Posts Tagged ‘Phil Ivey’
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.
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, November Nine, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker – November Nine On The Horizon
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
2009 World Series of Poker Main Event “November Nine”
The big weekend is finally here. All the players are in town, ESPN is putting the final touches on the stage at the Penn & Teller Theater, spectators will soon begin queueing up to get the best seats in the house, people are starting to jockey the big wigs for prime access. The 2009 November Nine players will take their places tomorrow around noon and we will have a new World Series of Poker Champion by Tuesday morning.
It didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things as soon as my feet were on the ground. The cab drivers, bartenders, and dealers all have an opinion on who they think will win. Most seem to want Phil Ivey to win it all, many opinions about what he needs to do to get it done. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has already met with chip leader Darvin Moon and he is reportedly head-to-toe in New Orleans Saints gear. The exact same Darvin everyone saw on TV. Media credential request were from all over the globe and seems to be even more mainstream media showing an interest in the game.
I will be back on this space Saturday afternoon and bring hourly updates as the game proceeds down to the remaining two players. Those two will return Tuesday evening at 10pm PT to crown the champion. I will be tracking the three Full Tilt sponsored players, Phil Ivey, James Akenhead, and Steve Begleiter, as well as everything that happens until we have a victor.
Listed below you can find our 2009 November Nine Handicapping posts:
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
In Phil Ivey news, ESPN’s E:60 program ran a special on the most famous November Nine players to go along with the Insider article I wrote about earlier. After the jump you can find the clip from the episode.
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, James Akenhead, Phil Ivey, Steven Begleiter, WSOP
ESPN 2009 WSOP Main Event Broadcast Day 8
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
This week I decided to wait until after ESPN aired their coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event before posting anything. the previous 90 episodes were full of nothing but big bustout hands, suckouts, or inane rants by players looking for their half second of TV exposure. There wasn’t a lot of action they could really cover outside of the two feature tables and the players were doing them no favors by busting out at an incredible rate. At the end of each day, which always ended earlier than anticipated, someone would say “tomorrow, that’s when the stacks and blinds will catch up”. During most tournaments this indicates that play will pick up pace as the blinds begin to force action on the shortstack, the WSOP Main Event was the opposite.
It was nothing to see a player shove 50 big blinds in the middle preflop with any Ace Face. You have a slim draw with an overcard? Ship it in and walk away. Holding a baby pair? It’s the nuts. We saw it over and over again. The last few episodes you can see some of that action but to witness in person was a sight to behold. Still waiting for the best hand of the tournament, it’s already queued up for next Tuesday’s broadcast.
We walked into the Amazon Room on Day 8 fully expecting a very long day/night/morning. Predictions were floating around amongst the media members that we’d be looking at a 2am…4am…sunrise finish with such huge chipstacks in relation to the blinds. A third of these players were going be all over the poker press from July til November, surely that would finally slow the action to a respectable pace of play. As an anonymous member of the media stated that day, “these players are making Jack Eiffel look like a genius”.
It took less than 10 hours of play to lose 18 players.
ESPN dedicated this week to the first 9 knockouts, next Tuesday will bring the field from 18 players to the November Nine. You can click below if you’d like to catch up on our series handicapping each of the final 9 players. While it is being broadcast I will be on a plane west to see which one takes home the bracelet.
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3
My favorite Main Event picture, the Amazon Room on Day 8
An oasis of light and poker
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
Phil Ivey in ESPN the Magazine
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Phil Ivey will grace the cover of ESPN the Magazine on November 2nd
Photo credits: ESPN
Our friends over at WickedChopsPoker.com broke this earlier today, we knew it was coming eventually and now it’s available to everyone. Even though it looks like the mainstream media is far behind in picking up stories, ESPN will be featuring Full Tilt Poker’s Phil Ivey on the November 2nd cover of ESPN the Magazine now that the November Nine is just a couple weeks away. Chad Millman was the lucky ESPN writer who found himself bouncing around the globe in Ivey’s private Gulfstream, to Foxwoods then Montreal then Amsterdam then Austria. Just another week in the life of the best poker player on the planet.
During this jaunt he was able to see a side of Ivey that most only hear about in rumors or stories or those internet fables posted over every forum on the internet. Gambling at nose-bleed levels most can only dream about, or have nightmares. He is the classic whale when entering casinos and is treated as such. Custom-made craps tables, private jets, going anywhere on a whim, it’s all come to him from this unique gift that has some players calling him the best ever.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but I like to gamble,” Ivey says. “It’s just in me. I try to manage what I do playing craps or blackjack. At the end of the year, I don’t want the amount I gamble there to be bigger than what I win playing poker.”
