PokerStars Poker Blog

PokerStars' Joe Cada wins WSOP Main Event!

2009-11-10T12:17:30Z

Simon Young http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/cgi-bin/MT/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=32&id=68

WSOP Main Event: A chat with the champion

2009-11-10T10:49:33Z

At close to 1.45am Tuesday, in the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Joe Cada, from Shelby Township, MI, was crowned the youngest World Series of Poker champion in the event's 40-year history. Once the bracelet was wrapped around his wrist and the whooping of his supporters had temporarily abated, PokerStars Blog sat down with Cada for his first exclusive interview since that momentous victory in Las Vegas.

PS Blog: You're the new World Champion. How does that make you feel?
Joe Cada: I feel great. I mean it's a pretty sick feeling, but everything is positive.

PSB: What was going through your mind at that final moment?
JC: I can't picture it any different. It's a dream come true. It really didn't hit me after I won it, and it still hasn't really hit me yet.

PSB: How long do you think it will take to sink in?
JC: A few weeks.

PSB: What did you make of Darvin Moon, your heads up opponent?
JC: Darvin played a great game. He put me in a lot of tough spots. He did really well. Props to Darvin. He played great. He had my back against the wall, but luckily I came through.

PSB: You explained that you were petrified of losing, but did that affect your game?
JC: I mean, the fear of losing sucks, but you just have to play your game. And you can't think about what's at risk. You just have to play correct poker and I just tried to ignore first place at the time.

PSB: Can you just remind us of your online name?
JC: It's JCada99.

PSB: And the nines played quite a big part in tonight's proceedings, didn't they. [Cada's winning hand was pocket nines, but he also lost the first pot of the evening with the same hand against Moon's queens.] Did you look down on the nines and fear the worst?
JC: Yeah. But he was reraising a lot. At first I wouldn't have been so comfortable with him reraising there. But he was reraising a lot and it was an easy hand to ship. Fortunately I won the race.

PSB: How are you going to celebrate?
JC: Party it up with all my friends who came out here to support me.

PSB: Any final words?
JC [admiring bracelet]: PokerStars takes another one down.

WSOP crowns Joe Cada, youngest Main Event champion

2009-11-10T10:00:41Z

There are people who cannot succeed without adversity. They need pressure. They require potential disaster to force them beyond even their own expectations. The poker world is just getting to know Joe Cada, but it's clear the new World Series of Poker champion thrives on the edge. In a heads-up battle versus Maryland logger Darvin Moon that lasted nearly three hours, Cada started ahead, teetered on the brink of elimination, and once again came back.

Now Cada has no one else to beat. With a tear in the corner of his eye and his lips pursed to hold back obvious emotion, Cada lifted his new bracelet above his head and accepted his role of ambassador to the poker world.

In 1989, Phil Hellmuth surprised both opponent Johnny Chan and the poker world when at 24 years old he became the youngest-ever WSOP Main Event champion. There were people (chiefly Hellmuth) who thought the record would never be broken. That changed after 24 years when the then 22-year-old Peter Eastgate stepped into the Rio's Penn and Teller Theater and won the 2008 WSOP.

Then came this year's Main Event and the battle between 6,494 people from all over the world. The two-week fight led us to the Penn and Teller Theater where only one player was young enough to break Eastgate's record. Cada is 340 days younger than Eastgate and has proven to be no ordinary kid. By the time the Michigan native was 19 years old, he had enough money to buy his first home--in cash. An online whizkid, Cada went to his first WSOP and cashed in two events before sitting down for the big one. Then he went and made the final table.

Still, when he started November Nine play, Cada was fifth in chips. Making his odds even longer, at one point during the final table Cada held only 1% of the chips in play. It would've been tough to find a bettor anywhere in Vegas who would've put much money down on Cada walking away with the bracelet.

But this is Las Vegas. This is the World Series of Poker. This is a place where the unlikely is expected and the longshots prove reason for hope. This is the place where Joe Cada came back from the brink of an early finish and won the biggest and most coveted prize in the world.

Coming into heads-up play tonight, Cada had a 2.3-1 chip lead on Darvin Moon and a boatload more tournament experience. Moon doesn't play online, doesn't own a credit card, and had never been on a plane before the WSOP. Cada, meanwhile, probably plays more hands a year online than Moon has played in his life. Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein predicted a 28-hand heads-up battle, and there were a lot of smart people willing to take the under.

On the very first hand of play, however, Moon took a nice chunk out of Cada's stack in a pocket queens versus pocket nines battle (read about the hand HERE). Those pocket nines would come back around again, but not before Cada found himself in an unenviable position.

Within a few minutes of play and a couple more big hands, Moon had taken over the chip lead. Suddenly, all the people who were ready to simply give the bracelet to Cada before the event began were shifting in their seats.

Was it possible that the Maryland logger under the New Orleans Saints ball cap would find a way to deny Cada his place in history? Would conventional wisdom be as worthless as it had been through most of the final table play? Cada would have none of that. It took him less than 15 minutes to come back and reclaim the exact same lead he'd had at the start of play. And then, again, he lost most of it back.

Cada had been down in chips before. This was the place he knew. This was like home. And he knew just what to do.

When Cada raised to three million, he got a call from Moon. The flop came out [Tc][5s][9h]. Both players checked to the [td] turn. That's when Cada came in for three million again. He had to be a little surprised to see Moon push all-in, well enough to cover Cada and well enough to put on the rail in second place. This was the place where the younger man simply had to be right. Wrong, and he's gone.

Finally, Cada announced call and turned over [jh][9d] for second pair. He was right.

Moon held [7s][8s] for the open-ended straight draw. Moon had seven outs to the river and none of them came. Suddenly, Cada held the chip lead again. And this time he wouldn't give it up.

Just a few hands later, Cada made it his standard three million and Moon raised to eight million. This time Cada pounced and put it all-in. Moon barely thought at all before waving his hand and saying, "Call." The hands?

Moon: [Jd][Qd]
Cada: [9d][9c]

There were those nines again for Cada. On the first hand of heads-up play, they cost him a huge pot. On the last hand? Well, on the last hand, the board ran out [8c][2c][7s][kh][7c] and made Joe Cada a champion.

When it was over, the young man was gracious. He congratulated Moon, saying his opponent played "absolutely great." He thanked his friends and fans who made up a big percentage of the crowd. "I'd like to think all my fans for coming out and supporting me. A lot of them took off school and work to come here. I really appreciate that."

But in front of the assembled crowd, that was about all Cada could choke out. Unlike a lot of the young ones who came up on the internet, for Cada this was not a ho-hum-ship-it moment. This was real. That was a dream come true before before Cada got old enough to realize that it was an impossible dream. At 21 years old, he was the envy of the poker world, a great deal wealthier, and free to dream even bigger.

When Joe Cada's fans walked into the Rio two days ago, they all wore bright shirts that bore the legend "The Kid." They all now need new shirts, because henceforth, Joe Cada will be called "The Comeback Kid."

He will also answer to "2009 World Series of Poker champion."

Watch WSOP 2009 November Nine - Joe Cada WSOP Champion on PokerStars.tv

WSOP Main Event: Heads up to a champion, Joe Cada

2009-11-10T09:27:54Z

This hour began shortly after a 20-minute break, and Darvin Moon seemed by far the more refreshed. He was the aggressor in all of the early pots and took most of them down, regularly making reraises of about five million, which was consistently too rich for Cada.

The Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, watching from the wings, was impressed by Moon's attitude in the early stages, and told our video blog team how he saw the opening salvos, a video that sets the tone for the action to follow. Here's Greenstein, interviewed during the break.

Watch WSOP 2009 November Nine - Barry Greenstein On Playing Heads Up on PokerStars.tv

The action that followed, though, showed that Cada is made of stern stuff. One key pots hauled him right back in it. The next one won the title. Check out the action:

Cada raises to three million pre-flop and Moon folds.

Moon this time raises to the preferred three million, but Cada bucks a trend by calling. It comes [5c][7h][2h] and after Cada checks, Moon bets five million, which is too rich for Cada. Moon takes that one down to add to his chip lead.

Cada with the three million pre-flop opener this time, called by Cada. This flop is similarly low: [4d][8c][4c] and there are two checks. The [6h] is also checked before the crowd murmurs conspiratorially at the [4h] river. Neither one is up for a bet though and they both show an ace for a chopped pot.

Moon raises this time. Three million, of course, and it's good.

Cada gets the first raise in, three million as if we needed to be told. The flop is [3h][5d][ac] and Moon likes it, betting five million. Cada likes that even more, though, and moves 13 million in, a re-raise of eight million. Moon is completely unperturbed, raising another 17 million. Cada is caught at it and folds, to grand whooping from his, er, whooping section. Cada's fans respond with some "Let's go Cada!"s of their own, but their man is now solidly in second place. Moon has 145,200,000 and Cada has 49,600,000.

Three million from Moon; call from Cada, easy alliteration for the writers. The flop is [6d][4h][kh], check check. The turn is [qd] and they check, as they do the [jc] river. Cada's ace high wins this one.

Cada with the three million, which persuades Moon to fold.

Moon takes the blind money back immediately, making it three million and Cada folding.

Here's something for the purists, a re-raise pre-flop. Cada slides out the three million, Moon adds another five million, Cada folds. This is one way traffic at the moment.

Cada is back with the three million (I think I missed out a hand somewhere close to here, but don't tell anyone). Moon calls and they see a flop. It's [8d][10c][10s]. Cada bets three million and they both check the [9c] on the turn. Cada likes the river and bets seven million on the [7s]. Moon called and was shown a six for the ten-high straight. Moon's two pair, which he shows, are second best.

Moon three million. Cada folds. Enough.

Here's some more pre-flop shenanigans, with Cada raising to three million, Moon reraising to eight million, and Cada moving into the tank. He emerges with an all in shove, which is the first time during the heads up battle, I think, that Cada has announced the intention to gamble for all his chips. It's about 50 million for Moon to ponder, but ponder he does. And he ponders. He clearly doesn't want to fold, but eventually he does and Cada's cheering section goes wild.

Back to normality, at least at the start. Moon raises to three million and Cada calls. So far so typical. They see a flop of [10c][9c][8d] and Moon bets five million at it, which Cada calls. We're getting deep. The turn is [kd] and Moon finds 15 million to fire at this one. This time it's Cada who is forced to let it down, giving back the good work from the previous hand. 136 to 58. Million that is, Moon over Cada.

Cada raises pre-flop and for once, that is good.

What? What? Moon folds and gives Cada a walk. What on earth kind of poker is that?

Ah, that's better. Cada makes it three million, Moon calls, and the flop comes [8c][10d][4h]. Moon fires five million at that and Cada lets it go.

Another walk for Cada.

Here's a big hand right here. Here it is, read it!
Cada raises to three million and Moon calls for a flop of [10c][5d][9h]. Check, check. The turn is [10d] and Cada bets three million, which brings out the patented Darvin Moon overbet. It really is an overbet too, he announces that he's all in, which of course covers Cada's stack. Cada goes into the tank and is told that it'll cost his entire stack of 48,150,000 to call. But call he does, and he's ahead. Cada has [jh][9d] and he's going to have to fade seven outs as Moon shows [7s][8s]. The river is neither a six nor a jack and Cada's fans go wild. He now has 108 million and has regained the chip lead.

They get all the way to a river on a scary-looking board. It's [as][jh][kd][jc][ah] when Moon bets 11 million and Cada gives up all interest he might have in this one.

Joe Cada

Two hands on the spin are taken by Moon with bets on the flop, but the next hand gets to the river. Cada check calls the flop and the turn on the board of [10d][ks][7d], when Moon bets 10 million. The river is [9d] and Cada checks. Moon checks behind and Cada's [10c][9c]. Cada has hauled this one all the way back: he now has 120,100,000 to Moon's 74,700.

Wow, wow, wow. Joe Cada is the new World Series Main Event champion. Here's the winning hand:
Cada raised pre-flop to three million. So far so normal. Moon made it eight million. So far so normal. Cada now shoved all in. So far, not so normal. Moon called. Wow, wow, wow. This pot would almost certainly decide where the bracelet went.

Cada showed [9d][9c]. Moon showed [jd][qd].

They were flipping for it, and after much delay, the board came: [8c][2c][7s] ... [kh] ... [7c].

The stage became a mass of bouncing canaries as Cada's supporters mobbed the youngest winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Full wrap up and quotes to follow. Phew.

WSOP Main Event: Heads-up in the second hour

2009-11-10T08:26:06Z

The last hour of heads-up play did not contain any huge, huge pots. That said, at the end of the second hour of play, Darvin Moon held the chip lead.

They started play with blinds of 600,000/1.2 million and a 200,000 ante.

Here is a hand-by-hand account of the past hour.

* Darvin Moon raised to 3.1 million, and Joe Cada called. The flop came down [Qc][2h][6s]. Cada checked, Moon bet 5 million and Cada folded.

* Cada raised to 3.1 million and Moon called. They saw a flop of [td][8h][5s]. Both players checked to the [7c] turn. Moon led at it for 5 million and Cada folded.

* Moon rasied to 3.1 million and Cada folded.

* Cada rasied to 3 million. Moon re-raised another 5 million and Cada called. The flop fell [kc][7s][6h]. Moon bet 5 million and got a call. The turn came [3s]. Moon moved all-in without blinking and Cada folded.

* We missed the action here, but it was irrelevant. Cada's jack-high beat Moon's ten-high for a small pot.

* Cada raised to 2.5 million and got the call. The two men saw a flop of [7d][8s][5h]. Moon bet 3 million and Cada folded.

* Chip counts at this point

Moon: 83,750,000
Cada: 111,050,000

* Cada made it 3 million, Moon called, and they saw a flop of [tc][9c][7s]. Both players the [8c] turn and [kc] river. Moon held jack-nine and it was good.

* Moon made it 3 million and Cada folded.

* Cada bumped it up 2.5 million and Moon called. Flop [8s][Qc][4h] Both players checked to the [3h] turn. Moon checked and saw Cada bet 3 million. That was enough to make Moon fold.

* Cada raised to 3 million, Moon re-raised to 8 million. Cada thought for 1,2,3 seconds before mucking.

* Moon raised to 3 million and took down the pot

* Cada raised to 3 million and Moon folded

* Moon raised to 3 million and Cada pushed out 10.2 million. Moon grabbed for a few stacks and bumped it up to 25 million. Cada went deep into the tank. Finally, with a rueful smile, he folded. Moon assured him after the fold, that he was willing to go all-in.

*New chip count:

Moon: 97,650,000
Cada 97,150,000

* Cada rasied to 3 million and Moon barely hesitated before making it 8 million. Score another one for Moon.

* Cada picked up 7 million off Moon.

