Poker From The Rail» WSOP

World Series of Poker – Should it go old school?

AlCantHang — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:16:31 +0000

After spending two straight months covering the World Series of Poker, it was interesting to see a lot of those non-NLHE games drawing big crowds and how they played out. The world of poker is not limited strictly to go ol’ No Limit Texas Hold’em (Cadillac of Poker not withstanding). I was able to witness all varieties of Stud and Omaha games, there were two HORSE tournaments, an 8-game mix event and throwing a little Deuce to Seven Lowball.

Blogger “Tuscaloosa” Johnny brings us a guest post and asks the question of whether the WSOP should go back to even more old school events. I first started looking at some of the old events in the middle of the series this year after doing some research of Full Tilt pro Berry Johnston. He won his first bracelet in an event called “Match Play” which held no meaning for me. I asked around to some of the historians and was unable to get a absolute answer to what the format for “match play” would be. The most popular answer were either an early form of Heads Up tournaments or a Shootout Tournament. Still waiting on the final answer.

The odds are very long we’ll see a “Match Play” event but “Tuscaloosa” Johnny brings up some games from the past and the chances we’ll ever see it again.

Enjoy.

Should the WSOP go old school?
By Johnny Kampis

Five-Card Stud or Mixed Doubles, anyone? The history of the World Series of Poker is littered with bygone events – some games that are practically prehistoric by current standards.

Let’s look at some of the events the Series used to have that haven’t been played either recently or in a long time and my own personal odds that tournament organizers would ever bring them back.

Five-Card Stud – The most famous 5-Stud game wasn’t at the WSOP, it was in a New Orleans card room when Edward G. Robinson pulled a miracle straight flush to beat Steve McQueen’s full house in the movie “The Cincinnati Kid.” It’s hard to imagine now, but 5-Stud was once the most popular card game. In fact, in 1972 it was the only event at the WSOP other than the championship No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Bill Boyd was the victor in the inaugural 5-Stud tournament 1972 for $20,000, in the year that “Amarillo Slim” Preston won the main event. 5-Stud was also played in 1973 and 1974 – and won by Boyd each year – before being buried in the WSOP graveyard.

The problem with 5-Stud is that the game isn’t action inducing. Each player receives two cards initially, one face up and one face down. After that, the mystery is pretty well over. From that point forward, each player receives their three remaining cards face up after each round of betting. Since there’s no draw and only five total cards, a high card often wins the pot. Once a player has an exposed pair, they’ve usually got the hand locked up and the other players fold. (Try it online sometime. You’ll see.)

The skinny: Unless Jeffrey Pollack and the players’ advisory council are feeling very nostalgic, 5-Stud will not be dug up from the graveyard. There’s a reason it’s been buried there for more than 30 years. Odds of return: 1,000 to 1

Women’s Seven-Card Stud – The ladies only event was first played in 1977 and the first champion was Jackie McDaniels. The event continued until 2000 when the format was changed to No-Limit Hold’em. That ladies event continues today.

The skinny: NLHE is the game of choice in the present age and since tournament organizers are unlikely to have two women-only events, it’s highly unlikely to see this tournament return. Odds of return: 200 to 1

Five-Card Draw – This is how we all learned to play poker, fighting over pennies at the kitchen table. It’s also the game that Old West cowboys are seen wrangling over in just about every movie or TV show on the period. Draw high was played at Binion’s Horseshoe in 1978 and 1979, and won by a fellow called Lakewood Louie both years. The game continued to be played through 1982, after which it was also tossed from the schedule.

Draw has the opposite problem of 5-Stud in that nearly everything is a mystery. Other than physical tells and the number of cards drawn, there is very little information to go on to determine another player’s hand. The lowball versions of draw are still popular, but back in the 1980s, flop and stud games became more popular versions of high poker.

The skinny: Five-Card Draw is still a popular home game and it has seen a resurgence on online poker sites. While you don’t see it played in casinos these days, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see it re-introduced to the WSOP, at least as a novelty for one year. Odds of return: 20 to 1

Mixed Doubles – Think tennis. One man, one woman, playing as a team. At the WSOP, one player would play 7-Stud for a level and then the other partner would play limit Hold’em. Doyle Brunson won one of his bracelets this way, playing with Starla Brodie in 1979 and winning $4,500 in the process. The game was played through 1983 and then discontinued.

The skinny: With the growth of poker and an increased focus on women in poker, it wouldn’t be surprising to see mixed doubles, or some similar tag team tournament re-introduced into the fray. After all, 2009 saw the first Dream Team Poker event added to the schedule. Odds of return: 12 to 1

Chinese Poker – It was first played in 1995 and John Tsagaris won the title and $41,400. Steve Zolotow won the second Chinese Poker event that year for $112,500. It was played twice more in 1996 and then never seen again.

For the uninitiated, the game is played four handed, with each player receiving 13 cards each. Players must divide their cards into three poker hands – two containing five cards each and one with three cards. Multiple players can win points or chips on any given hand if their hands are better than some of the other players at the table.

The skinny: Chinese Poker was a very popular high-stakes cash game at recent editions of the WSOP and seems to be growing in popularity in general. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it re-introduced into the Series schedule sometime in the next decade. Odds of return: 2 to 1

Ace-to-Five Draw – Otherwise known as Lowball, Ace-to-Five has been a popular event through the history of the WSOP. It was played from 1976 to 1996, but then gave way to Deuce-to-Seven Draw for a few years. Ace-to-Five came back from 2000 to 2004, but hasn’t been on the schedule the last few years.