But that’s just the world-traveling, gambling side of Ivey, few ever have the opportunity to see it. The article does bring up some points about his poker game. He’s always aware of what’s going on around him, picking up pieces of information that casual person would never think about in life or at the poker table.
Ivey sees tics and tells the rest of us don’t. This is one of his gifts. When he sits at the table unsmiling, headphones over his ears, he’s like a cyborg computing the vulnerabilities of his opponents. While some poker pros calculate the odds of hands, Ivey doesn’t classify himself as a numbers guy. “At the level I play, it becomes more psychological than mathematical,” he says. “You really have to get in your opponents’ heads and figure out what they’re trying to do to you in pots and what they’re saying and why, what is the meaning behind it all.”
“Everyone dreams of winning the Main Event; anyone who plays poker and tells you differently is lying,” says Ivey. “It would by farbe my biggest accomplishment in poker.”
The article is a great look inside the private world of the most dangerous November Nine member, the player who has nothing to prove other than winning his first World Series of Poker Main Event. It’s definitely worth a read when the magazine comes out, if you have an ESPN Insider account you can find it online right now by clicking here.
Also out this week, the fine group over at PokerRoad.com have a video out now where Barry Greenstein goes in search of Phil Ivey in his self-imposed exile. It’s a fantastic video and yet another look behind the curtain of his life. He’s sitting around his house in Cabo chatting and playing a little online poker. By far my favorite line is
“…we lift weights for half hour then we do yoga, for an hour, then we go golfing. That’s how I prepare for the Main Event. I’m not getting no poker coaches or any of that s#$t.”
It’s definitely worth the time to check out their video. The video is embedded after the jump below.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, ESPN, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
2009 World Series of Poker Bracelets
Photo credit: Pokerati.com
There are just over two weeks remaining before the poker world once again focuses it’s attention upon the Rio Hotel and Casino where the 2009 November Nine will gather around a table and play for the world championship. The players are preparing themselves in different ways. Some with coaches, others trying to stay as lowkey and relaxed as possible, still others are practicing non-stop. Or if you are Phil Ivey you continue to pound away at the dead money sitting around the Bellagio poker room.
Today brings our third and final installment of the November Nine preview. I am joined by two bloggers to help handicap the 9 players at this year’s Main Event final table and we end it with the three smallest chip stacks. Phil Ivey is by far the biggest name but starts with just 9,765,000 in chips. “Those-in-the-know” have set his official odds more along the lines of the bigger stacks around the table, a credit to the experience and talent he’ll bring along.
This post also highlights the two non-US born players in Antoine Saout and James Akenhead. Saout is the unknown Frenchman while Akenhead is regular figure around the UK tournament scene with his poker playing friends. Both have plenty of work ahead of them if they wish to make a big run for the title.
Our two guest bloggers, “Spaceman” the consummate professional writer and “Riggstad” the half-breed poker player/gambler, give you their opinions below. Once again odds and lines are strictly for informational and educational purposes, any loses due to our information is on your head. If you use this information to win, we will accept any credit/reward.
Don’t forget to check out the ESPN broadcast over the next two weeks as the field goes from seven tables to just one. Day 7 will be shown on October 20th at 20:00ET and Day 8 on October 27th at the same time.
2009 November Nine chip counts:
Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman = 19,580,000
Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
James Akenhead – 6,800,000
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3 after the jump:
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Antoine Saout, Bloggers on the Rail, Guest Posts, James Akenhead, Jason "Spaceman" Kirk, Phil Ivey, Riggstad, WSOP
Piece of Ivey
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s the worst kept secret in poker. Not that it’s really a secret but there are some who like to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN without knowing how it’s going to end or who’s making the November Nine. That audience is pretty small at this point and those who follow already know that poker monster Phil Ivey is a member of this year’s November Nine and will be battling it out for the WSOP Main Event title in under a month.
Now Full Tilt is offering a chance to own a piece of Ivey’s action. He is already guaranteed to win over $1,200,000 for his progress so far with the big prize waiting for this year’s Champion. $8,500,000 and a shiny new piece of jewelry. Now you have a chance to make money along with Ivey as he tries for his first Main Event title.