* Cada raised to 3 million and Moon called. The flop [Jc][3d][9d]. Cada checked to Moon who bet 6 million and took it down.

* Cada raised and took it down.

* The players took a break with these chip counts.

Moon: 95,500,000
Cada 99,300,000

* Moon raised and picked up the pot.

* Cada came in for a raise, Moon called [8d][4d][As]. Moon led at the pot for 6 million and Cada called. The turn was the [7d]. That drew an 8.5 million bet from Moon. Cada quickly called. The river, [jh], forced Moon to check. Moon held an eight in his hand, good for one pair, and the win.

* Moon raised to 3 million and Cada called. On the flop of [Ah][4s][9c]. Cada checked and Moon checked to see the [9h]. Cada bet 4 million. Moon raised to 12 million and got a quick fold from Cada.

* Chip counts:

Moon: 122,600,000
Cada: 72,200,000

WSOP Main Event: Final table, heads up, the first hour

2009-11-10T07:30:51Z

The opening hour of final table play was certainly tense but it was anything but tight. There was a huge pot on the very first hand, won by Moon, and the Maryland man ended up taking the chip lead after winning the first few.

But Cada won two decisive big pots to haul himself back into the lead, and the hour ended with the approximate counts as follows:

Joe Cada: 131,050,000
Darvin Moon: 63,750,000

Here are the major incidents from an hour where the blinds and antes were 500,000-1,000,000 (150,000).

Hand one
Wow. That could easily have got even more nasty than it did. On the very first hand, Darvin Moon called Joe Cada's big blind, but the youngster took his option to raise, making it 2,500,000 more. Moon called. The flop came [3s][ks][2d] and Cada bet 3.5m. Moon bumped it up to 10m and Cada called. The turn was [ad] and Cada this time check-called Moon's 10m bet. The river was the [kc] and now both players slowed down, each checking. Moon flipped pocket queens and Cada showed pocket nines: two premium heads up starting hands that sends the first notable pot in Moon's direction.

Hand four
Cada won a small pot back from Moon, when he raised pre-flop to 2.5m and Moon called. The flop came [qs][2h][qd] and when Cada led out, Moon let it go.

Hand seven
Cada made it 2.5m pre-flop, as he has done more than once. Moon called for a flop of [8s][6c][4h], which both of them checked. The turn was [ac] and after Moon checked, Cada bet 3.5m. Moon made it 5m more, which Cada called, but he was forced to let it go when Moon fired 7.5m on the river. Two big pots for Moon at the start of heads up play drew the chip stacks close to even.

Hand 11
Joe Cada flopped the nuts. He had [kd][9d] and managed to extract about 5m out of Moon on an ace-high, all diamond board. He checked the flop and bet small on turn and river. Moon called and mucked.

Hand 12
This hasn't been the case for a while, but Darvin Moon is the chip leader of the World Series Main Event. They got to a flop of [6s][5d][jc] and after Cada bet 3.5m, Moon raised another 5m on top. Cada called. The turn came [qd], which both players checked, but Cada called Moon's 7.25m bet on the [2h] river. Moon showed [qh][8s] and Cada mucked. With that, Moon moved to more than 100,000,000 and Cada just shy of that.

The contenders

Hand 15
Darvin Moon makes it 3m to play, to which Cada is amenable. The flop comes [qc][js][7d] and they both check. The turn is [10h], checked again. The river comes [5h]. Cada bets 1,750,000, Moon calls, but Cada's pocket tens are better than Moon's eights. A small chunk back to Cada.

Hand 17
There's the massive hand we've been leading up to, and it goes in the favour of Joe Cada. Moon made it 3m pre-flop and Cada called. The flop came [jc][4h][2d] and Moon bets 4m at it, which Cada calls. It all gets nasty on the [qh] turn. Cada checks, Moon bets 6m and Cada now comes to life, making it another 10m or so. Moon calls that one and they see a [5c] on the river. Cada says no more checking, and leads out 35m. Moon slumps back in his chair, then folds. Cada regains the chip lead.

Hand 27
Darvin Moon showed down a couple of strange bluffs during Saturday's play and Joe Cada has just caught him at another one. Moon raised pre-flop to 2.5m and Cada called. They then checked it all the way down to the river: [10d][ah][3h][6c][4s]. Cada bet 3m but Moon now raised 10m more. Cada seemed perplexed but made the call and trapped Moon's hands in the cookie jar. Moon showed [jh][5h] for jack high, while Cada had [js][10h] for a pair of tens.

WSOP Main Event: Final table, heads up, let's go

2009-11-10T06:30:59Z

What's the big deal about $8.5m? I don't know*, but the bundle of money that currently sits between Joe Cada and Darvin Moon in the Penn and Teller Theater is certainly attracting a good deal of attention. It was around 10pm yesterday that it made its first appearance, tipped out of about seven silver briefcases by seven burly security guards. It then sat on a glorified coffee table for the next umpteen hours as seven players saw their chances of acquiring it go up in smoke.

Flash forward to this evening and the money has now been deposited centre stage, on the middle of a single green battleground. Men in suits spent about 30 minutes arranging it in carefully-crafted random piles, then a clutch of dealers posed behind it, arms around the swag whose ultimate destination will be decided by their work tonight. All this took place in the moments before play began this evening, but now those heads-up competitors are out there, slugging it out across the baize for the right to call themselves world champion.

Darvin Moon, left, and Joe Cada

Moon v Cada. Cada v Moon. They're the two fighters now going at it bare-knuckled. Check back here soon for full information about the first hour; the jabs and the ducks, the swipes and the parries. Someone might even be on the canvass. We'll let you know.

In the meantime, share the thoughts of PokerStars' Joe Cada. He's our horse.

Watch WSOP 2009 November Nine - Joe Cada On Playing Heads Up on PokerStars.tv

*I do really.

WSOP Main Event: Cada, Moon to face off at 10pm

2009-11-09T22:37:50Z

After losing almost everything he had in front of him in the biggest game he'd ever played, PokerStars player Joe Cada figured he was destined to finish in seventh place and become just another asterisk in the World Series of Poker history book. Tonight, Cada has to beat one more player in his quest to be the youngest ever WSOP Main Event champion.

Cada, the fresh-faced 21-year-old from Michigan, holds a 136,925,000 to 58,875,000 chip lead over plain-spoken Maryland logger Darvin Moon going into tonight's 10pm heads-up match. To get there, he rode a bungee cord of emotions and fortune on Saturday night. (all chronicled in our WSOP live coverage).

Though we spoke to Cada Saturday night, it was after a marathon session and after he'd done a million and half interviews. So, just a couple of hours ago, we caught up with the man who might be champion and asked him to reflect a bit on what it took to get this far.

Watch WSOP 2009 November Nine - Joe Cada Reflects on PokerStars.tv

We will once again be reporting live from the Penn and Tell Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas beginning at 10pm tonight.

Join us as we watch to see whether Cada can hold off Moon and make WSOP history.

WSOP Final Table: PokerStars' Joe Cada

2009-11-09T10:14:55Z

Simon Young http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/cgi-bin/MT/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=32&id=68

Sunday Million: This just in, Justin1836 scores $236K in Sunday Million win

2009-11-09T09:11:15Z

As many players logged in tonight there was a message the PokerStars' brass concerning next week's Sunday Million. No, the buy-in hasn't been raised; it will still be $215 much like the 7,887 players paid tonight. Likewise the tournament will start at 3:30 Eastern Standard Time as normal. But next week PokerStars will be adding a million to the Sunday Million, bringing the guaranteed prize pool to a staggering $2.5 million! Even as the final table approached this evening there were already 106 players signed up. With the top prize tonight standing at $236,614.05 next week that should nearly double as there will be over 10,000 players expected to join in for the extra cash being put up by PokerStars.

