Online Poker

November 2, 2009

November means one thing in the world of poker, and that's the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

Since last year, the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event has been delayed until November, giving players time to prepare for one of the greatest challenges of their poker career and for the public to get to know them. This year, the table positions and chip counts of the November Nine players are:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon with 58,930,000 chips
Seat 2: James Akenhead with 6,800,000 chips
Seat 3: Phil Ivey with 9,765,000 chips
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel with 12,390,000 chips
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter with 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman with 34,800,000 chips
Seat 7: Joe Cada with 13,215,000 chips
Seat 8: Antoine Saout with 9,500,000 chips
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman with 19,580,000 chips

Darvin Moon is a logger from Maryland with the chip lead of a champion. He’s favorite to win at many sportsbooks, but poker players are less convinced of his staying power. Some think the pro players will be working to bust him out quickly in order to stem the tide of amateur players winning the WSOP Main Event, but this seems a bit fanciful.

James Akenhead is a Full Tilt Poker pro from England. With the fewest chips coming into the final table, things don’t look too good for him, and we can expect some aggressive play early on in an attempt to gain ground. He’ll want to avoid a repeat of his WSOPE Championship Event final table performance, where he busted out in 9th place.

Phil Ivey is a Full Tilt Poker pro, a 7-times WSOP bracelet winner, and he is widely considered the best poker player in the world right now. His chip stack means it is hard to hold out hope that he will win the tourney, but you can never count him out until he’s out. Earlier this year, he was one of the finalists given consideration for entry into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Kevin Schaffel’s record is hardly strong, but he does have a recent Legends of Poker World Poker Tour second place finish. He’s been playing poker since he was 11, and his favorite game is No-Limits Hold ‘Em. While unlikely to win, he’ll walk away from this table with his biggest tournament win to date, regardless of where he places.

Steven Begleiter entered the WSOP Main Event via the Newcastle Poker Tour and apparently plans to share 20% of his Main Event winnings with his hometown poker league. He’s probably the least experienced of the poker players with professional rankings, but a decent chip stack could see him putting in a good performance. As a former executive of Bear Stearns, though, he won’t find much love if he wins.

Eric Buchman is one of those pros that you occasionally hear about who never seems to win. He has something of a knack for coming second, though, so it would be unsurprising to see him going heads up. A win might be in the cards if he’s improved his head-to-head play, and his massive chip stack should easily see him sticking around until at least the last 4 or 5 players.

Joe Cada is the youngest November Nine player, at 21 years old. With a guaranteed prize of more than $1 million if he only takes 9th place, Cada has gotten off to an excellent start. PokerStars recently signed him to join the ranks of their pro team, snapping him up from Ultimate Bet. If he performs well, we could be looking at a new superstar of poker in Joe Cada.

Antoine Saout was in the final table of the recent WSOPE Championship Event, just like James Akenhead, but he placed 7th in that tourney, ahead of his fellow non-American November Nine player. Hailing from San Martin des Champs in France, Saout has just started to make a mark on the world of poker, with his high placing in the WSOPE Championship Event and in the WSOP Main Event certainly suggesting a bright future.

Jeff Shulman is the editor of Card Player Magazine and a bitter enemy of Harrah’s Casino. He first said he’d throw away his bracelet if he wins the WSOP Main Event, but now has a few other ideas, including giving the bracelet to Stephen Colbert. 13 money-finishes in WSOP events is nothing to sneeze at, and he’s been at a WSOP Main Event final table before. His skill, prior experience, and chip stack make it hard to pick where he’ll finish, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can beat his previous best of 7th place.

The WSOP Main Event final table is one of the most exciting poker events to watch. Poker.com wishes all of the contestants good luck and we hope they keep clear heads for the start of the tournament on 7 November. If you would like to learn more about poker before the event, check out our games and rules section or tutorials pages.