With 8 days of poker in the books, with triple chips for the first time, the WSOP did not play past midnight from day 4 forward. I know…I was there. Unlike well, 56 other events that managed to rock into the wee hours of the morning, the WSOP Main Event was shutting down early like clockwork. In fact, other than the overcrowded Day 1D and 2B, there were never any serious threats to poker players, media or tournaments staff’s sleep schedules that did not involved pit games, strippers or Adderral mis-timing. Above even the 4 multi-bracelet winners, Phil Ivey making the final table (hope that isn’t a spoiler for you my dear readers) and a guy without an email address finishing in the chip lead…I’d say its the most incredible damn thing I’ve seen in poker in years. Open to arguments here.
After Day 7 saw the elimination of fan favorites and past champions such as Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Dennis Philips, Tom Schneider and PokerRoad founder and railbird champion Joe Sebok, the last day of play did not leave us without a few folks to root for. Day 8 played down from the last three tables (that’s 27 players for those of you out there running out of digits to cipher on) several interesting combination were still in play. We had a (hot) Spanish woman, Leo Margets, still in the running. LaB friend Antonio Esfandiari was still poised to make some magic happen. France, Sweden, Australia, Germany, and South Africa all had runners poised for a run at glory along with the host country. CardPlayer editor and Harrah’s malcontent Jeffery ‘Happy’ Schulman was grumbling along while claiming to ‘throw the bracelet in the trash’ if he made it through to win in November. Oh, and there was Ivey.
Things were going according to rank for the most part as the small stacks melted away quickly until right near the very end. Not until Billy Kopp put over 20 million chips on the line with a 5 high flush against Darvin Moon’s Queen high (second nut) flush and Jamie Robbins gave the same man his remaining 15 million when he check-shoved aces on an 8 high flop and got snap-called by Moon’s set of snowmen, did we lose two players out of the starting top 12. The cracked aces finished the night just after 11 pm and the over-crowded main event arena went berserk. Possibly the best part about this was Phil Ivey, the main reason for the spectator overflow despite his relatively small stack, was able to quickly bounce over to Bobby’s Room in the Bellagio for the big game and to get in a bit of $15k-a-point Chinese Poker. (Can you say ‘Baller?’ I thought you could.)
Here are the seating assignments and final chip counts of you ‘N9′ (that will play on November 7th-10th this year…please don’t get confused.):
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
Brief info on your soon-to-be-lauded poker luminaries and guaranteed millionaires.
James Akenhead:
The last Brit standing and short stack at the final table has his work cut out for him as he goes into the world’s longest tape delay. However, its not bad for a guy that only started playing two years ago and survived running Kings into Aces and one other pretty horrific beat to make the biggest final table in poker. Not a novice on the money scale, Akenhead has over $700,000 in tournament winnings on file and came in second in a $1500 event early in the series (on another pretty bad beat as well so he may just be due.)
Antoine Saout:
Starts second-to-the bottom but already picked up a cool extra million from WSOP sponsor (but not available in the US) poker site Everest Poker for just making the final table. This native of France is considered one of the most feared MTT players on said site and won his way to the big show via a satellite there to earn the little million dollar perk we just mentioned. Almost a cliché, Saout is yet another poker player who’s mother is now proud of him after she saw him make a redonkulous amount of money at the virtual tables. Good thing that translates universally.
Phil ‘No Home Jerome’ Ivey:
What can I really say here? To channel Norman Chad — IT’S PHIL IVEY! The hysteria surrounding the man with the icy stare and this final table run seem to assume that starting in seventh place and a 6:1 chip disadvantage are not obstacles at all and if it was going to be true about any player, it might be Ivey. But as we say back in farm country, he still has a long row to hoe if he wants the grandest of all poker trophies. But what will the typically media shy Ivey do for the next four months of promo tours and media hype? “I’m just going to change my cell phone number and leave the country,” he said. “I’m serious too.” He may have been kidding there (I really don’t think so and I’m taking the over on half of the days to the break actually being spent away from media scrutiny.) but he did say that he may actually (finally) watch the ESPN coverage on TV to get a look at his competition as the played up to the November 9. He may have a bit of an advantage seated to the left of chipleader Darvin Moon who was quoted as saying “if he even looks at me, I’m folding.”
Kevin Schaffel:
This 51 year old Floridian father of two made it to 42nd place and a cash in the Main Event 15 years ago and since then has cobbled together over $160k in tournament cashes. Nothing major, but the sign of a guy that has been at this a bit longer than the Moneymaker-boom crowd. This easily locks down the biggest payday he’s ever seen in his life though and he is ecstatic about the opportunity. He’s a fairly quiet man that did not have that much of a cheering section on the last day, but I’m sure we’ll get to know all about him soon.