The game is usually played single draw, but is also often played with three draws. The object of the game is to make the lowest hand possible. Since straights don’t count against you, the lowest hand is a wheel, or A-2-3-4-5. (Deuce-to-Seven is similar, but aces and straights count against you, so the lowest hand is 2-3-4-5-7.)

The skinny: Although Deuce-to-Seven has been the lowball game of choice the last few years, Ace-to-Five remains popular and will likely return to the WSOP at some point. Odds of return: 2 to 5

Post from: Poker From The Rail

World Series of Poker – Should it go old school?

2010 World Series of Poker Schedule

AlCantHang — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:28:09 +0000

The head honchos at the World Series of Poker promised to have the 2010 schedule released around the new year but it came out earlier than anticipated. The schedule is now online and looks to be very interesting. The 2010 World Series of Poker will begin at the Rio Hotel and Casino on May 27th and run 51 days to July 17th when they again pause play in the Main Event at the formation of the November Nine. The schedule provides plenty of diversity for the players with the addition of smaller buyin events as well as a new Player’s Championship.

They can keep saying they offer 57 events this year but that is only true if you happen to be woman over 50 years old and employed by casino. So for the convenience of breaking down the schedule, I will not be including Event #1 ($500 Casino Employee), Event #22 ($1,000 Ladies Only), or Event #34 ($1,000 Seniors) into any analysis. That still leaves 54 “open” bracelet events to dig into. Some big changes appear right off the bat.

You can find the schedule as well as my thoughts after the jump.

The complete 2010 World Series of Poker Schedule is listed here as well as registration and structure information.

- Last year kicked off the first open event with the $40,000 “Anniversary” tournament and also included the $50,000 HORSE Championship later in the series which was the unofficial player’s championship. In 2010 they have tweaked the format which will have The Player’s Championship kick things off with a $50,000 buyin and 8-game Mix instead of H.O.R.S.E. and the winner will be presented with the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. In a bow to the ESPN cameras and pressure from players, the final table of The Player’s Championship will only include No Limit Hold’em.

- Another big change is a nod to the huge success of the $1,000 “Stimulus” Special during last year’s series. That event drew the biggest non-Main Event field in history with an incredible 6,012 entrants. Never to let a good idea go to waste/milk it for everything, this year the WSOP will bring you an amazing SIX (6) open tournaments featuring the bankroll pleasing $1,000 buyin. Each of these events will take place on a weekend and all but one will feature two “Day 1’s”. There are also nine other $1,500 tournaments throughout the series to stay with the “bankroll management” theme.

- The schedule features a new event to pack the tables as well as the rails. Players will begin preparing for their Main Event run with a $25,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-handed tournament. The buyin will limit the size of the field but the 6-handed format will generate plenty of short-handed action. Probably one of my favorite new tweaks to the WSOP schedule.

- The rest of the schedule plays out like this: there are ten $10,000 “Championship” events, five $5,000 buyin events (3 No LImit Hold’em, 1 Pot Limit Omaha, and 1 Pot Limit Omaha/8), six tournaments featuring the 6-handed format, and four Shootout style tournaments including the $10,000 Heads Up Championship. There is literally any game for any bankroll and any player.

- There were also some environmental changes announced. The biggest seems to be adding the Pavilion Ballroom to list of Rio Convention Rooms being used for the World Series of Poker. That adds 58,000 square feet on top of the 38,000 sq feet of the Amazon Room, I think the days of drawing a table up by Buzio’s restaurant may be over. No word yet on how everything will be divided up, how many additional tables, or the setup until much closer to the series.

- There is good news/bad news situation for the stomach of poker players this summer. Gone for good is the dreaded Poker Kitchen Tent in the parking lot behind the Amazon Room. The bad news is that they are just moving inside to the Miranda Room which was used for games last year. I would just go ahead and assume a similar menu. At least now you don’t have to venture into the 120 degree Vegas desert to get there.

Here’s a break down of the events (excluding the Employee, Ladies, and Seniors events since they are not “open” tournaments).

32 Hold’em only tournaments:

24 – No Limit Hold’em
5 – Limit Hold’em
2 – Pot Limit Hold’em
1 – Mix Hold’em (NL and Limit)

8 Omaha only poker tournaments:

4 – Pot Limit Omaha
2 – Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better
2 – Limit Omaha 8 or better

6 Mix Game tournaments:

3 – H.O.R.S.E.
2 – 8-game Mix
1 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha

5 Seven Card tournaments:

2 – Seven Card Stud
2 – Seven Card Stud 8 or better
1 – Seven Card Razz

3 Deuce to Seven tournaments:

2 – Deuce to Seven Single Draw No Limit
1 – Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Limit

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2010 World Series of Poker Schedule

2009 November Nine Live Blog – Heads up for the title

AlCantHang — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:54:45 +0000

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

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 November Nine Live Blog – Heads up for the title

2009 November Nine – Cada and Moon Heads Up for Championship

AlCantHang — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:30:36 +0000

After an insane amount of poker over the last 17+ hours, the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event finally found it’s way down to the final 2 players. The tournament has been suspended with Joe “jcada99″ Cada and Darvin Moon returning on Monday evening to crown the new champion.

It was a day full of everything you expect to find at the biggest poker event you will find. Over 1,400 spectators lined up early outside the Penn & Teller Theater hours before the gates were scheduled to open, even generating long lines 12 hours after play began. The big name of the table, Phil Ivey, pulled in members of the media from around the world but could not avoid the one monstrous suckout that would have put him back in contention. Darvin Moon, our amateur player who came in as the chipleader, played an interesting game that was all over the map but in the end will be playing heads up for the championship. There were far too many ridiculous suckouts to list but will certainly provide a great viewing experience when it hits the ESPN broadcast on November 10th.