The new promotion Piece of Ivey gives you three different ways to earn big money for doing nothing extraordinary. Just continue playing in your normal cash ring game, SnG or multi-table tournament to earn tickets. These tickets will go into the virtual hat and on November 6th Full Tilt will draw names to participate in two huge tournaments for a big chunk of free money. 9 players will be drawn to play in the “5% of Ivey” Sit N Go where the prizepool with by 5% of what Ivey earns with first place being 3% of his money. If Ivey busts out in 9th place, that would be a freeroll SnG with $60,000 in the prizepool and $36,000 for winning. Not a small boost most bankrolls. Another drawing will see 30,000 name drawn into a “1% of Ivey” $50,000 freeroll where the winner will receive 1% of Ivey’s earnings on top of the regular payout. That is a lot of free money for doing nothing outside your normal grinding.
If that wasn’t enough, Full Tilt is also giving away free money in a Daily Cash Draw. No tournament or freeroll to win, just get your tickets in the drawing and wait for the email saying money was added to your account. There will be a dialy drawing between October 8th and November 4th where 625 players will see between $5 and $100 added to their bankroll. On November 5th, Full Tilt will be giving away over $7,000 to more than 800 players.
The opportunity is there for players to pad their bankroll with very little effort and just another reason to cheer Phil Ivey on as he attempts to win his 3rd bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker.
Details of the Piece of Ivey promotion can be found here or after the jump:
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker ESPN Broadcast
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Things are starting to get interesting on the ESPN broadcast of the 2009 World Series of Poker now. The field has been reduced considerably by this point and you’ll begin to see the leaders emerge as well as some of the spectacular flame outs. There is no doubt that we will see a healthy dose of Phil Ivey as he continued his push to what would eventually be his inclusion in the “November Nine”. Chris Ferguson, Gavin Smith, and Roland De Wolfe should see some TV time as well. 2009 Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro will be primary focus of the broadcast which will have him on the feature table.
I was out there during the WSOP along with fellow FTP blogger Michael Craig. You can check out his archives as well as my Main Event live blogs here. Also listed below are some links to my Pictures of the day. The two ESPN broadcast will run today at 20:00ET and 21:00ET.
2009 World Series of Poker Day 1c and 1d in Pictures
2009 World Series of Poker Day 2a in Pictures
2009 World Series of Poker Day 2b in Pictures
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, ESPN, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker – Deep Breath
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It seems the entire poker world sat back and took a really deep breath on Thursday, still holding it after all this time. Yes, it’s true that one on of the biggest names in poker battled through nearly 6,500 players to make the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Phily Ivey will now find himself the center of attention for the next few months as every poker outlet and ESPN look to capitalize on his participation.
Just about the exact opposite kind of thing Ivey would be looking for. But he’s getting exactly what he set out to do. Phil Ivey came into this tournament from Day 1 looking to win it all. I’ll certainly be bringing you more details as we creep closer to November.
Until then I’m finally starting to come out of the WSOP fog. 120 degree temperatures, severe laptop hardware issues on the final day, travel nightmares, and post-WSOP celebrations left a gaping hole where my poker soul once resided. It took a few days with the creature comforts from home to get my mojo back.
I’ll be back all week with forgotten stories from throughout the series, one that never quite made it to these pages but worth the time. I’ll also be previewing the November Nine with my thoughts from actually being in front of each at some point during the Main Event. I’ll even try out my hand at a little handicapping, purely for entertainment sake.
That all starts tomorrow, I think today I get back on the Full Tilt tables for a little low level donkey-crushing button-mashing.
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker Day 49 – Main Event Day 8 Live Blog
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
12:00pm:
It’s our final day sitting in the Amazon Room and bound to be the longest of the entire series. The stakes for the players are daunting, 9 of the remaining 27 will be guaranteed at least $1,000,000 and 3 months of publicity and scrutiny. One of these players will be crowned the new World Series of Poker Champion and over $8,000,000.
Most predictions have us playing out at least 6 levels of play before we know who those players will be. That will take us into the very early morning. Phil Ivey himself said he thinks it will take 8 levels of play. Things will get loopy here before we are done.
There are few that would say they would love to see Phil Ivey make the final 9 players, as the WCP boys say, it’s good for poker. The amount of interest and publicity generated for the game would go be tremendous. He will start the day on the ESPN feature table in front of a packed audience. Fellow red letter Full Tilt pro James Akenhead will be sitting at the outer table looking to join his teammate.
