2009 November Nine Live Blog

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

My view from the heights

After 12 grinding days of poker and nearly 4 months with the 2009 World Series of Poker on “pause” we are now down to the time when a new WSOP Main Event Champion will be crowned. All nine players will shortly entered the Penn & Teller Theater to take their seats at the most coveted final table in the game. Phil Ivey will begin as the most famous and Darvin Moon will have the biggest stack. An ex-Wall Street banker, several young guns and a couple Euros will take their shot at being the last bracelet winner in 2009.

Play is schedule to begin at noon which is just two short hours from now. I will be camped out high above the stage with a bird’s eye view and bringing hourly updates as we whittle down the field. Come back to follow along with your favorite player at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event final table.

Poker from the Rail 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
Poker from the Rail 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
Poker from the Rail 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Seat 2 – James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Seat 4 – Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Seat 5 – Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000

11:30PT – The doors are open

The gates to the Penn & Teller Theater have been opened and the crowds of fans, friends, and spectators have begun pouring into the room to find their seats. The press box is elbow to elbow with outlets from all around the world. The players have completed their pre-game meeting with the WSOP staff including Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. Chip bags are on the table and the dealers are preparing their setups.

The early line on fan noise has Joe Cada well ahead with a crew in yellow Michigan “Cada” t-shirts and mugging for the ESPN cameras. The Darvin Moon crowd is walking around with “heads on sticks”, not exactly sure where that is going. Poker legend Doyle Brunson has found the stage and will be giving the Shuffle Up and Deal command. Photographers are getting their last minute shots before the players are announced, the lovely Lacey Jones is prepping for hosting duties, Lon McCarren and Norm Chad are doing their rehearsals. Fellow Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig is in the house and ready to bring the action from up close.

In late minute player news, the word around town is that Steve Begleiter hired SnG player expert Jonathan Little as his couch for this “Sit n Go”.

13:00PT – Cards in the air

Getting under just a little over an hour later than scheduled, the cards are finally in the air.

Jeffrey Pollack, Lacey Jones, and Jack Effel all took their time at the microphone making announcements and warming up the crowd including the bracelet ceremony for Barry Shulman’s WSOP-E title. Lon McCarren and Norm Chad have have made their ESPN intros, and an honor guard made their appearance for the National Anthem. WSOP Tournament Director Jack Eiffel made the extended player introductions and the biggest ovation was for Phil Ivey followed by Joe Cada and Antoine Saout. The French are outnumbered but making plenty of noise. Jeff “Happy” Shulman received a polite round of applause.

Blinds will be at 120,000/240,000 with 30,000 ante for the next 7 minutes.

14:00PT – Faces in the crowd

Several big guns from Team Full Tilt have been spotted in the crowd to support Phil Ivey. Jen Harman and Marco Traniello are sitting on the stage along with Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham and Perry Friedman. Phil Gordon is hanging around the Orchestra Pit and there has been a Chris Ferguson spotting.

After the first few orbits the crowd has settled down a little bit, only getting rowdy after a series of preflop battles. The French supporters have been as quiet so far as their boy Antoine Saout.

It took awhile before we saw the first flop and still haven’t seen a turn card. Very few flops, non-existent turns, and most pots being taken down with a preflop raise or a three-bet. They seem to be still feeling each other out and the blinds will not be forcing the action for a very long time. Begleiter and Cada appear to be the early aggressors.

Just 15 hands into the action and Phil Ivey found a hand worthy of pushing all-in behind a raise from Jeff Shulman. Joe Cada asked for a count and went in the tank for quite awhile before mucking, Shulman was not far behind. Shulman has spent the early part of the day making very odd, large opening raises pre-flop, perhaps this was the time for Ivey to look him up.

Shortly after the clock switched over the 2pm, Jack Effel announced an explicable 20 minute break after just an hour of action. This seems to indicate a very long day for our players and fans. When they return blinds will be at 150,000/30,000/40,000 ante for another hour.

You can find the rest of the live blog after the jump. A mere 5,000 words to describe 17 hours of action. Thanks for stopping by. Click below to read the rest of the story.

15:00PT – Still slow going

The lobby here in the Penn & Teller Theater has also attracted a crowd besides those in the auditorium. There is a full service bar and other booths around competing for their attention. Tickets and passes for every seat in the house were given out well before the start of the day and we now have a line of people down the hallway waiting for their chance to get in to see the action. Until then they are stuck watching the ESPN “Live” feed on the many TVs. During the improvised break at the top of the hour, Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer came to the front of the stage to sign autographs for the fans.