The superstars came out in force and camped most of the night on the stage supporting either Ivey or Jeff Shulman. For his part, Shulman will not be able to prove whether his words were true when he stated he would throw the bracelet in the trash. Our first and last eliminations of the day were bookended by the only two European players at the final table. Akenhead finishing in 9th and Saout in 3rd.

After all that excitement and all the craziness, it is time to shut the lights down in the auditorium and prepare to recharge for Tuesday’s heads up match between Darvin Moon and Joe Cada. I will be back with that match once it kicks off.

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

Update: If you’d like to read about the insanity of the November Nine, feel free to click here to read my 2009 November Nine Live Blog

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 November Nine – Cada and Moon Heads Up for Championship

2009 November Nine Live Blog

AlCantHang — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:23:03 +0000

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

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

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 November Nine Live Blog

2009 World Series of Poker – November Nine On The Horizon

AlCantHang — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:02:14 +0000

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:

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.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – November Nine On The Horizon

ESPN 2009 WSOP Main Event Broadcast Day 8

AlCantHang — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:01:58 +0000

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

Post from: Poker From The Rail

ESPN 2009 WSOP Main Event Broadcast Day 8

Phil Ivey in ESPN the Magazine

AlCantHang — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:29:07 +0000

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.

Click here if unable to view the video.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Phil Ivey in ESPN the Magazine

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3

AlCantHang — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:17:46 +0000

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:

Phil Ivey – Seat 3 – 9,765,000 chips (M = 15.5)
Current odds from 4/1 to 7/1

What is there I can really add to the biography of Phil Ivey? If you are coming here you probably know all there is about this player who avoids the spotlight like it’s his job. He has been called “the best poker player in the world”, in just about every various of the game, at any stakes, cash games or tournaments. He already has two WSOP bracelet for 2009, trying for his 3rd of the year and 8th bracelet overall. It was no secret that Ivey had several big bets with other players based on his performance this year, he backed up everything he said coming into the series.

His credentials are easy enough to track down. He earned his poker chops playing in the smokey Atlantic City card rooms before moving out to Las Vegas. His 7 WSOP bracelets ties him with poker legend Billy Baxter. If he wins the Main Event it will be the second time in his career he’s won 3 WSOP bracelets in the same year, he accomplished that feat back in 2002. His 8th bracelet would tie him with fellow Full Tilt pro Erik Seidel for 5th all-time. He has over $3,800,000 in WSOP career earnings and has gone over $12,000,000 overall. It is nearly impossible to judge how much money he has taken away from those poor fools willing to play with him at the nose-bleed Bellagio cash game tables. Away from the WSOP, Ivey also holds the record for most final tables in World Poker Tour events with 8 total and 1 title.

An interesting twist between Ivey’s bracelets and those held by 11 time winner Phil Hellmuth. While Hellmuth has yet to win a single bracelet in a non-Hold’em tournament, none of Ivey’s have come in Hold’em.

2000 – $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha
2002 – $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
2002 – $2,500 S.H.O.E.
2002 – $1,500 7 Card Stud
2005 – $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha
2009 – $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw
2009 – $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi/Lo

Even with one of the shorter stacks remaining in the field, no one can feel terribly comfortable with Ivey still sticking around. The lines reflect this as he’s listed between 4/1 and 7/1 despite sitting so low in chips.

Here is what our bloggers have to say about Ivey’s chances.

From Spaceman:

Throughout the Main Event, Phil Ivey had the incredible good fortune of seeing player after player gift him with their stacks because they picked the wrong time – usually when they were drawing dead or close to it – to try and outplay him. (It seems that a couple of big bluffs from his past television appearances – including that nasty one against Paul Jackson at the Monte Carlo Millions – have paid big dividends for Ivey.) I like to call this the Rounders Effect – everyone’s Mike McDermott and they just have to know if they can bluff Johnny Chan. When the pro actually picks up a big hand he’s going to get paid for sure. One or two of those type of hands could make Ivey a big contender in a very short period of time.

As great as the Rounders Effect is for pros like Ivey, the flipside of it is that it makes these less-experienced players much harder to bluff; the cards become that much more important when someone is willing to call down with a pair of deuces on a Broadway-heavy board. That means that, all other things being equal, continuation bets with air are more likely to get called from Ivey than anyone else at the table. If he wants to become a factor in this tournament he’ll need to pick up some good cards when other players have slightly worse, but still playable, cards.

If Phil Ivey had just double the chips that he has coming into the final table I’m pretty sure I’d have to consider him a favorite in this tournament. But as it stands he’s in seventh place, so assessing his chances of winning are a lot more difficult. I think that this really rides on one question: just how aggressive will the world’s greatest poker player be in trying to double up early? If he puts on his Pro Face and attacks the table mercilessly, I think the Rounders Effect will come into play – and I think in the right situation it could even bite more experienced players like Jeff Shulman who can still get roped into wanting to be a hero on TV.

One big double-up through the right player could be huge for Ivey, but taking hands to showdown in big confrontations means risking your tournament life. If Ivey prefers to play some small-ball rather than going for the home run, I almost like his chances better. Still, his chance to win all hinges on doubling that stack a few times, and even when you’re Phil Ivey that can be a tall order. If he does manage to begin accumulating chips, the only thing that can stop him is bad luck.