As for tonight there was plenty of action before the final table starting with the long run of Ryan "g0lfa" D'Angelo who was looking to add a Sunday Million title to his two WCOOP victories earlier this year (read the Event #18 recap, Event #29 recap, and the winner's interview from Brad "Otis" Willis here, here, and here). D'Angelo got low on chips however after a bad beat against twopairdad, and never recovered finishing 18th tonight ($4,180.11). Following behind Ryan was the one-time far and away chip leader idoubleL who held over 16 million chips with the average at five million and second place holding only eight million. Double ups went to Justin1836, fpmj, huebiheftig, and finally tnetter in a 10 minute span and the one time chip leader was out in 17th ($4,180.11).

strip23 who recently chopped up the Sunday Warm-up for $110K, got close again tonight but lost a key coin flip with big slick versus the pocket queens of fpmj and finished in 11th place ($8,439.09). Bubble time had plenty of all-ins but couldn't find a caller until Lucelsar shoved from the button with [7s][Ah] and blinds at 150K/300K ante 30K. Justin1836 would cover the 4.4 million chip shove and call with [Ad][8c]. But the double paired [9h] [2h] [2d] [9c] [3s] board had the two players chopping up the pot as the bubble lingered on nearing 30 minutes while the blinds bumped up to 200K/400K ante 40K.

Three hands after the bump in the blinds agriffrod would raise to 900K from the button with pocket jacks [Js][Jh] as Mr Blankey in the big blind holding [9s][Ks] decided go for the re-steal by three-betting all-in. agriffrod covered, made the call, and was rewarded with a jack on the flop that made a boat by the river [Jc] [6h] [2h] [7c] [6c] to burst the long bubble and tucked in Mr Blankey with 10th place money ($8,439.09) setting up the final table below:

Click image for larger picture

Seat 1: tnetter (13124166 in chips)
Seat 2: Lucelsar (3030095 in chips)
Seat 3: huebiheftig (7499506 in chips)
Seat 4: gibler321 (6241755 in chips)
Seat 5: Osorno01 (13777775 in chips)
Seat 6: Justin1836 (5536385 in chips)
Seat 7: popotibo (8654580 in chips)
Seat 8: agriffrod (12522107 in chips)
Seat 9: fpmj (8483631 in chips)

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein was all set up to take on hosting duties tonight, but since Hevad Khan was already in the house the elder statesman took leave as RaiNKhaN would assist the players this evening.

With blinds starting at 200K/400K ante 40K Lucelsar would start off the fast paced final table by opening all-in for nearly three million chips from the button with [Ad][3d] and gibler321 would make the call holding a slightly better [4d][Ah]. The [6c] [7d] [9c] [6d] [6h] board would not cooperate for either player as they split the pot.

Seven hands later the first massive pot of the final table took place between fpmj and huebiheftig. Watch the nearly 15 million chip pot play out below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Massive cooler to start off the final table as huebiheftig found pocket queens [Qc][Qh] behind the opening raise of fpmj and decided to push all-in for 7.2 million. fpmj wasn't trying to steal the blinds with pocket aces [As][Ac], and the [5s] [Kh] [5d] [Ad] [9c] board further cemented the lead after turning a boat, leaving huebiheftig drawing dead by the river and earning $12,224.85 for ninth place.

The very next hand Lucelsar would again try to pick off the blinds with a button shove but this time with worse cards holding [5c][7c]. gibler321 did not call from the small blind, but Osorno01 did call from the big blind and covered easily with [9s][Js]. The two spade flop [3c] [Ks] [Ts], cut down several outs for Lucelsar. The [8h] turn and [6h] river hit neither player as the mighty jack-high took down the 7.3 million chip pot and sent Lucelsar home in eighth place ($18,140.10).

Four hands after that (did I mention action, action, action yet?) gibler321 and agriffrod found a way to make a 12 million chip pot preflop. gibler321 holding a pocket pair of fours [4c][4s] were up against the big slick [Ah][Kd] of agriffrod. The board failed to connect with the ace-king as gibler321 doubled up to over 12 million while the VIP Supernova agriffrod slipped to 7.8 million with blinds still holding at 200K/400K ante 40K.

Two hands after that all-in we got to see a couple of second of post-flop play between fpmj and popotibo. popotibo would start the betting by raising in middle position to just over a million chips as fpmj would call from the button to see the [3h] [8h] [3c] flop. popotibo checked as fpmj would immediately bet enough to put popotibo all-in. The snap call from popotibo was due to hitting top pair with [8c][9h]. Unfortunately for popotibo, the chip leading fpmj would roll over a better kicker the form of an ace [As][8s]. The rest of the board [6d][Kd] failed to bring a nine or the case trey and popotibo was eliminated in seventh place ($31,548.00).

fpmj would take even more chips off the table from gibler321 shortly after popotibo was gone, after check-raising a flop of [5h] [3h] [9h] to take down a 15 million chip pot to solidify the chip lead...

... for two hands as agriffrod would double up off the chip leader holding pocket jacks [Jd][Js] having them hold up against the [Ac][Jh] of fpmj on the [8d] [4s] [Kh] [Ts] [Ks] board for a 14 million chip pot as the blinds moved up to 250K/500K ante 50K.

Finally the players came up for air and no other eliminations happened during the blind level as the chips stacked up as shown below while the blinds moved to 300K/600K ante 60K and fpmj retaining a slight lead over agriffrod and Osorno01:

Seat 1: tnetter (9,048,616 in chips)
Seat 4: gibler321 (6,762,273 in chips)
Seat 5: Osorno01 (17,667,870 in chips)
Seat 6: Justin1836 (5,846,385 in chips)
Seat 8: agriffrod (17,545,704 in chips)
Seat 9: fpmj (21,999,152 in chips)

Uncle Jessie's favorite visting friend came out firing after the break, at one point winning seven of ten pots then gibler321 took on a min-raise from Justin1836 with a push all-in. Justin1836 would call holding [Ks][Qs] as gibler321 was a big favorite to win with [Ad][Qd]. The flop hit Justin1836's king [5c] [Jc] [Kd] as gibler321 was put on the defensive. Diamond on the turn [4d] gave gibler flush outs to go with any ace, or ten. [3s] on the river completed the suckout as Justin1836 gained the 15 million chip pot and gibler321 was down to just four million chips. But the tables would turn three hands later as gibler took the underdog into the hand and winning. After shoving all-in with [Ks][6d] gibler321 would watch Justin1836 call and roll over pocket queens. But a king on the flop would hold for gibler321 thru the [Kd] [Td] [5s] [4c] [Th] board and gain back 8.1 million chips.

As the blinds moved up to 400K/800K ante 80K, gibler321 was firmly on the short stack holding just five million chips and in keeping up the aggressive game pushed from the button with an above average [8s][Ac]. Osorno01 held pocket tens [Tc][Ts] in the small blind and quickly made the call while Justin1836 folded the big blind. The excitement was all let out after gibler's first two all-ins with a call as the board [6h] [7s] [2s] [Qh] [3h] failed to improve either player and gibler321 sent home from the full house in sixth place ($47,322.00), improving on the $25K recently earned from a fifth place finish in the Sunday 500.