The pace of play has been very erratic with the late start and early break. Jack Effel already announced another short 10-minute break in 40 minutes at the end of this level to color up the chips and then possibly another break after an hour. Friends of the players were outside feeling anxious as there has yet to be a terrible amount of action from anyone.

The first official turn and river card was dealt at 14:04PT for those making random prop bets with Eric Buchman taking the pot from Jeff Shulman. James Akenhead came back from the break and put all his chips in the middle early but did not find a caller. His railbird from the UK are making a fine showing with their creative songs from the crowd. The French supporters still relatively quite.

We are still waiting for that first monster pot of the final table.

Updated chip counts at the last break:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 61,535,000
Seat 2 – James Akenhead – 3,445,000
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 10,035,000
Seat 4 – Kevin Schaffel – 10,890,000
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 31,175,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 39,820,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 11,835,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 10,620,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 15,510,000

15:30PT – We finally see some huge pots

It didn’t take us very long to go from very quiet to shouts and songs throughout the arena. In short time we found ourselves with monster pots with Akenhead tripling up and Saout doubling up.

James Akenhead pushed all in a few times since coming back from break but found no action until he shoved UTG for just over 4,000,000. Steven Begleiter tanked and asked for a chip count before flat calling. Eric Buchman sitting just behind Begleiter than re-raises to 12,000,000 and Begleiter laid it down. Akenhead was way behind in the with his KQ up against the AK of Eric Buchman. No help on the flop, King on the turn, leaving just the 3 queens in the deck to save Akenhead’s day and triple up. The UK contingent erupted when one of those queens hit the river. That took his up to 13,000,000 and Buchman down to 35,000,000.

Almost immediately afterwards it seems Antoine Saout and Darvin Moon wanted to get into the big pot action with Moon needing runner-runner to avoid doubling up the Frenchman in a 20,000,000 pot. Moon moved all in on the flop with ace-high and Saout holding two pair. Moon needed running cards for the miracle which never appeared.

This latest action has definitely boosted the energy in the room back to pre-game levels with both the UK and French supporters in full voice. Players are preparing for a quick 10-minute color up break. When they return blinds will be at 200,000/400,000/50,000 ante.

Updated chip counts:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 49,375,000
Seat 2 – James Akenhead – 12,225,000
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 10,800,000
Seat 4 – Kevin Schaffel – 7,375,000
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 24,375,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 34,275,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 16,500,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 21,850,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 18,025,000

16:30PT – James Akenhead eliminted in 9th place

After nearly 4 hours of play we have a first casualty.

The shortstacks continued to stay alive, this time with Kevin Schaffel doubling at the expense of James Akenhead. After the preflop action they both found themselves shipping in on the Jack-high flop. This hand was destined to see all the chips in the middle either way with Schaffel holding AA against the KK of Akenhead. No help on the turn and a scary looking paint card pealed off on the river but was a harmless Jack.

Kevin Schaffel was up to 15,000,000 and James Akenhead went back down to the shortstack with just over 5,000,000 in chips. Only a few hands later Aken head found himself all-in once again against Schaffel and his 33 failed to improve against the 99.

James Akenhead already took home $1,263,602 for his final table appearance and will surely be disappointed with the outcome. He began the day as the shortstack but was able to triple up into contention before the big cooler.

Play continues.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 56,025,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 11,650,000
Seat 4 – Kevin Schaffel – 19,450,000
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 24,400,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 33,425,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 8,825,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 23,325,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 18,000,000

17:30PT – Kevin Schaffel eliminated in 8th

The hits keep on coming. While we’d gone a few all-ins without a proper suckout, Eric Bucman lays a nasty beat on Kevin Schaffel.

After taking Akenhead’s entire stack, Schaffel got all his chips in the middle versus Eric Buchman with a dominating hand. He once again was holding AA against an opponent’s KK but was crushed with the King-high flop. To add more to the misery and ending Schaffel’s day was the case King on the turn for quads. Schaffel’s day has been all over map when he started with 6th place stack, down to the bottom, back to the middle with the Akenhead hands and finally out with hand he will not forget.

Eric Buchman is just a few million chips short of chip leader Darvin Moon. Kevin Schaffel takes home $1,300,231 for his 8th place finish.

In railbird news, there are rumors going around and we’ve seen a little of the action but fans have been escorted from the Penn & Teller Theater after a few drunken disagreements. Reportedly one of the fights involved spectators who were both here backing Joe Cada. You have to love those crazy kids from Michigan.