Overall, I’d peg Ivey’s chances at about 9/1.

From Riggstad:

Well well, it comes down to this guy. The one attraction that most people are talking about. Phil Ivey. the greatest player to have played the game. The “Tiger Woods” of poker (which I think is an insult to Tiger). Phil is undoubtedly the one person on this table who has the skill set to win this tournament. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the chips. Yet Phil being Phil is the one most expect to walk away with this.

Jason wrote about his travels through the main event being very lucky. Not in the sense of being behind but being fortunate, if you will, to get action when he needed it. Possibly by players wanting to down the giant. Which is a feasible point to make. This, however, will not happen at the final table. Ivey will have his work cut out for him. He has outward pressure to win, none that are his own however. I don’t believe Phil is sitting at home planning out his best way to attack this table. If you look at his 2009 WSOP track record, you’ll see a top player who played extremely well and who ran extremely well.

One of the writers who covered the event told me there are two distinct Phil Ivey’s based on what he witnessed during the whole series. One who sits down at a table and hunkers down and plays to win. Everytime. He focuses, he plans, he strategizes, and plays every aspect of the table from stacks to position to opponent to even cards. Then there’s the other Phil Ivey who comes in just to take a shot. Like it’s a cold Wednesday at work and you go in just cause you have to.

I think this final table becomes historic not because Phil Ivey is there, but because HOW Phil Ivey will play. Stating that can only be done by assuming how he will play. So here it goes. I think Phil will take this table very slow at first, and try to grab an inclination of how others will proceed. He will test the waters with 3 and 4 bets just to see how his opponents respond. With that knowledge he will gain an even bigger edge against the table and have a real shot at overcoming such a chip deficit. That all being assumed bodes well for Phil. That’s the problem with assumptions. They are easy, and can be manipulated to further your forgone conclusions. I’m still going with it though.

Let me then assume that Phil does make it to the final 4. This is where History will be made. If Phil gets that deep, he will by far have his greatest advantage. History will be made when Phil wins or how he goes out with such a close shot of winning. For him to get so close yet let it slip away with only 3 or 4 players left will be historical because whether his elimination comes via a huge bad beat or some hand where is he out played on, or even just a cooler, it will be remembered as the tournament that Phil lost. It will be a shame for the guy who does win it. It won’t be remembered as the WSOP that “x” won. It will be remembered as the WSOP that Phil Ivery lost. History. Harrah’s might even have to put a poster up in the Amazon room of the 2009 WSOP Champion pictures as an inset with Phil Ivey looking defeated.

Ok, maybe that’s a little silly. But truly, his presence will add a level of competition to this table which will make it truly fun to watch. That being said I will set Ivey’s money line at +$500

Antoine Saout – Seat 8 – 9,500,000 chips (M = 15.08)
Current odds from 12/1 to 20/1

There is not much information to be found on one of our two final table players born outside the United States, this was the young Frenchman’s first trip to the World Series of Poker. Thanks to our friends at The Hendon Mob we do see he had a few small cashes before making his big run at the 2009 WSOP Main Event but it was nothing huge. Following his November Nine invitation he has several other results with his biggest being a final table appearance at the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event, repeating Ivan Demidov’s final table feat of last year along with James Akenhead.

My friends tell me Saout is a monster online grinder but he will have his work cut out for him and will need to get lucky to take down this title. Working with very few chips, he has two big stacks to his left in Jeff Shulman and Darvin Moon.

The bloggers have this to say about Antoine Saout.

From Spaceman:

Antoine Saout is one of two players at this table who has no pressure on him whatsoever. He’s essentially freerolling at this point after having won his initial $10,000 buy-in to the Main Event through a cheapie online satellite, and as the second-shortest incoming stack there’s nobody out there who’s really going to expect very much of him. Saout has also made a few deep runs in big tournaments since July, giving him a chance to enjoy the spotlight away from the Rio as a member of the November Nine. I expect him to come in feeling loose and ready to pick a spot for making a move or two in an attempt to jump up the pay ladder a bit, since he won’t lose much if he’s the first one out.

Saout should get a few opportunities to make those kinds of moves, too. He’s sandwiched between Joe Cada and Jeff Shulman at the table, and both of them are stacked enough that they can fold to Saout in pressure situations without hurting their chances too much. And two spots to his left is the chip leader, Darvin Moon, whom I would characterize as the player at the table most likely to make a bad call for two reasons (he’s an amateur and he can afford to lose a few chips). If Saout can pick up a big hand and do a good enough acting job he might just double up at Moon’s expense.

Of course, the key here is picking up a big hand. Saout isn’t going to be able to afford to get involved in a lot of pots so he’ll have to be choosy about which ones he gets involved with. That doesn’t necessarily mean big cards, as he might find a good spot or two for getting involved with a speculative hand in late position. But what it does mean is he’ll be passing more often than he gets involved, and a player who’s sitting on the outside looking in when the final table begins often stays on the outside. If he doubles through a big stack I like his odds of jumping a few spots up the pay ladder, but I still think he has to be one of the biggest underdogs at the table to win the whole thing.

Overall, I’d put Saout’s chances at about 20/1.

From Riggstad:

Saout has about the same chip stack as Ivey does. But he’s no Ivey! That is, he doesn’t posses the experience that Ivey has. He most likely doesn’t possess the gamesmanship that Ivey has. My guess is that he will sit back and wait for a hand, and when he gets it, will play it fast.