Eight hands later, fpmj would lose a coin flip holding pocket sevens [7s][7d] against Justin1836's [8s][Ah] for a huge 21.2 million chip pot but would avoid elimination just seven hands later against Osorno01. This time is was fpmj's turn to take down a 21 million chip pot as the firm favorite holding [As][9c] against the [9d][Kh] of Osorno01 as fpmj's hand would hold on the [8s] [Kd] [Ad] [2c] [2d] board.

tnetter quietly picked off blinds, not gaining much ground but not losing it either. After picking up a suited [5s][7s] in the cutoff, tnetter tried for another blind steal, but Justin1836 was eagerly waiting in the small blind with pocket kings [Ks][Kd]. The broadway flop of [Qc] [Ac] [Th] had tnetter drawing even more slim and the [4h] ended the short stack's night in fifth place ($63,096.00).

Seven hands later, Justin1836 would try to further the newly found chip lead against Osorno01 in a blind versus blind battle. Check out the video below for the conclusion:

RSS readers click through to see replay

The ace high of Justin1836 [2h][Ah] would hold up over the [Jc][Qs] of Osorno01 on the [6h] [5c] [7c] [5d] [8h] board as another 24 million chips found their way into Justin1836's chip stack. Osorno01 would head home with a huge fourth place cash ($79,500.96).

agriffrod was firm on not cutting any deals despite the huge 500K/1MM ante 100K blinds during three handed play. fpmj would be the first to double up nailing a full house with pocket tens against agriffrod's [Qd][8c] after agriffrod's blind versus blind steal attempt. Five hands later it was agriffrod's turn to regain some chips. [Ac][6c] all-in from the button for agriffrod as Justin1836 called from the big blind holding [9s][Kh]. agriffrod would hit a meaningless six on the turn of the [Tc] [7s] [3d] [6s] [Qs] board and double up to 21.3 million.

After several hand of push and fold poker it only took two hands to determine this week's Sunday Million champion.

fpmj would push the shortest stack at the table from the button holding a suited connector [8h][7h] and 12.4 million chips as Justin1836 would make the call with [9h][Ac] from the small blind and covered. [2c] [6s] [Th] on the flop added a few more straight outs for fpmj, [2s] on the turn help neither player, and an unnecessary [Ad] on the river send fpmj out in third place with a six figure score ($118,305.00).

Heads-up play was the blink and it was gone variety. Or one could describe it as a $63K bad beat story as well. Watch the video below after taking some antacids as it's a bumpy ride for our final two from flop to river:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Still queasy? This author was a bit after watching the replay of this $63K hand. If you can't watch the video, Justin1836 started the hand off with a min-raise to two million, agriffrod would three-bet to 5.05 million, as Justin1836 would four-bet all-in with [Ad][6c]. agriffrod would call with [Ah][Th] and be all-in for the tournament as Justin1836 covered by 18 million.

The flop was a safe [3c] [8c] [4d] for agriffrod to earn the 60 million chips sitting in the middle. [Tc] on the turn changed Justin1836's outs from a six to any club , and as a good friend tells me, clubs always get there, and they did with the [Qc] on the river shipping the rest of the tournament chips to Justin1836 and became this week's Sunday Million champion winning $236,614.05 in the process!

A tough beat to swallow for agriffrod who got the money in good but the board didn't cooperate. The 2009 SCOOP Event #14 final tablist (read write up here) improved on the $66K earned this spring by taking $173,514.00 as tonight's runner-up.

Be sure to check in on Tuesday at PokerStars.TV to see the final table action along with commentary and hole cards to follow along with the high level play shown tonight.

$1.5 Million Guarantee Sunday Million Results (11-08-09)
1. Justin1836 (Baltimore) $236,614.05
2. agriffrod (Boss.) $173,514.00
3. fpmj (Cascais) $118,305.00
4. Osorno01 (NH-Brazil) $79,500.36
5. tnetter (Austin) $63,096.00
6. gibler321 (Jupiter) $47,322.00
7. popotibo (ARGENTAN) $31,548.00
8. Lucelsar (nancy) $18,140.10
9. huebiheftig (Hamburg) $12,224.85

Sunday Warm-up: DaHusstla makes all the right moves in victory

2009-11-09T04:40:19Z

While those of us at home wait patiently for the ESPN rebroadcast of yesterday's World Series of Poker Main Event final table, you could click a few links here at the PokerStarsBlog as the live crew traveled back to Vegas and chronicled shrinking the November nine from nine to two via this game of skill. The Penn and Teller Theater will be alive again tomorrow for the conclusion as PokerStars' sponsored Joe Cada will take his chip lead against the man who held the chip lead for four months, Darvin Moon.

Tonight however we have big poker action for those who followed the exploits of the November nine into the wee hours last night. The $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up started off at noon Central Standard Time with 4,578 runners signing over $215 for a shot at the $143,641.17 first place prize. Among those in the running late were a rarity at the PokerStars tables, someone holding six stars with a nifty black background like former Sunday Million winner tsifknits. The Supernova Elite was alive up to the final two tables but ran pocket threes into the pocket tens of jackson18249 and couldn't find any help from the board but took home $2,746.80 in 17th place.

A railbird asked how one makes it to the final table of the Sunday Majors while 2009 WCOOP final tablist DAVIDOXXX was all-in with [As][Qd] against the pocket deuces of Falfaris [2d][2c] and the board [2h] [Kc] [3c] [2s] [9s] to give Falfaris four-of-a-kind.

Another commenter deadpanned after the hand "Get quads".

Tonight's bubble boy probably hoped for quads but would have settled for just a pair as BabyAS was all-in with [7d][Ah] against the [Ad][Qd] of DaHussstla. The [3d][5h] [Ts] [3c] [Js] missed both players but DaHussstla's queen kicker was enough to send BabyAS into the corner as the bubble boy in tenth place ($5,493.60) setting up the final table below:

Click on image for larger picture

Seat 1: lukro8 (3497262 in chips)
Seat 2: DaHussstla (5662939 in chips)
Seat 3: Falfaris (3210426 in chips)
Seat 4: Frank NoLuck (686588 in chips)
Seat 5: Slayer_pol (5418052 in chips)
Seat 6: jphilli (9357408 in chips)
Seat 7: Shippotamus (6981026 in chips)
Seat 8: jackson18249 (7588193 in chips)
Seat 9: Thrasymachus (3378106 in chips)

jphilli comes in as the chip leader this evening after making a tough call with 15 players remaining on a coordinated board with a set of nines against the push of Thrasymachus who held pocket queens and an open-ended straight draw. No outs arrived as jphilli starts off with the most chips and 65K/130K ante 13K blinds.

Seven hands in the short stacked Frank NoLuck found a lucky double-up with [Ad][Jc] finding an ace on the board against pocket queens [Qs][Qh] of Slayer_Pol for a 1.5 million chip pot to stay afloat. But, ten hands later Frank No Luck would find no improvement on that short stack and found those newly acquired chips in the middle pre-flop against Falfaris. After folding around to the small blind, Falfaris would shove a covering stack into the Frank NoLuck in the big blind. Needing to gamble after losing some of those chips in previous hands found in the double-up, Frank NoLuck would make the call for 690,176 total holding [Js][8s] and probably was surprised about being ahead of Falfaris' [6s][9c]. A flopped jack [7h] [As] [Jh] gave Frank No Luck a big lead, the turned [Td] gave FalFaris outs that were not there before, and the river [8c] snatched away Frank NoLuck's victory giving FalFaris the straight and sending Frank NoLuck home in ninth place ($7,324.80).