As happens in these situations, Full Tilt also will also following a few new names throughout the day. Andrew Lichtenberger, Marco Mattes, Steve Begleiter, Eric Buchman, and Warren Zackey.
The instructions have been handed out and cards are in the air. Look for regular updates throughout the day. Starting chip counts after the jump.
1:00pm:
Surely I won’t jinx this but we lost 3 players during that first hour including the last woman in the field Leo Margets. There seems to be little action other than those bustout hands. Phil Ivey doubled up one player, Nick Maimone, with a dominating hand that didn’t hold up. All the money went in pre-flop with Ivey holding JJ and Maimone Q5 soooted.
Other than those hands, the Full Tilt players are feeling everything out and still hanging in there.
Eliminations this hour:
25 – Francois Balmigere – $352,832
26 – Jesse Haabak – $352,832
27 – Leo Margets – $352,832
2:15pm:
Players are heading off on their first break of the day. Ivey and Akenhead took some hits, Akenhead battled back, Steve Begleiter knocks out a favorite, and things are getting testy.
When this episode of the 2009 World Series of Poker is broadcast, there will be a new name filling the internet with his lucksakery. Nick Maimone pulled a rabbit out of his hat against Phil Ivey then turned around and hit another double up with a two outer. On a Q84 board, he insta-called Jordan Smith’s all-in with the almighty baby pair of sevens. He was up against Smith’s pocket tens but we all know what happens. A black seven on the turn for another suckout.
Phil Ivey double up another shortstack, once again with pocket jacks. This time his opponent held more the a naked queen, holding two of the ladies. It was a monster stack but it was another hit to the favorite. James Akenhead has took a beating early this hour but battled back from a low of 3 million back up to 10 million.
The only elimination of the hour came at the expense of Antonio Esfandiari, one of the few famous faces left in the field. He collects $352,832 but would rather be playing in November. I’m sure the ESPN gang feels the same way.
Some unofficial chip counts at the first break:
Steven Begleiter – 15,200,000
Eric Buchman – 12,000,000
James Akenhead – 10,000,000
Andrew Lichtenberger – 8,400,000
Phil Ivey – 6,300,000
Warren Zackey – 4,100,000
Marco Mattes – 795,000
3:30pm:
Nick Maimone continues to run like god. This should make for some great TV and even better fodder for the forums. The player who got him money in bad against Phil Ivey has been hitting big hands and bigger flops as the day progresses. The lastest victim of Maimone was George Caragiorgas who had the misfortune of running into his pocket Kings, flopped set and turned quads. Maimone may never fold a hand again the rest of this tournament.
Ivey and Akenhead continue to struggle and it will be a grind from here on out. We’ve just lost out 9th player of the day getting us down to the final two tables. Steve Begleiter and his posse are making quite a bit of noise at the secondary table and has moved to third place in chips with 1,600,000.
The clock has been paused as they re-draw for the final 18. Players will also now see a jump in pay to $500,577 for 16th to 18th.
Unofficial chip counts midway through the level:
Steven Begleiter – 16,600,000
Eric Buchman – 16,000,000
James Akenhead – 9,600,000
Andrew Lichtenberger – 6,650,000
Phil Ivey – 5,435,000
Eliminations this hour:
19 – Tommy Vedes – $352,832
20 – George Caragiorgas – $352,832
21 – Jonathan Tamayo – $352,832
22 – Warren Zackey – $352,832
23 – Marco Mattes – $352,832
4:45pm:
Players are heading off on their second break of the day at the end of Level 31 and there was a lot of action as the clock ran down. We lost Andrew Lichtenberg early in the hour then things slowed down. Pots were being shipped around with very few all-ins. On the last hand of the level we had all-in and calls on both tables.
On the feature table Steve Begleiter knocked out Ian Tavelli when they both got the chips in the middle after a ragged flop, unfortunately for Tavelli his pocket 9’s were way behind the kings which held up. On the secondary table Ludovic Lacay and Jeff Shulman were all-in preflop racing with 77 versus AKo. The flopped king was enough to knockout our 16th player.
All four remaining Full Tilt players find themselves sitting at the ESPN feature table. Phil Ivey (6,800,000), James Akenhead (10,100,000), Eric Buchman (16,000,000), and Steve Begleiter (27,890,000) who appears to have the chip lead at this time.
3 players dropped this level leaving us just 6 eliminations from the November Nine. There has also been a bump in the payouts with 13th through 15th receiving $633,022.