That will lead to several things. Quick double ups or flat out elimination will be his fate. I don’t know much about him at all. He could be a fantastic seasoned player that nobody knows and he may have some chops outside of what he has proven already just by getting to the final table.

Poker isn’t golf though, and just getting to a final table could have been everything from luck to skill to a combination of both. You would like to think all skill, and most likely falls within a combination of both. But let’s face it. Luck could be the leading cause here. I know players who are very very good. Ones you have never even heard of. Ones that I would personally stake in a heads up match against Tom Dwan or Patrick Antonius. Maybe Antoine is that guy. Still given the information I have, I gotta see him as one of the least to make any noise here. Which means he will most likely win it all. I’ll set his mojo at + $1200.

James Akenhead – Seat 2 – 6,800,000 (M = 10.79)
Current odds from 17/1 to 22/1

Your official 2009 WSOP November Nine shortstack is James Akenhead, the UK player who is no stranger to the poker world. Akenhead came one spot away from winning his first WSOP bracelet during last year’s series when he lost heads up to Grant Hinkle. He’s primarily known on the Euro-side of the pond crushing the UK poker tours with a group of his poker playing friends. Prior to making the final table he signed on as a member of Team Full Tilt and has already made a final table in the $1,000,000 Guarantee.

When Bluff Europe asked him if poker came naturally to him, this is what he had to say:

“No. It didn’t. But I think I’m really good at learning. When something comes into my life that I’m interested in, I’m really determined to be good at it. It was the same with pool. When I started I was a really bad player, but two years later I was number 15 in the UK.”

When PokerNews interviewed him in September, Akenhead provided just a little foreshadowing with this statement:

“I am really excited, I’m not feeling the pressure at all, as soon as I get there I will be 100% focussed (sic) and playing the best I can. I really want to do well at the WSOPE this year; I want to do what Demidov did last year, not just for the money and the confidence but also for my profile. I really can’t wait for November, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Akenhead did indeed go on to final table the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event along with Antoine Saout, duplicating the WSOP and WSOPE final tables of Ivan Demidov in 2008. He was unable to go any deeper finishing in 9th but it must be a boost to his confidence and chances when the November Nine kicks off. With the smallest stack at the table, Akenhead will have to find a place to double up to give him a chance to move up the payouts or the longshot title.

Here’s what our bloggers have to say about the shortstacked James Akenhead.

From Spaceman:

If Antoine Saout has no expectations place on him, James Akenhead should be the freewheeling spirit at this final table. With an M just over 10 to begin the night (and one which will dip into single-digit territory when the level goes up a half-hour into play) he’s certainly at a disadvantage next to everybody else, and he knows that. But he also proved at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table that he can nurse a short stack for a while and still choose his spots carefully.

If Akenhead does manage to pick up chips he can be one of the more dangerous players at the table. He’s proven repeatedly that he has the chops to go deep in big no-limit hold’em events, and he only missed a WSOP bracelet two years ago through misfortune. Of course, all the points that apply to Antoine Saout above hold true for Akenhead as well – and the key among them is that he’s the shortest stack at the table. In the end, I think the short stack is just far too much for Akenhead to overcome. He’s a very talented player with a bright future ahead of him, and the Main Event title might very well lie in that future – it just won’t be from the 2009 event.

I put Akenhead’s odds of winning at 23/1.

From Riggstad:

It really is a shame that Akenhead only has 10 bb’s left. He is a player that could prove a thorn in everyone’s side. He has proven time and time again that he has the chops to dominate at this level. There’s not really too much you can predict with this guy because of such a short stack and his chance have to be huge because it will basically come down to a few lucky flips, or 2 live cards even if he is to have a chance.

I would like to rewrite this if James managed to luck his stack up to about 18million with some chip accumulation but we don’t have that luxury. Or maybe we will in this game!

Aside from that I gotta put his line at + $2500. Good money if you can get it though because if he does chip up, he’ll be dangerous and give you a huge return on your dollar!

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2

AlCantHang — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:54:35 +0000

The 2009 World Series of Poker Championship bracelet awaits the November Nine winner
Photo credit: flipchip at LasVegasVegas.com

The field is into double digits on the ESPN Main Event broadcasts and you start to see some of your November Nine players pull to the front. Tuesday’s show finally gave everyone a little taste of Darvin Moon’s run through the Main Event, the man couldn’t miss. Billy Kopp also starts to build a massive chip castle setting up very nicely for the Day 8 broadcast when the two go to war. Other players also spent this last episode donating chips to Phil Ivey, even when he didn’t have the goods he would flop golden. “You know I can have a hand once in awhile, right?” he told another player. November Nine players James Akenhead, Joe Cada, and Steve Begleiter began to get some exposure as the field narrowed. Still not seeing too much mention of Eric Buchman, Kevin Schaffel or Antoine Saout but those three will show up very soon. Nicole Peppe was eliminated in this latest broadcast leaving Leo Margets as the “Last Woman Standing” in the Main Event.

There are just a few episodes remaining before the final players gather themselves back at the Rio to play down to the champion. Last week I brought you Part 1 of a series attempting to gather a few friends together and handicap the November Nine for entertainment purposes. I was joined by professional writer “Spaceman” and semi-pro donk “Riggstad”, both shared their thoughts on how the top 3 chip leaders would fair. This week we move onto the middle three stacks with Jeff Shulman, Joe Cada, and Kevin Shaffel. Shulman is the polarizing player, Cada the young internet professional, Shaffel the amateur crashing on his friend’s couch in Florida. Another interesting cast of characters. You can find the link below for Part 1 and Part 2 is after the jump.

