – $3,479,670
4th – Eric Buchman – $2,502,890
5th – Jeff Shulman – $1,953,452
6th – Steven Begleiter – $1,587,160
7th – Phil Ivey – $1,404,014
8th – Kevin Schaffel – $1,300,231
9th – James Akenhead – $1,263,602