Online Poker

Man, I was complaining about the bookies suggesting that Darvin Moon was the most likely to bust out Phil Ivey, and what does Ivey go and do? He gets busted out by Darvin Moon!

Ivey moved all in with Ace of Clubs/King of Spades against Moon's Ace of Diamonds/Queen of Spades. It's understandable that Ivey would go all-in with that, and it's understandable Moon would call. Unfortunately for the greatest poker player in the world, sometimes the cards just don’t go your way. The flop gave Moon another Queen, and there was no help for Ivey.

Sometimes that's just the way things go in poker, though. Anyone who criticizes Ivey for busting out to Moon should remember how patient he was before then and that everyone at the table treated him as dangerous right through to the end. I'm sure a few cocky upstarts will try to find Ivey in a high stakes game at Full Tilt Poker. I'm equally sure that many of those players will quickly regret their mistake and beat a hasty retreat.

Ivey busted out in seventh place for prize money of $1,404,002. That bumps up his WSOP earnings to a bit over $5 million total, and his total tournament winnings rank him as one of the biggest tournament earners of all time. This is nothing but a minor setback for him, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in the WSOP next year.

The WSOP Main Event final table is now down to the final two: Joe Cada and Darvin Moon. Cada has the chip lead with 136,925,000 chips and Moon is at a disadvantage at 58,875,000 chips. PokerStars must be ecstatic to have signed Cada just before his final table performance, as if this young poker pro wins the WSOP, he's certain to become a poker superstar. Moon is still in with a shot, however, and there's every chance he could win this if he gets another stroke of luck like the one that took out Ivey for him.

What do you think about how the WSOP Main Event final table has run? Do you think it will be good or bad for poker? Please tell us in the comments below. We'll have a full wrap-up of the 2009 WSOP Main Event once Joe Cada and Darvin Moon have gone head-to-head later in the week, but you can read more about what's happened so far in our news section.

- Shad