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 1
2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 3

2009 November Nine chip counts:

Jeff Shulman – Seat 9 – 19,580,000 chips (M = 31.08)
Current odds from 4/1 to 11/2

Other than Phil Ivey, Jeff “Happy” Shulman is the most well known player at the final table. He is the president and editor of the CardPlayer media empire owned by his father Barry Shulman. In the short history of the November Nine, Shulman will be the first player to with any WSOP Main Event table experience. Back in 2000 Shulman entered the final 9 with a chipstack near the top but lost several big hands to eventual winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. Shulman finished 7th that year for his best and biggest finish to date. All told he has 14 cashes in the World Series of Poker (I’m excluding his 3rd place finish in a Media Charity event) and this will be his 4th WSOP final table. Shulman has over $1,300,000 in career tournament earnings but has no cashes since April 2008.

In a nod towards the explosion of poker, Shulman received $146,000 for his 7th place finish in 2000. If you finished between 37th and 45th in this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event you received $178,857.

For those around the poker world, Jeff Shulman is also the player who said promised to “throw it in the garbage” if he won the Main Event bracelet. Shulman has since clarified his statement saying that he would not actually throw the bracelet away, but would find something interesting to do with it. He has an ongoing beef with how the WSOP is now run by those in charge and seems to be using his newly elevated status to bring his issues to the front. In a Washington Post chat session on October 5th he was asked about his opinion on Harrahs and the WSOP. Among his complaints I found this statement:

“They have devalued the bracelets by having too many events and adding Europe.”

In other poker news, Barry Shulman (father of Jeff) won the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event bracelet. Presented with no editorial comment whatsoever.

Jeff Shulman has also gone with the decision to hire a “coach” to prepare for the Main Event final table. He chose none other than 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. It will be interesting to see what effect that will have on his game. He will begin the day sitting 4th in chips and getting cozy with the dealer in the 9 Seat. Massive stack Darvin Moon is to his left and shortstack Antoine Saout is to his right.

Our poker prognosticators have this to say about Shulman:

From Spaceman:

Jeff Shulman has demonstrated skill in a variety of poker variants, cashing in limit hold’em, pot-limit hold’em, stud hi-lo, pot-limit Omaha, and several mixed-game events. However, he’s not exactly known for being a closer; his last win that wasn’t in a made-for-TV single table tournament came five years ago in an Ultimate Poker Challenge event that had a field of 36 players, and he only had two tournament wins prior to that one.

For the most part Shulman relies on playing a tight-aggressive game, meaning that if the cards don’t come he’s at a relative disadvantage to those at the table who are willing to come in with lesser hands. However, if the table plays too passively he’s more than capable of shifting into high gear and taking control; in the Washington Post chat he told readers that gear served him well through the first three days of this tournament. Assuming that the action slows down at some point, the two keys to whether Shulman’s top gear will work will be his position at the table and how many players remain in contention at the time.

With short stack Antoine Saout on Shulman’s direct right and the slightly better-stacked Joe Cada two spots to his right, the CardPlayer editor will probably face some pressure on his blinds as these two look to exploit their positional advantage. But he’ll also have the ability to take down valuable pots by applying more pressure against these shorter stacks out of the blinds, which signals a much stronger hand than aggression from late position. Bad timing in making a move on these two guys would mean losing some chips, but Shulman can afford a misstep or two before he finds himself in desperate straits.

On Shulman’s direct left is the chip leader, Darvin Moon. If Moon were the kind of player who could switch gears easily that would be a pretty big disadvantage for Shulman, but Moon’s amateur status means that Shulman will probably look to see a lot of flops against him in the hopes of hitting one hard and getting Moon to overcommit when he hits a slightly worse hand. All it would take to make Shulman a serious contender would be a single double-up through the chip leader. One spot further to the left is short stack James Akenhead; the Brit is definitely dangerous if he has chips, but unless he manages to catch a big hand in the early going Shulman should be able to pilfer his blinds almost at will.

Shulman himself has said in the press that he’ll be under a lot of pressure in November. As the editor of CardPlayer magazine, the son of the reigning WSOP Europe Main Event champion, the only player in this group to have previously made the Main Event final table, the student of 11-time-bracelet-winning blowhard Phil Hellmuth, and the most well-known player with a decent-sized stack at this final table, Shulman probably has more expectations placed on him than any other player at the table. Given all those factors, he could be forgiven if he were to find himself having a hard time focusing on the task at hand. But he’s decently stacked and if he manages to take a nice pot or two from the more inexperienced chip leader on his left, Shulman could have a real chance at winning. It all depends on how he handles the very real psychological pressure.

Overall, I’d put Shulman’s chances of winning at about 13/2.

From Riggstad:

Ever hear of a thing called Karma? How about Murphy’s law? What am I referring to? How about the statement Shulman made about throwing the bracelet away. Or maybe he said he wouldn’t accept it. Either way his point was made. CardPlayer didn’t exactly like its treatment by Harrahs when they were shut out of reporting the WSOP a few years back and Shulman hasn’t forgotten. His getting deep into the final table would be a huge story aside from the poker playing it will take to get there. That’s what gets me to my points. Or Jason’s points really.

Shulman has proven to be a nut peddler. That’s not saying he won’t or can’t switch it up, his training with Hellmuth will help. I’m sure the best player ever in the world will use this training not just to point out how to play NLHE final tables, but will suggest how to play against the competition that are known factors and how they will play.

