Bloggers / Dave Allan / 05 November 2009 / Leave a comment

The final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event is only two days away and I am as excited as a kid in a sweet shop. I am not overly excited about having to stay up and write the bust-outs as they happen but that is an entirely different story!

It is always interesting to see how the betting market is reacting to news, views and gossip of the poker world and to see which players are being backed by punters.

As I type this there has been a total of £43,154 staked on the outcome of the WSOP on Betfair, with almost 49% of that money, £21,128 being put on Phil Ivey. Despite coming into the final table 7th from nine in chips, with a stack of 9,765,000, Ivey is as short as 6/1 to win 'The Big Dance' but expect those odds to tumble if he gets a double up early on.

Darvin Moon, the tournament's chip leader with a monster stack of 58,930,000 chips has had the next most money bet on him with punters parting with £8,394 of their hard-earned cash. Unsurprisingly he has been the favourite to win since the odds were announced but he is gradually drifting out as people read about his tight-passive style and he is now around 9/2. Expect his odds to massively lengthen if he loses a significant portion of his stack at any point.

There has also been a flurry of activity on Eric Buchman who starts the day second in chips behind Moon and he has now been backed into the favourite position with odds of 4/1. Buchman is an accomplished player and new of this, his significant tournament winnings and the fact Darvin Moon actually isn't very good has led to people backing him for the win.

I think some value can be found in some of the outsiders, especially in Joseph Cada who has seen his odds fluctuate over the past few days from 18/1 down to 10/1 and can now be backed at 13/1. Whilst Cada may not have a ton of live experience, he has played hundreds of tournaments online and has a good record in those.

If he manages to add to his stack in the first couple of levels, UK hopeful James Akenhead could really yield some value if you take him at 16/1 he is currently at now. Whilst his chip stack is the smallest of the group, he is in scintillating form of late having final tabled the WSOPE Main Event, 11th in the GUKPT Thanet Main Event and winning $120,000 in the Poker After Dark Final, although that last result has not been officially announced yet!

Whoever you fancy to win poker's biggest, most-lucrative tournament be sure to back or lay them on the world's biggest betting exchange, Betfair. Along with market leading odds, the WSOP 2009 Winner market will be in-running so you can place your bets as the action unfolds. Best of luck.