Play continues 7 handed.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 55,075,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 9,600,000
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 26,800,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 52,725,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 8,775,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 24,525,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 14,325,000

18:00PT – Waiting to see history and a bizarre play

2009 November Nine Live Blog When first walking into the theater this afternoon we saw the huge line of fans waiting at the entrance. What we didn’t see at that time was the huge line stretching from just outside the entrance nearly half-way down to the Amazon Room. Guards were giving the potential spectators an estimate of a four hour wait from that point.

Bizarre play just near the top of the hour before the players went on a short break. This hand will be one of those good ones to witness on ESPN this Tuesday.

Darvin Moon and Steven Begleiter found themselves seeing a flop after action built an $8,000,000 pot. Begleiter bet out over $5,000,000 on the all-low board flop and Moon check raised to $15,000,000. After considering his options Begleiter moved all-in over the top putting Moon in the tank. With just $6,000,000 more to call in the pot that was nearly $40,000,000, Darvin Moon laid down his hand. The Begleiter crowd exploded, the media area was shocked, the pros seem to be appalled. Was Moon still shell shocked from his horrible move against Saout earlier in the match?

Begleiter moves up to second place, Darvin Moon down to third, and Eric Buchman is your new chip leader.

Current, semi-accurate chip counts:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 42,075,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 8,550,000
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 45,150,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 51,725,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 10,175,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 23,425,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 15,625,000

19:00ET – Dinner Break

The WSOP staff told us that the dinner break would be at 7pm no matter the position of the tournament and that’s exactly what we are doing now. Very few dramatic hands over the last hour, since the “Darvin Moon fold”.

Phil Ivey took decent sized pots from Jeff Shulman and Steven Begleiter. Shulman was facing a preflop re-raise allin from Ivey and went deep in the tank. Up in the press box we all pretty much believed that Shulman was just looking for a reason to fold. After a long time making up his mind Shulman laid down the hand. Near the dinner break Begleiter raised UTG and Ivey quickly called from the big blind then checked called the scary looking KQJ two diamond flop. Check/check on the Jack turn, Ivey firing out a bet on the brick river that screamed “taking you to value town”. Begleiter tanked like Shulman before and found what he needed to make the fold.

7 players take off for their dinner break and will return in 90 minutes. We are still 5 eliminations away from calling it a day.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 41,225,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 16,300,000
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 37,550,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 55,125,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 11,100,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 27,725,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 8,525,000

21:30PT – Down to business

The 7 remaining players are returning from their dinner break and it’s time to get down to business. There is still plenty of work to get done before we determine who will play heads up for the title on Monday evening. Darvin Moon will be looking to rebound, Phil Ivey will try to continue his climb up the leaderboard. The railbirds for each player are already making plenty of noise and the French are singing their songs.

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack introduced some Poker Hall of Famers to the crowd before play commenced including this year’s nominee Mike Sexton including Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier and Phil Hellmuth. Sexton gave a few words and then kicked everything off with the Shuffle and Deal command.

Cards and chips are in the air, I predict quite a few spectator dismissals over the next few levels.

22:30PT – The Joe Cada Roller Coaster

Joe Cada came back from dinner with a workable stack, lost most of it, climbed back up with a double up and then got healthy(ish).

Cada had the second shortest stack at the restart and raised it up preflop to have the shortest stack Jeff Shulman push all in over the top. Cada tanked for awhile before calling with AJ, far behind the AK of Jeff Shulman. Cada had some outs on the turn when he was opened but lost most of his stack. That left Cada with just 4 big blinds which went in immediately in the next hand against in a battle of blinds with Eric Buchman. Cada was ahead with J4 versus 54 and stayed head til the river for the double up.

A few later he re-raised all in over top of a Phil Ivey raise and was called down. It was just $4,300,000 more for the call and they were racing with Ivey’s A8 against the baby 4’s of Cada. No sweats on the board and now Phil Ivey is our shortstack and up to $12,500,000.

The roller coaster continues and we are still looking at 7 players with a chance for the title.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 38,200,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 10,300,000
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 46,350,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 46,100,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 12,500,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 26,800,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 15,000,000

23:30PM – Chips shuffling around the table

Steven Begleiter was our most recent player to take a big hit and ship his chips across the table. After calling the re-raise from Antoine Saout in the blinds, the flop came out 9 8 3 with two hearts. Saout opted to check instead of continuation bet but check-raised all-in after Begleiter bet out. After a long time in the tank he called with second pair holding 87c and was in a virtual coin flip with Saout holding AKh for two overs and the nut flush draw. Very little sweating as Begleiter was drawing dead after a heart in the turn.