16 – Ludovic Lacay – $500,577
17 – Ian Tavelli – $500,577
18 – Andrew Lichtenberg – $500,577
For seven weeks the Amazon Room was full of donkeys and lemurs, sharks and fish
On the last day it’s just a small bright light in the corner
6:00pm:
My wish for everyone to see monster lucksack Nick Maimone at the final table has not come true. The broadcast will show you some of the action but 3 months of analyzing his play would be worth it. He became a victim of his own actions when he snapped-called all his chips with two overs and a gutshot draw, with one of his overs no good. If there was to describe it faster than “snap-call” I would try. He couldn’t wait to get his chips in the middle. Full Tilt sponsored player Eric Buchman had top pair with a open end straight draw which turned into trip on the turn and a straight on the river. Maimone is out of the event but takes away $633,022 and the knowledge he’ll be the talk of the forums for months to come.
With that hand, Full Tilt now occupies the top two spots on the leaderboard with Phil Ivey and James Akenhead still very much in contention. That was the only player we lost during the first hour of Level 32. Below are the unofficial chip counts for the four remaining Full Tilt players.
Steven Begleiter – 28,400,000
Eric Buchman – 25,280,000
James Akenhead – 9,460,000
Phil Ivey – 6,540,000
Elimination this hour:
15 – Nick Maimone – $633,022
Eric Buchman has been making moves all day and goes to dinner close to the chip lead
7:00pm:
We’ve finished the 3rd level of play for the evening and the players are heading off on their dinner break. 14 players still remaining after 6 hours of play and things have definitely slowed down. We still have four Tilters in the field with Steve Begleiter and Eric Buchman still leading the field, James Akenhead climbing the leaderboard until a pre-break hit, and Phil Ivey lurking in the background.
I’d love to tell stories about Ivey pushing the other players around and making big moves but he’s simply been playing a patience game with his stack. In a tournament that he’s seen so many players disregarding their chipstack in relation to the blinds with overbets and calls, Ivey has been taking his time and picking spots to grab pots. While he’s in the bottom half of the leaderboard, no one is counting him out.
Unofficial chip counts:
Steven Begleiter – 26,400,000
Eric Buchman – 25,950,000
Phil Ivey – 7,100,000
James Akenhead – 2,600,000
Eliminations this hour:
NONE!
9:30pm:
The talk during dinner break was how quickly we would lose somebody coming back from the dinner break, belly full of food and confidence. We came close to a knockout almost immediately when shortstack Jamie Robbins three-bet allin straight into aces. Robbins tens were toast up until the 5%-er ten hit the river. The room erupted and we continued on with 14 players.
In a very “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment, a colleague pointed out an Associated Press story on ESPN.com which oddly enough states that Phil Ivey has been eliminated from the 2009 World Series of Poker. Screenprint on the left.
“Among those eliminated on Wednesday was Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who was one of only two prior World Series of Poker tournament winners left as play began Wednesday, along with seven-time gold bracelet winner Phil Ivey.”
Odd considering I am currently watching him play on the ESPN table at the moment. I’m sure the article will be corrected, removed, annihilated before long.
Before the end of this level’s first hour we did find ourselves with two knockouts leaving just 3 away from the November Nine. We’ll also see a new bump in payouts with $896,730 for 10th through 12th.
13 – James Calderaro – $633,022
14 – Ben Lamb – $633,022
Unofficial Full Tilt chip counts:
Eric Buchman – 35,980,000
Steven Begleiter – 27,730,000
Phil Ivey – 8,400,000
James Akenhead – 6,150,000
10:00pm:
Well that certainly didn’t take very long. Within 30 minutes of my last update we dropped two people in a hurry. On the secondary feature table, Billy Kopp put 80BBs in the middle drawing completely dead. He was involved in the hand with Darvin Moon who felted him with QJd versus 53d on an all diamond flop. No card could save him and he was gone from the side stage before the river.
Almost immediately after Phil Ivey called the all-in of Jamie Robbins. Ivey’s ATh help up against Robbins’ KQo to suddenly get us looking for one more elimination to form the November Nine. Both tables will now combine to play 10-handed until that person is gone.
Full Tilt is represented by four players. Phil Ivey, Steve Begleiter, Eric Buchman, and James Akenhead guarantee Tilt will have at least 3 faces when the final table is played. Akenhead enters 10-handed play as the shortstack.
