In July, 6,494 people sat down with a vision of making it all the way to the November 9. In November, 9 people sat down with a vision to making it to heads-up with a shot at taking down the biggest prize in poker. On Monday night at 10 Pacific Standard Time two men will sit down at a table in Binions Casino with a vision to taking down the biggest prize in tounament to decide who will walk away with $8.5 million, a WSOP Main Event Bracelet and be immortalised in the poker world forever. Either Joe Cada or Darvin Moon will the likes of Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Jamie Gold, Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer and Stu Ungar.
The road to this point has been long. A four month break between play was unprecedented until last year when it was decided the final table would be played in November for the first time, giving the media plenty of time to build up excitement around the event. It has also served to bring a lot of positive publicity to a game that continues to grow in popularity despite a worldwide recession. In particular this year’s build up has been immense as the final table boasted more talent than has been seen in recent years. This was only helped by the inclusion of Phil Ivey, arguably the best all round player in the world and a poker house hold name. Before a single card was dealt players, fans and pundits were tipping Ivey to win after already collecting two at this year’s event.
Ivey had played well throughout the event but when it came down to the final 9 He went card dead and went out in 7th place. He took home $1,404,014 but will be unhappy with the way his story unfolded. Ivey still believes that before his career ends he will add at least another 23 bracelets to his tall but if fails to take down this one it may haunt the Tiger Woods’ of poker.
Of the seven players that fell ahead of the heads up showdown perhaps the most unlucky was Kevin Schaffel . He went All-in with Aces before the flop and his opponent turned over Kings. The flop saw the third King and all of a sudden Schaffel was left looking at a two outer to stay in the tournament. When the final King hit the turn Schaffel was out and as the crowd looked on in disbelief he was shaking hands with the remaining players and collecting his prize money of $ 1,300,231.
Jeff Shulman was left in the shadow of his father as he could not emulate his success in the WSOPE. The junior Shulman went home in 5th position and pocketed $1,953,452.
Antione Saout saw his tournament turn upside down as he became the victim of Joe Cada’s miraculous comeback. The young pro was down to 3 million in chips. Double up after double saw him rise to the top of the pile and as the 2 remaining players sit down he will carry a 3 to 1 chip lead over Darvin Moon. One thing is certain, this competition is far from over. Both players can smell the top prize and neither will give it up without a fight. Expect fireworks as the WSOP Main Event reaches a dramatic conclusion.
Remember to keep checking on pokerchanneleurope.com for updates on the biggest event in the poker calender.