The very next hand a shift in the chip lead would take place as jackson18249 and chip leader jphilli would play an expensive game of chicken. With the blinds at 100K/200K ante 20K jphilli would open from the button for 444,000 and jackson18249 re-popped for 1.28 million from the big blind as jphilli would make the call to see the [2c] [8c] [2s] flop. jackson18249 would lead out for 1.48 million and jphilli made the call. [Kh] on the turn and jackson18249 would slow down and check as jphilli tried a 1.75 million chip bet to take down the pot but jackson18249 came alive with a check-raise all-in for 5.75 million total. The bet was not answered and jackson18249 took down the huge 9.2 million chip pot as the hole cards will have to wait to be revealed tomorrow during the replay of the final table as shown in the PokerStars lobby.

After a quick five minute break, the players wasted no time getting back to business. On the very first hand after the break, with the blinds up to 100K/200K ante 20K, lukro8 decided to try to improve on a short stack by shoving for nearly 1.7 million chips from early position holding [Kh][Th]. But, Falfaris was looking for elimination number two and re-shoved from the cutoff with [Jc][Ad]. lukro8 could only find two hearts and no kings or jacks on the [6d] [4h] [Qs] [3c] [3h] board as Falfaris sent home the Poland native home in eighth place ($11,445.00).

Thrasymachus (ok say that three times REALLY fast) would also find a need to improve on a short stack despite doubling up on the chip leader jackson18249 after jackson attempted a big stack bullying blind versus blind move with [Ts][2s] and shoved into Thrasymachus found an ace [Ah][6s] which improved to a straight and snagged a 3.8 million chip pot. Unfortunately that roll would not last as the blinds increased to 125K/250K ante 25K and Thrasymachus tried again to beat jackson18249, this time shoving from UTG for 2.7 million with [Kc][Jh] but jackson18249 was waiting in the big blind with plenty of chips and [Ac][Qs] to make the call. A flopped queen was all it took, as character from Plato's dialogue couldn't find a king to catch up on the [4c] [Qh] [2s] [5c] [9s] board and the Greek philosopher was out to contemplate the meaning of finishing in seventh place ($20,601.00).

From here things sped up a bit as the blinds stayed at 125K/250K ante 25K as Falfaris and jphilli went to war preflop in the below hand with similar stacks for a 6.4 million chip pot:

RSS readers click through to see replay

jphilli's dominating [Jc][As] would hold up over Falfaris' [Ad][9s] on the [7c] [Jh] [Th] [Ks] [6s] board to cripple Falfaris to just 488K in chips. Those scraps would double-up once, but seven hands later ended up in DaHussstla's stack, ending Falfaris' night in sixth place ($29,757.00).

The very next hand after Falfaris took leave from the table, the chip leader jackson18249 would three-bet jphilli who raised to 650K from UTG. The 1.65 million three-bet wasn't enough to detour jphilli, as the answer was a shove all-in for 4.7 million. jackson18249 holding pocket sevens [7s][7c] and a sizable chip lead made the call. jphilli would be all-in for the coin flip holding a suited [Ks][Qs] but the only broadway card that showed up for the party was a couple of jacks [5c] [Js] [6c] [9d] [Jd] as jackson18249's sevens held up and jphilli was gunned down in fifth place ($38,913.00).

Immediately following jphilli's elimination, jackson18249 broached the idea of a chip chop to the other players. With Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan standing by to take all orders, the players sporadically peppered some answers but gave nothing definitive as five hands would be played when Slayer_pol raised to 699,999 from small blind. The blinds holding at 150K/300K ante 30K, the awesomely named Shippotamus went for broke by shoving for 5.1 million holding [Ac][7h]. Slayer_pol not only covered but the Hannibal Lecter icon licked his lips maybe with fava beans and a nice chianti while holding pocket rockets [As][Ad] and made the easiest call in poker. Shippotamus would snag a seven on the flop but those chips in the middle would get devoured by Slayer_pol after the rest of the [Tc] [8c] [7d] [4s] [9c] board fell awarding the 10 million chip pot to Slayer_pol. Shippotamus received $51,731.40 for fourth place as the remaining players cut right into the chopping business again.

Hevad at the WSOP

This time RaiNKhaN crunched the numbers for our remaining trio and after a very brief negotiation they agreed to the chip chop numbers below:

jackson18249: $127,196.23
DaHussstla: $93,868.28
Slayer_pol: $94,781.77

$10,000.00 still awaiting our champion tonight as the game was turned back on with the blinds still at 150K/300K ante 30K. The players would loosen up their preflop range with the big money off the table and jackson18249 took the first big hit as shown in the video below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

jackson18249's [Kd][Jd] would catch huge on the [Ts] [5d] [Qh] flop with an open-ended straight draw and live pair cards, but the [3c] and [6d] failed to overcome DaHussstla's ace-high [As][8h]. The biggest pot of the tournament awarded 21.2 million chips and the chip lead to DaHussstla.

Nine hands later it was Slayer_pol's turn to double-up, again off of jackson18249 who would three-bet Slayer_pol all-in with [Ts][8s]. Holding [As][Jc] Slayer_pol would make the call creating a 15.2 million chip pot. An eight should show up on the [5s] [3d] [8h] flop and Slayer_pol was standing up ready to leave as the [7d] failed to turn the tide, but the river [Ah] again brought the money card and Slayer_pol stayed alive while massive chip leader jackson18249 would be knocked down to under 10 million chips for the first time since grabbing the chip lead early at the final table.

The river seemed to bring love to the person behind all night, the following hand was no exception as jackson18249 was all-in after the flop against Slayer_pol. Check out the river dropping in the video below:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Despite the set of flopped tens by Slayer_pol holding [Td][Tc], the rivered broadway straight of jackson18249 holding [Kd][Jc] on the [2s] [Th] [Qs] [7c] [Ah] board shipped 17 million chips to jackson18249 while crippling Slayer_pol to just 3.4 million chips and blinds going up to 200K/400K ante 40K.

Several hands of blind trading took place before Slayer_pol rattled off four preflop blind steals in a row before getting called. In the fifth hand Slayer_pol would push for 3.9 million from the small blind holding [Kc][Tc] and get called by jackson18249 with the dominating big slick [Kh][Ac]. No surprises here as the board [2h] [Ad] [Jh] [6s] [6c] failed to connect on the turn or river for Slayer_pol who finished with the chopped $94,781.77 in third place.

Considering the aggressiveness of the two players, this author was to believe heads-up play would take all of two or three hands. As they started out with the chip counts shown below:
Seat 2: DaHussstla (26677346 in chips)
Seat 8: jackson18249 (19102654 in chips)

I was off by 34 hands as the 37 hand battle saw little chip movement but ended with a bang. jackson18249 would lose about four million chips coming into the final hand shown below and looked good to double-up...

RSS readers click through to see replay

... but that river card just refused to cooperate tonight as yet another river reversal resulted in the extra $10,000.00 being sent to DaHussstla when the [Ad][Js] he held hit the rivered ace to overcome the pocket nines [9d][9s] of jackson18249 on the [3h] [5s] [Qc] [Qs] [Ac] board to earn $103,868.28 and become this week's Sunday Warm-up champion!

jackson18249's chip lead during the chop talks allowed the runner-up tonight to walk home with $127,196.23

Be sure to check out all the action tonight as covered on Pokerstars.TV on Tuesday with commentary and hole cards revealed to see who was bluffing who out of those big preflop pots.