Shulman certainly has an opportunity to do extremely well. His image is not unknown but it could work if he changes it up out of the gates.

Shulman also has a tone of experience and in the same way I write about Begleiter, I don’t know that anything from 9th to 2nd would mean anything to Jeff. He’s another “First or Lose” player at this table. The time between July and November is most likely more important to Shulman than any other player in terms of preparing for this final table. He has a good trainer, he has a ton of experience, he has a boatload of data to research, and he has the time. How he uses that time in preparation for the final table will give him the largest advantage of any other player. Because of that I will put him as a favorite at + $350.

Joe “jcada99″ Cada – Seat 7 – 13,215,000 chips (M = 20.98)
Current odds from 10/1 to 15/1

At first glance Joe Cada seems to be the big unknown coming into the final table. He just recently turned 21 and this year was his first at the WSOP tables. Not a bad start to his young career with 2 cashes in preliminary events. That brought his live tournament earnings up to just $28,000. But as usual when researching the young guns in the poker world, it’s necessary to dig a little deeper and peer into their online resume. That’s where things are a little more interesting with our 5th place chip stack.

Going by the online name of “jcada99″ he has built up some big online victories, pulling in over $500,000 in Full Tilt tournaments alone. His biggest score was taking down the $750,000 Guarantee in January ‘08 for nearly $150,000, then just under a year ago when he banked $49,000 for winning The Sunday Mulligan. His biggest score since the WSOP Main Event was a second place finish in the $200,000 Guarantee ($150 with rebuys) just 4 days after returning home from booking his November Nine invitation.

Cada began his live poker career by taking advantage of his geography. While the age limit to play in a U.S. casino is 21 years old, living in Michigan allowed him to cross over into Canada and try his hand at the young age of 18. He says he’s mainly a cash game player with just a few excursions into the tournament world. He was encouraged to expand his game by friend and fellow Michigan resident Dean Hamrick (last year’s unfortunate November Nine bubble boy). His odds are floating between 10/1 and 15/1 which is the first big leap after Shulman’s 4/1. If Cada can channel his online success to this final table he will supplant Peter Eastgate as the youngest Main Event winner, just a year after Eastgate took that distinction away from Phil Hellmuth.

Our poker bloggers have this to say about Joe “jcada99″ Cada’s chances:

From Spaceman:

Joe Cada shares a lot of similarities with last year’s champion, Peter Eastgate, and they go beyond the obvious age factor. Like Cada this year, Eastgate came in to last year’s final table in the middle of the pack. Also like Cada, Eastgate was an online player who had seen as many hands by the age of 21 as professionals used to see in a decade of play (though Cada has a fair bit of live experience as well). And most importantly of all, Eastgate was overlooked as a contender for the title – much like Cada this year.

I think it’s a mistake to discount Cada’s chances in this tournament. He has a solid understanding of the math behind the game, so he won’t be chasing draws at the wrong time and he’ll also be able to make advanced plays based on implied odds. And with so much online experience, this 21-year-old also has a lot of final table experience that should translate into picking his spots well. Over the course of the last day leading up to the final table Cada demonstrated a fearless approach to accumulating chips, and he also demonstrated an ability to stay cool under pressure after having his A-A cracked by Jamie Robbins’ T-T. Both of those traits should serve him well at a table where he has more experience than about half of his opponents.

On Cada’s right are two of the three biggest stacks at the table, Eric Buchman and Steven Begleiter. Having position on these two will give Cada ample opportunity to make a few moves against players who can afford to give up a pot if they sense that they’re in trouble, and if he manages to catch a break in the early going and chip up then that position will become an effective weapon.

To his left are short-stacked Frenchman Antoine Saout and our fourth-place man, Jeff Shulman. Given his experience and aggressive style, it won’t be a big surprise to see Cada lean on both of these guys pretty heavily when he’s on the button. You can also expect him to get away from trouble spots pretty easily.

The key for Cada is going to be chip accumulation. If he’s able to build his stack, especially at the expense of Buchman or Begleiter, he’s going to be a serious threat to win. But if he takes a hit early his chances will mostly depend on a little help from the deck.

All told, I’d put Cada’s chances of winning at about 9/1.

From Riggstad:

This player is very interesting to me. I also see the comparisons between Eastgate and Cada. Chip stack, experience, and so on. But this guy has shown a very mature attitude during the whole event. He kind of reminds me of a very young Barry Greenstein. That being said he has his work cut out for him.

Chip accumulation is going to be a must, and with two monster stacks on the table it could prove to be fairly easy. The determination of that is going to be how the rest of the table plays. If the big stacks come out speeding and playing very fast and hard, Cada could be in a good spot. Of course, the same could be said if the big stacks play very tentatively. That could give Cada a good chance at picking up some nice sized pre flop pots. The question becomes if he will be the only guy vying for those uncontested pots. I think Mr. Ivey might have a thing or two to say about that.

The point I am trying to make is that Cada is one of the players at the table who needs to rely on luck the least in terms of skill and mind set. Unfortunately, I think his chances of winning the whole thing rely wholly on circumstance and luck. Circumstance in that he will need things to go perfectly in any given hand. Get raised into when he’s holding the nuts, be bluffed into when holding the goods, and have action when he does have hands. Luck in the sense that when he does make a move, he either doesn’t do it against a made hand, or he catches up. OK, OK, that seems very standard for anyone to win a tournament, but I don’t see him being able to grind his way to the win. He will need a fast start to scare off the bigger stacks in the middle portions. If that happens, look out. He will be tough to beat.