Joseph ‘jcada99’ Cada:
Joseph wins the prize of being the obligatory online wizkid at the final table. While not a headliner in the online poker world, Cada has taken to a couple sizable scores and brought two cashes in the series with him to the main event. He has played cool and smooth and starts in middle chip position at the final table. When asked about his plans on the break he says he plans “to just go out and enjoy the Michigan summer for now” and “just play the cards he dealt” come November. I’ve been to Michigan in the summer – it sucks – and I’m fairly sure he’ll develop a plan of action before he plays for 8.5 million dollars but, way to play it cool kid.
Jeff ‘Happy’ Schulman:
Holy crap does this have Jerry Springer moment written all over it. ‘Happy’, the editor of poker media force Card Player, has openly stated that he will throw the bracelet in the trash should he win. He says this is in protest to how Harrah’s and the WSOP have treated poker media coverage and how CardPlayer has been locked out. Obviously, opinions on this vary widely. I remember CardPlayer’s coverage of the WSOP and WPT events and honestly…I’m not sure he has a leg to stand on based on coverage quality, but there are some other valid points. He has made his own rebuttal/clarification/respin statement on (where else) CardPlayer.com (link to the Scoop fawning over letting Jeff explain for a half hour) and has given in depth explanation to his initial statements, but I’m not sure it will keep this from turning into something really ugly when we should be celebrating our game’s biggest moment. His only other interview quote of note seemed to contradict the thought that this might have been the most ‘talent laden’ final days of a WSOP ME in years when he said “It was the easiest field I’ve ever seen in my life. I feel like everyone in the tournament was on Adderall while I was on Xanax.” All that said, Schulman is one of three people to make TWO Main Event final tables in this decade…the other two are Phil Ivey and Mike Matusow.
Stephen ‘Begs’ Begleiter:
It might be a safe bet that ‘Begs’ will have the most intense cheering section at the WSOP Final Table. Begleiter raised his stake through a tournament in a local poker league and the rest of the club will split 20% of his take in the big show. A lifelong poker player and avid amateur, the likable Upstate New York native mainly honed his ‘big poker’ skills as a recreational player on trips to Foxwoods. I think he gave one of the best summations of what it felt like for an amateur to make the biggest final table of the year when he said “‘I’m dancing between raindrops in the middle of a minefield and somehow I’m still standing. I’m not quite sure how I did it. It’s insane that I’ve made the final table.” During the final table play-down on Day 8, the ‘Begs Crowd’ often over-powered the Ivey supporters at the event with their cheers for their lil’ piece of the dream.
Eric Buchman:
Outside of Ivey and Schulman, Buchman probably has the most experience in large, live, poker tournaments as evidenced by his nearly $1 million in poker tournament winnings before the 2009 Main Event. Buchman went on a tear at just the right time – the last few hours of play on Day 8. While he had been running good and on top of the leader board in the late going, Eric’s smash-and-grab tactics as the blinds made their last jumps put him behind a mountain of chips that could have been the lead if it was not for massive chip dumps to the eventual chipleader by other top 5 players between the 12th and 10th place bustouts. Buchman plans to bring 30 people with him to the ME Final Table in November. Not exactly Dennis Phillips caliber numbers, but a personal cheering mob none the less.
Chipleader Darvin Moon:
I found Darvin early on Day 4 when I re-arrived at the Rio. Not because of his massive chip stack, aggressive play, loud mouth, flamboyant costume or charismatic demeanor — he had NONE of these things. What he did have was a Saints hat. I love the Saints. Outside of the deep south or certain psych wards, I am typically alone in this, so I felt like I had found a long lost brother. I started checking on Mr. Moon (or ‘Saints Guy’ as I would know him for a day or two) each time I walked a circuit of the Amazon room. His stack grew slowly and he seemed almost…sleepy…most of the time. But the logger from Maryland (he wears the Saints gear to piss off Steeler and Pats fans, how awesome is THAT!) just kept on grinding it up even at tables with players like Kevin Saul holding position on him for long stretches at a time. It’s well known that he won his tournament entry at a somewhat nearby casino in West Virginia. What is less know is that he bankrolled that run out of a $30 live charity tournament near his hometown of Oakland, MD. Darvin Moon did not even have an email address to give me when I was getting his details on Day 6 — just to send souvenir photos — but he had managed to turn $30 into at LEAST $1 million dollars and the chip lead at the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. In the modern age of poker, this kind of run is UNTHINKABLE. Seriously, it defies logic on so many levels but here he is. There is no way a bigger under-dog and working man-of-the-people could emerge this year. I only hope he shines like last year’s chipleader Dennis Phillips, but those are some big shoes to fill. If nothing else, Darvin Moon will be able to say that he held over Phil Ivey for four months and THAT is another feat that will probably never happen again.
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