$750,000 Guarantee Sunday Warm-up (11-08-09)
(*denotes three-way chop)
1. DaHussstla (Hannover) $103.868.28
2. jackson18249 (Las Vegas) $127,196.23
3. Slayer_pol (Lucynów) $94,781.77
4. Shippotamus (Reutum) $51,731.40
5. jphilli (langley) $38,913.00
6. Falfaris (Wien) $29,757.00
7. Thrasymachus (Toronto) $20,601.00
8. lukro8 (Warszawa) $11,445.00
9. Frank NoLuck (Winona) $7,324.80

PokerStars entertains England rugby fans

2009-11-08T15:00:14Z

While the WSOP Main Event final table was the center of attention for the poker community on Saturday, PokerStars ensured that rugby fans across the Atlantic were getting their own little taste of poker.

Twickenham, the home of English rugby, generates raw passion whenever the home nation play - and the visit of Australia guarantees emotions run higher than ever.

Now, as part of its new partnership with the England Rugby Football Union, PokerStars is able to add poker's competitiveness and fun to the big-match occasion.

Thousands of fans arriving at the London stadium for the Cook Cup were greeted with a PokerStars stand where they were invited to build a huge card tower in the quickest time - and make their best poker hand by throwing sticky balls at cards on a wall.

Now, rugby fanatics love their beer, but they were willing to put their pre-match pint on hold as their competitive spirit got the better of them.

From 18-year-old students to middle-aged men, everyone wanted to get their hands on the PokerStars goodies on offer, including a chip set for anyone throwing five balls to build a royal flush.

It was the card tower building that caused much merriment as the supporters tried to complete the task in the quickest time. After an hour of play Nigel Burns was top of the leader board with a score of 44.69 seconds, and there he stayed until Roddy Loffler came along with an impressive score of 40.78 seconds.

Roddy Loffler, champion card builder

After the match - which England lost 9-18 - the supporters streamed in again for another chance to win some PokerStars gear.

Watch out for future fun promotions as PokerStars and the English RFU continue their relationship.

Photos by Getty Images

WSOP Main Event: Joe Cada aims for Eastgate's crown, youngest and richest

2009-11-08T14:26:26Z

There are some poker commentators on World Series final table day who end up sounding like an little league soccer coach. "You're all winners!" they insist, citing the fact that each of the November Nine, who reconvened at the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, today was guaranteed at least a million dollars before a card was even dealt.

But the format of final table play -- nine down to two today; two to one on Monday -- always meant we would never be able to crown a winner in this first passage of play. And that means there always had to be seven players leaving Las Vegas who felt like losers, despite their bulging wallets and an achievement that they will inevitably look back on with pride.

Final table play

Before we get too negative and list that unfortunate handful, let's focus on the two who are still in with a chance of entering the most prestigious winners' enclosure in poker. Our heads up duo, decided after a marathon 17 hours play, are these:

Joe Cada, USA, PokerStars player: 136,925,000 chips
Darvin Moon, USA, 58,875,000 chips

They were the survivors from the buffeting of a spiteful day, enduring what by anyone's standards was an exacting, fatiguing session at the felt. Cada in particular will be the first to admit he might be watching this one from his hotel room. He was all in with pocket threes against Jeff Shulman's jacks mid-way through the day. The three in the window kept him alive. And when they were down to three players, he was all in with deuces against Antoine Saout's queens. Yep, that's a deuce on the flop right there.

"I wouldn't change much," Cada said of his day. "Some of the situations were unfortunate. Luckily I sucked out, but that's part of the game."

Joe Cada pulls off another remarkable outdraw

Cada also won a crucial flip three-handed, rivering a king with his [ad][ks] to finish the job against Saout and his pocket eights. The Frenchman missed out by a whisker after a day that has done wonders for his reputation. But Cada, who was at one point down to two million, proved that PokerStars' finest never give up. And now look at him. He's massive chip leader playing heads up poker for the World Championship. It would make him the youngest ever.

Joe Cada

As for Moon, he knows all about the chip lead. He held that accolade for two months, finishing the summer's passage of play with almost a third of the chips in play and returning here with a nonchalant and enviable attitude of: "If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose."

Darvin Moon

Moon just played his game today, and that meant putting his chips to work and doing his fair share of eliminating opponents, chief among them Phil Ivey, many spectators' tip for the title. Moon's ace-queen downed Ivey's ace-king. The self-confessed recreational player took out the pro.

His reward, like Cada's, is to return to the Penn and Teller Theater on Monday night to see who picks up the bracelet. And, oh yeah, $8.5m.

To get to those two, we had to lose seven, and they fell in the order best displayed on the payouts page. The short version of how they went out looks a bit like this:

9th - James Akenhead
The Brit thought it was his day when he rivered a queen with Q-K to double up against A-K. But he ran kings into Kevin Schaffel's aces, and James Akenhead was aching in ninth.

8th - Kevin Schaffel
Kings against aces. Kings against aces. The PokerStars qualifier Kevin Schaffel will be seeing them in his sleep. After being on the right side of it to oust Akenhead, Schaffel again had the bullets against Eric Buchman's kings. But there was a king on the flop and another on the turn: that's quads to put Schaffel on the rail.

Kevin Schaffel

7th - Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey played the kind of game befitting one of the best exponents of this craft in the world. But after picking his spots and grinding good, his big slick slipped up against Moon's ace-queen. That was a hand that seemingly couldn't lose today; Ivey certainly couldn't beat it and he was out in eighth.

6th - Steven Begleiter
Remember what I said about ace-queen? It couldn't lose, right, at least not in the hands of Darvin Moon. This time, Moon took it up against the pocket queens of Steven Begleiter. Ace on the river. Ouch. Begleiter gone.

5th - Jeff Shulman
Another player who couldn't gain a whole lot of traction today, Jeff Shulman finally found a decent spot with pocket sevens to move his stack in. Antoine Saout found ace-nine and the call. A nine on the flop sealed Shulman's fate.

4th - Eric Buchman
Only Joe Cada rode a more extreme rollercoaster ride than Eric Buchman today. Buchman was chip leader for long periods and also a short stack at times. He also dished out that beat against Schaffel when he would have been crippled had it gone the other way.

Eric Buchman

Eventually he traded chips four handed with Darvin Moon, but then his [ad][5c] lost to Moon's [kd][jd] and that was terminal. Hear it in his own words:

Watch WSOP 2009 Nov9 Eric Buchman exit on PokerStars.tv

3rd - Antoine Saout
Undoubtedly one of the most accomplished final table performances we've seen, Antoine Saout will be staring at the ceiling in his bedroom tonight, muttering something like: "Zut alors." He was up to close to 90 million three handed and seemingly a lock for the heads up duel. But back to back massive beats by Joe Cada scuppered his chances. "Merde," means something rude in French.

The long version of all that is available in the following posts. Click through and let us know our long day was appreciated.

Any minute nows...
One hour in the books
Analysing the opening echanges
Short stack fight back
James Akenhead eliminated
Cold deck accounts for Schaffel
Schaffel sick, Buchman bouyed, dinner
The baying crowd returns, refreshed
Joe Cada's 25-hand rollercoaster
Coming up on Sunday
Goliath gone, David suspected
It's a skill game
Money makes the play slow down
Pursuit of Happy-less
The other side of the witching hour
Antoine Saout, Buchman out

So that's it for this epic. We'll restart on Monday at 10pm. An interesting statistic to leave you with: Darvin Moon is entering the heads up passage of play with approximately the same number of chips with which he came to the final table. That means that Joe Cada hoovered up all the rest.