Chip counts for the final 10:
Darvin Moon – 44,300,000
Eric Buchman – 36,780,000
Steven Begleiter – 26,495,000
Jeff Shulman – 17,900,000
Jordan Smith – 15,430,000
Joseph Cada – 13,400,000
Kevin Schaffel – 13,080,000
Phil Ivey – 10,210,000
Antoine Saout – 10,200,000
James Akenhead – 5,100,000
10:45pm:
Unbelievable! Just like that we lost Jordan Smith (his aces versus Darvin Moon’s set) and we have our November Nine.
Phil Ivey makes the final table!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a complete rundown after everything settles down.
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Eric Buchman, James Akenhead, Phil Ivey, Steve Begleiter, WSOP
2009 World Series of Poker Day 48 – Main Event Day 7 Live Blog
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The room continues to shrink, the day starts with 7 tables
12:30pm
Day 7 starts with just 1% of the starting field and will play down to three tables. The makeup of the November Nine final table which be much clearer when we stagger from the Amazon Room sometime between now and sunrise tomorrow. Will the chip leader survive the day? Will we have a table with some of the biggest names or will they struggle against the unpredictable amateurs? Will Leo Margets become the first woman to make the Main Event final table since Barbara Enright?
There are three members of Team Full Tilt in the small field as Jack Effel issues the daily command. Phil Ivey will look to continue his heater as he begins the day third in chips with 6,345,000. He’s in a dangerous position for the field to be comfortable, he even seems chipper today. Next on the list is Fabrice Soulier with 3,025,000 and James Akenhead with 1,655,000. That leaves us represented by the U.S, France and the U.K. There are several other players sporting the red and white patches and I will work on getting their information.
With the first elimination of the day occurring before the seats were even warmed up, it was Prahlad Friedman’s short day, we are now down to 7 full tables and a new pay jump. 55th through 63rd will be the first players to be paid six digits, $108,047.
Play was underway but the clock has been stopped to break a table. It’s all very quiet so far, a few small claps here and there but no fireworks. You can find the starting chip counts after the jump. I’ll be here all day bringing you near live updates.
1:30pm:
My dark thoughts of working in the Amazon Room until dawn my have been a little dramatic. It might still be a very long day/night/morning but the first hour brought a boatload of bustouts. We lost nearly an entire table in 60 minutes but one those did not make the media table happy. Friend of many, Joe Sebok was eliminated in 56th spot after running his shortstack A9 into a big stack AQ. 55 players remain at the bottom of the hour leaving us just two knockouts away from going down to six tables and up another payout jump.
Phil Ivey has been stack up and up, pushing over the 7.1Million mark with what PokerNews.com described as a “hero call”. Ace high was good enough for a monster pot sure to be seen on the ESPN rebroadcast. Fabrice Soulier and James Akenhead are sitting the same, but newly patched up Michael Hansen enjoyed his Day 7 for approximately 20 minutes. Tom “Donkey Bomber” Schneider has recently doubled up to the joy of his wife Judy who has a voice that can be heard back in Texas.
2:30pm:
The players are now heading off on their first break of the day and we are down to 6 full tables. The players still seem to be feeling out each other and protecting their stacks. Four of the shortest stacks to start the day have been eliminated. Chip leader to start Darvin Moon (~10,000,000) has been moved down to second as Billy Kopp surged past him with over 14,000,000 in chips.
Phil Ivey is still moving along and continues to actively increase his stack and stay in position for a Championship run while Fabrice Soulier has taken some hits and dropped down to just north of 1,300,000. Recently patched up newcombers Charlie Elias and Hieu Luu will come back from break with over 3,000,000. Luu has spent most of that level trading blows with Tom “Donkey Bomber” Schneider. Yesterday he was seen sporting a “I’m a Lucky Donk” t-shirt.
When the broke down to 6 tables, the payout levels once again jumped. Places 46th to 54th will receive $138,568.
Eliminations during that level:
55 – Craig Boyd – $108,047
56 – Joe Sebok – $108,047
57 – John Martin – $108,047
58 – Scott Bohlman – $108,047
59 – Miika Puumalainen – $108,047
60 – Benjamin Jensen – $108,047
61 – Mark Ader – $108,047
62 – Michael Jansen – $108,047
63 – George Saca – $108,047
64 – Prahlad Friedman – $90,344
You can read the rest of the live blog after the jump:
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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Phil Ivey, WSOP