I’ll set the money line on him at +600.

Kevin Schaffel – Seat 4 – 12,390,000 chips (M = 19.67)
Current odds from 12/1 to 15/1

It’s not easy to categorize Kevin Schaffel. He’s certainly not an amateur, making the decision to jump into full time poker play just a little over 18 months ago, but it’s tough to slot him anywhere. He concentrates mostly on grinding it away in the cash games at his local Florida card rooms and traveling to various big tournaments. This year is his second deep run in the WSOP Main Event, he finished 42nd in 2004 in the tournament eventually won by Greg Raymer. He only has one other WSOP cash in his career and he’s already guaranteed his biggest tournament payday with the $1.2million check already in the bank. His career total before this series was just over $100,000.

His bankroll received another boost just a little over a month after reaching the WSOP Main Event final table when he entered the WPT Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle Casino. Whether it was a continued heater, his boosted confidence from Vegas, or a good player rising to the top, he had another huge run. 279 players paid up $10,000 for the tournament and Schaffel outlasted all but Prahlad Friedman to book a $470,000 day for second place.

He credits patience and a little luck for his run to the November Nine. At one point early in the Main Event he found himself drawing thin after flopping a set of tens versus a flopped straight. The board paired on the river and we’ll have to wait until November to write the final chapter on his tournament. He’ll restart the final table sitting with Phil Ivey (9,765,000) on his right and Steven Begleiter (29,885,000) on his left.

From Spaceman:

I find Schaffel’s chances at this final table the hardest of all to pinpoint. His run at the Legends of Poker proved that he has some very real poker skills and that he can hang in there with more experienced players, which bodes well for him. But he also has a number of near-misses in other big tournaments on his resume, which is where the difficulty in assessing begins to come into play.

When you have a number of double-digit finishes in big tournaments it can mean a number of things; you could just be unlucky, you could make bad calls or poorly-timed moves in tough situations, or you could tighten up too much and find yourself blinded down into low-M territory. Without the benefit of having seen Schaffel play a lot it’s hard to determine which of these factors has contributed the most to his middle-of-the-road cashes. There’s no way to account for being unlucky, but if Schaffel’s inability earlier in his poker career to push through to the final table rests on either bad calls or moves or on tightening up too much then that has to drag his chances down a bit.

Whatever happens at the table, Schaffel will most likely be very deliberate about every decision he makes. That can lead to overthinking tough situations, but it should also make him difficult for his opponents to read. If he gets on the right end of a hand-over-hand situation, that deliberative nature could become a big thorn in the side of all but his most experienced opponents. I would expect Schaffel to be a bit unwilling to take full advantage of being on the button against the two big stacks on his left, Steven Begleiter and Eric Buchman. And if Phil Ivey and James Akenhead on his right decide to attack his blinds, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to fold a wide range of hands that some others might play.

I put Schaffel’s chances in November at about 15/1.

From Riggstad:

Schaffel looks to be your standard player. That is a very good amateur who decided to take his game on the road and see how well he could do. Looks as if the guy has done some damage, but his position at the table is going to be a tough one for him. I would expect anyone watching this tournament to really not even notice him. Until something big happens. He doesn’t seem to be one for closing out finishes, and as Jason put it, who knows if that is bad luck or just poor decision making when getting deep.

I don’t know that the answer will be relevant. With his position it’s going to be difficult for him to take advantage of the deep stacks on his left. My assumptions are that Ivey, et al will steal them before he can. I don’t know if he will have it in him to play back. Unless of course he catches a rush. Then anything can happen. But all things being equal, Schaffel will have his hands full.

This may seem a bit harsh and maybe it’s a little bit of a reach but we go with what we got. Until this guy closes one out, he will be looked upon and judged by his results. Maybe, and hopefully for his friends and fans, this is the one. Anything can happen, and quite possibly he is taking the time to study his opponents and learn how he can adapt his game to overcome the obstacles set by his opponents, his position, and his stack.

I will set his line at +$1,500.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2

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Phil Ivey – Seat 3 – 9,765,000 chips (M = 15.5) Current odds from 4/1 to 7/1

Antoine Saout – Seat 8 – 9,500,000 chips (M = 15.08) Current odds from 12/1 to 20/1

James Akenhead – Seat 2 – 6,800,000 (M = 10.79) Current odds from 17/1 to 22/1

2009 World Series of Poker November Nine Part 2

Jeff Shulman – Seat 9 – 19,580,000 chips (M = 31.08) Current odds from 4/1 to 11/2

Joe “jcada99″ Cada – Seat 7 – 13,215,000 chips (M = 20.98) Current odds from 10/1 to 15/1

Kevin Schaffel – Seat 4 – 12,390,000 chips (M = 19.67) Current odds from 12/1 to 15/1

Phil Ivey – Seat 3 – 9,765,000 chips (M = 15.5)
Current odds from 4/1 to 7/1

Antoine Saout – Seat 8 – 9,500,000 chips (M = 15.08)
Current odds from 12/1 to 20/1

James Akenhead – Seat 2 – 6,800,000 (M = 10.79)
Current odds from 17/1 to 22/1

Jeff Shulman – Seat 9 – 19,580,000 chips (M = 31.08)
Current odds from 4/1 to 11/2

Joe “jcada99″ Cada – Seat 7 – 13,215,000 chips (M = 20.98)
Current odds from 10/1 to 15/1

Kevin Schaffel – Seat 4 – 12,390,000 chips (M = 19.67)
Current odds from 12/1 to 15/1