That put Begleiter down under 20,000,000 in chips and Saout is out new chip leaders. The French contigent is very happy.

It has not been nearly 7 hours since we lost our 8th place player. The structure is setup to allow the players to determine the outcome with still very little pressure from the blinds. Ivey and Begleiter are our short stacks with Saout and Buchman leading the way. We have also seen the crowd outside the Penn & Teller Theater finally down to reasonable levels. They are no longer stacked up halfway to the Amazon Room although there are still close to 100 in the entrance area itself, as well as many spectators gathered around the lobby bar.

I am steadly losing my finish time prop bets as my first was under 2am. That is dead and my 4am rebuy is looking in trouble also.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 376,725,000
Seat 2
Seat 3 – Phil Ivey – 6,600,000
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 19,750,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 47,750,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 16,650,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 52,550,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 16,200,000

00:30PT – The best doesn’t always win, Phil Ivey eliminated in 7th place

The dream of watching Phil Ivey win his first World Series of Poker has come to an end. After finding himself on the shortstack coming back from the break he pushed all-in UTG for just over 6,000,000. It folded around to former chip leader Darvin Moon who rightly snap called with AQ. Ivey was far ahead with AK.

There was a short delay while Ivey chomped on his apple most of the crowd began chanting “Ivey! Ivey! Ivey!”. Eventually Jack Effel called for the flop as I turned to another member of the media and said “I don’t have a good feeling about this”. Sure enough the dealer peeled a queen right off on the flop and the room went crazy. Just like that the favorite player in the tournament has been eliminated making it just a little easier for the remaining 6 to make their way to the championship.

The Penn & Teller Theater now has far fewer seats occupied as the Phil Ivey fans take their leave. Somewhere Norm Chad is crying just a little inside.

He will collect $1,404,014 for his efforts but that will mean very little to the legend.

6 remain and here are the approximate chip stacks:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 40,025,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5 – Steve Begleiter – 16,825,000
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 54,975,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 17,875,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 49,250,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 17,200,000

01:00PT – Darvin Moon and AQ = nuts, Steven Begleiter eliminated in 6th place

Not 20 minutes after Darvin Moon eliminated Phil Ivey with a bad beat via the all powerful AQ, he turned around and did it once again to Steven Begleiter.

Begleiter opened the action UTG for a standard raise and it folded around to Moon in the big blind who shipped it in and was snap called by Begleiter. The flop was pure innocence as well as the turn. I decided to look away from the action and wait for the crowd to tell me what happened. Without ever a doubt the Ace dropped on the turn to eliminate our ex-Wall Street banker from the biggest game in poker.

Steven Begleiter will take home $1,587,160 for his 6th. He said he’ll enjoy a few glasses of wine then see how he feels in the morning after that beat. I also said it would be weird waking up and not preparing for the final table.

Jack Effel has now brought the WSOP cash table-side and play is about restart. We are now 12 hours into the final table action and still sitting with 5 players.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 63,925,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 53,250,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 10,350,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 51,725,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 15,525,000

01:30PT – Suckout train keeps on rolling

It’s been a consistent run of suckout hands since the clock clicked over the new day. “Happy” Jeff Shulman was the latest victim when he found himself in the unforunate position of leading pre-flop when he called the all-in of Joe Cada. He could not feel comfortable when he saw his JJ was up against 33, no lead is safe until your opponent is drawing dead.

A 3-ball hits the flop to double up Cada and crush the stack of Shulman.

Darvin Moon then attempted to pull another rabbit out of his Saints hat. He opened on the button only to see Joe Cada re-raise from the big blind. Things went fast and furious as Moon insta-shoves and Cada calls even quicker. He immediately ran over to his crew and we knew he had Aces before they were tabled. Moon holding the monster K9 off. Cada had a few sweats when Moon flopped a 9 but for once the big hand help up.

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 39,375,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 49,350,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 44,850,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 48,025,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 13,175,000

02:30PT – A pause in the action

Not the good kind of pause, but the sort which grinds the play down to a series of open, 3-bets, and folds with the minimum amount of chips shifting from one stack to the other. Some of players now appear to be really feeling the strain of their 14th hour in the Penn & Teller Theater. As this table draws closer to the sunrise I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few player get the old head bobs.

