After a record 14.5 hours of play, the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event has come down to two remaining players. The grueling day-long marathon ended shortly before 6:00am pst.
The first elimination of the day belonged to James Akenhead, who busted out in ninth place after the board could not improve his pocket 3’s all-in vs. the pocket nines of Kevin Schaffel. A few hands later, Schaffel would himself be eliminated all-in against Eric Buchman who hit quads after kings on the flop and river , cracking Schaffels pocket aces. Eighth and ninth places paid $1,300,228 and $1,263,602 respectively.
Phil Ivey was eliminated next after pushing all-in against Darvin Moon. While Ivey’s A-K dominated the A-Q of his opponent, Moon caught one of three remaining queens on the flop to move ahead. The turn and river helped neither player, ending what was a spectacular showing for Phil Ivey during the 2009 World Series of Poker and bringing disappointment to many who hoped to see the first professional since Carlos Mortensen win the WSOP main event. Seventh place paid $1,404,014.
Out in sixth place was Steven Begleiter, whose championship hopes were also eclipsed by Darvin Moon. In an amazing hand, Moon caught a river ace, beating Begleiter’s queens to bring play down to five. Sixth place earned Begleiter $1,587,160.
Jeff Shulman would be the next out after an all-in with pocket 7’s against Antoine Saout’s A-9. Saout hit one of his overcards as a nine came on the flop. Neither improved on the turn or river and Shulman’s bid was ended in 5th place, which paid $1,953,452.
Antoine Saout would go on to make an astounding run during the wee hours of the night to become chip leader, doubling through Eric Buchman to $89 million. Buchman, who commanded a healthy stack throughout most of the day, was left crippled with only about 9 million chips remaining.
A short-chipped Buchman would soon double up through Moon, only to return it all back to him a couple of hands later as his A 5 could not hold up against Darvin’s K- J. Buchman took home $2.5 million for his 4th place finish.
As day broke along the Las Vegas skyline, a subdued audience watched the final hand of the night take place as Cada’s A-K beat Saout’s pocket 8’s with a river king. Saout, who entered the main event through a $50 online satellite will see a $3.5 million dollar return on his investment.
The two remaining players, Darvin Moon and Joseph Cada, will resume play Monday, November 9th at 10:00 pm at the Penn and Teller Theater in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino with blinds at 500,000/1,000,000.
Moon has just under $59 million of the remaining chips while Cada sits atop a monstrous $135,950,000 stack. Cada, age 21 is well-positioned to become the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion in history.