Darvin Moon and Joe Cada

Can he make himself the youngest World Series champion in history? "The bracelet is everything to me," Cada said. "Being the youngest is definitely a bonus. The $8.5 million also a bonus. So all three of those things would be my dream."

Here's what else Cada had to say.

Watch WSOP 2009 Nov9 Joe Cada Heads Up Interview on PokerStars.tv

Good night!

WSOP Main Event: Antoine Saout, Buchman out

2009-11-08T13:30:33Z

One would think with America's longstanding relationship with France that this sort of thing wouldn't happen. After all, the French gave America--and, specifically, Eric Buchman's home state of New York--the Statue of Liberty. It's a gift-giving relationship, for the love of Pete.

But in the last couple of hours, Buchman and France's Antoine Sout got into more than a couple of tangles and played some hands that lasted for minutes on end. It finally came to a head at about twenty 'til 5am.

With the blinds at 500,000/1,000,000/150,000, Buchman raised to 2.5 million. Saout re-raised 6.5 million more. With barely an ounce of consideration, Buchman re-raised all-in. Saout took his time, but eventually called. With the cards on their backs, here's what we saw.

Buchman: [Ah][Qc]
Antonine Saout: [Ad][Kc]

Buchman had Saout covered, but only by about nine million chips. The board, [Th][7c][Kd][kh][6d], offered some drama, but not enough to tell a long story. Buchman was resigned to his fate. When the chips were pushed across the table, Saout had the biggest chip lead of any player so far today.

Here's how the players stacked up after that hand.

Darvin Moon--56,000,000
Eric Buchman--9,800,000
Joe Cada--40,000,000
Antoine Saout--89,000,000

Buchman, however, was not ready to go away. Ten minutes later, he got all-in against Darvin Moon. Buchman was behind but not by enough.

Moon: [Ac][7s]
Buchman: [Tc][Kd]

Buchman made trip kings by the river and doubled up.

Then, barely a minute had passed before Moon came in for a raise, Buchman shoved over the top, and Moon called. The roles were reversed this time.

Moon: [kd][jd]
Buchman: [ad][5c]

This time, it was Moon's turn to catch up. He flopped a gutshot, turned his pair, and held up against Buchman.

Buchman's fourth place finish earned him $2,502,890.

Here were the chip counts going into three-handed play.

Moon: 75,925,000
Cada: 39,225,000
Saout: 80,650,000

"My expectation was to go deep in this tournament and I did. I didn't expect to win it. It could have gone a lot worse when I had kings against aces," Buchman said. "I think I played well. I'm disappointed, but I'm okay."

We're now 17 hours into final table play. Buchman said, looking back, he didn't think it affected him.

"I guess it does for some people [affected their game] but I don't think it changed my decisions," he said. "I'm used to playing for long hours. I've played for almost two days before."

Now, Buchman heads off to get some sleep and figure out what to do with his $2.5 million.

"I'll just play more poker," he said. "At least it's over. I feel better about that."

WSOP Main Event: The other side of the witching hour

2009-11-08T12:26:15Z

We're not going to lie to you, but as the clock ticks towards 4.30 a.m. Vegas time, and with four players still remaining, we're thinking less about bed and not even breakfast. Where do you fancy meeting for lunch?

At this witching hour, things get a little deranged in the frazzled walnuts that pass for our brains, and a wise decision was therefore made to cut the chat and report this past hour straight. Here's what happened, hand for hand. (Stick with it. The best hand is the last one.)

Blinds at this stage are 400,000-800,000 with a 75,000 ante. All the stack sizes are very similar, with Antoine Saout marginally ahead with about 60,000. All the others are scattered at around 50,000.

1. The button with Darvin Moon and Eric Buchman makes it 2m to play. Joe Cada is the sole caller and the flop comes [jc][5d][4s], which persuades Buchman to bet 3m at it. Cada doesn't like that much and mucks.

2. Cada gets some back. Not many, but some. It's folded to him in the small blind and he raises, making it 2.1m. Antoine Saout, in the big blind, refuses to defend it. Blinds and antes to Cada.

Joe Cada and Antoine Saout

3. Perhaps encouraged by Cada's pilfering of his big blind, Saout follows the pattern when it's folded to him in the small blind. He raises about two million, but Darvin Moon is not so easily moved. He shoves all in (it's about 30 million) and Saout puts his tail between his legs and backs down.

4. Another one for Cada. From under the gun, he makes it his customary two million plus change and no one wants to party.

5. Moon makes it two million pre-flop and Cada comes along. The flop comes [4h][qc][10h], which is checked by both players, but Cada finds his betting arm on the turn. He makes it 4,500,000 and, wow, there goes Moon again. He shoves all in and Cada is put to the test. Cada wants a count, and is told that although he covers Moon, he'll need to find about 35 million more to make this call. He doesn't want to do that.

6. Buchman raises pre-flop and Saout wants to play so makes the call. The flop comes [qh][jd][3s], and Saout check-raises Buchman's 3m tickle. The Frenchman makes it 6,025,000 more and that is good.

7. Joe Cada has the button and makes it 2m to play. No one wants to, so Cada grabs some more blinds and antes.

8. Moon makes up Buchman's big blind and Buchman checks without fanfare. The flop comes [7s][9s][4d] and Buchman's big blind hand seems to like that. After Moon checks, Buchman bets 1,500,000 and Moon calls. The turn is [8c], which they both check, and the river is the [8s]. That fills all kinds of potential draws, but both players check it. Moon shows down ace-high and Buchman's four takes it.

9. After Buchman makes up his blind, Cada raises, asking 1,350,000 more than the blind of 800,000. That is that. Buchman folds.

10. Darvin Moon, Eric Buchman and Antoine Saout see a three-way flop. The former of those was under the gun, the middle one on the button and the latter in the big blind. The flop is [ac][7d][9d] and it's folded to Buchman, who bets three million, which Saout calls. Moon has found his voice though in these late stages, and his voice says: "All in!" Wow. Buchman wriggles out the way instantly, but Saout seems to have a decision. The problem is that losing an all in to anyone at the moment will pretty much cost you the tournament. And so Saout lets it go.

Darvin Moon assumes the chip lead once more.

11. Back to normality. Joe Cada raises under-the-gun and wins.

12. Antoine Saout raises from under-the-gun, and Eric Buchman finds the 1,520,000 more it will cost him to call from the small blind. The two of them see [2s][10h][3c] dealt and after Buchman checks, Saout c-bets to 2.5m approx. Buchman is more than amenable, and he raises, asking for another 2.7m from Saout if they're going to see a turn.

Aha, that's what you think, implies Saout, with his four-bet, sliding in a tower of beige chips. They're playing poker, ladies and gentlemen. This is poker.

Eric Buchman

Buchman remains defiant and re-re-re-raises (give or take a "re") and this time it's 10m more. Saout gets out of his chair - not leaps, just wriggles a bit - as he ponders what to do next. At this point, it's not the biggest pot of the tournament, but it's certainly the most complicated and Saout gives the conundrum due respect, pondering in deathly silence for a long, long time. Then he folds.

That was the end of that level, and just check out these new blinds folks. Just check them out:

500,000 - 1,000,000 (150,000 ante). That's a million chips for the big blind. A million.

Eric Buchman has reassumed the chip lead.