Jeff Shulman continues to nurse his short stack, Moon is the second smallest but the other three are huddling around the same amount of chips. There truly is no end in sight for this table and we’ve already witnessed fans or family in the seating area grabbing some much needed sleep. The quote of the hour from another member of the media “Is there another dinner break scheduled?”

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 31,200,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 47,400,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 59,350,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 53,125,000
Seat 9 – Jeff Shulman – 10,675,000

03:10PT – Time runs out, Shulman eliminated in 5th place

“Happy” Jeff Shulman spent the late hours of Saturday and early mornings of Sunday nursing a small stack, catching a double and abandoned pots when necessary. In the end he was unable to duplicate the feat of his father winning the WSOP-E Main Event.

Play resumed after a 20 minute break and Shulman was sitting With just over 5,000,000 chips. He was facing a raise in the big blind from Antoine Saout in the small blind but it was just a few hundred thousand more for the call and they were racing. Saout was holding A9o against 77’s. Saout hit a nine on the flop but Shulman had extra outs with a gutshot draw. Nothing got there on the turn or river and Shulman is our 5th place finisher.

Shulman was a very polarizing character as the November Nine was formed but in the end played a very solid game and would have been a worthy champion. He takes home $1,953,452 for his finish.

Your final 4 chip counts:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 31,575,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 55,850,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 45,450,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 62,925,000
Seat 9

04:15PT – The table the time forgot

I’d love to report in flowing prose how the last hour we have seen the remaing four players put on a clinic of spectacular poker and are all now worthy of the Hall of Fame. That would be overstating it a little.

Darvin Moon seems to be getting a little chippy, making huge overshoves before or after the flop. The rest of the players are going through the test of endurance with just a few chips being passed around from one stack to the other. All 4 remaining chipstacks are relatively equal and the blinds are not yet forcing the action, Darvin Moon has taken a small chip lead.

Sunrise is just a few hours.

Chip count update, blinds are at 500,000/1,000,000/150,000 ante:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 53,875,000
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6 – Eric Buchman – 43,450,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 45,625,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 52,850,000
Seat 9

04:45PT – Biggest pot of the Main Event, Buchman eliminated in 4th

We were beginning to think we would see the sun come up across the desert before any of these players would play a significant pot. That thought was proven unfounded just 30 minutes after my previous update. Eric Buchman and Antoine Saout decided to get their chips in the middle for the biggest pot of the tournament.

After a series of raising, Buchman shoved all-in causing Saout to contemplate his action for so long the staff began to nod off. Saout eventually called with AK and was way ahead of Buchman’s AQ. Saout flopped a king but Buchman was now looking at a gutter ball draw. The king on the turn made no difference and the river blank saw the 89,000,000 pot pushed in the Frenchman’s direction with Buchman down under 10,000,000 in chips.

Buchman briefly found a way to double his stack over 20,000,000 by flopping a king with KT versus Moon’s A7. Just a few hands later these two players found themselves at it again, this time Moon coming in from his preferred position of behind in the hand. It was his KJ versus A5 of Buchman. A king on the turn and Buchman is our 4th place finisher.

We are just one small bustout from ending the day.

Chip count update:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 75,925,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 39,225,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 80,650,000

05:45PT – Crazy game of poker

This is a sick sick game we play, watch, study, and torture ourselves. After Eric Buchman was eliminated in 4th place there was talk around the press box about how long it would take to eliminate the 3rd and final player of the day. We came very close to just that on the very next hand.

After a short break, the players returned and Joe Cada immediately shipped his 39 big blinds in the middle with 22 with Antoine Saout immediately calling with Queens. A crazy way to start 3-handed play by overshoving with ducks but he was paid off with a 2 right there on the flop. Cada still enormous cheering section erupted behind him and he looked stunned. Saout looked equally stunned and has gone from the chip leader to the small stack. Still not short, they should be reminded.

Chip count update:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 75,775,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 78,600,000
Seat 8 – Antoine Saout – 41,425,000

05:45PT – Crazy game of poker, Saout eliminated in 3rd

But before you know it, the two of them were right back at it with all the chips back in the middle. This time it would be a race instead of one player needing a miracle. It took until the river but Cada’s fanbase can celebrate for a few days as their boy will now play heads up against Darvin Moon for the championship with a nice chip lead.

Antoine Saout will have to comfort himself with the $3,479,670 for his 3rd place finish.

Chip count update:

Seat 1 – Darvin Moon – 58,875,000
Seat 7 – Joe Cada – 136,925,000

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