Joseph Cada and Darvin Moon prepare to do battle for the WSOP title

Bloggers / Dave Allan / 09 November 2009 / Leave a comment

After a staggering 17.5 hours of play the November Nine were whittled down to just two players who will return to the felt at 2200 Las Vegas time (0600 UK Time) and play a heads-up battle for over $8,500,000 and the title of World Series of Poker Main Event Champion.

With over $22,000,000 left to play for it was obvious that the final table would start off as a cagey affair, taking 13 hands for the players to see a flop and a further 15 hands before a single turn card was seen. None of the nine hopefuls wanted the dubious honour of being the first person to be eliminated and win no extra money for doing so as all the players had already been paid 9th place money when the table went on its three month break.

The wooden spoon went to British player James Akenhead who rode his luck but then suffered a horrible setup hand too. Starting the day as a short stack, Akenhead didn't have much room for manoeuvre and eventually moved all-in and was called during hand 44. His KQ was dominated by the AK of Kevin Schafell and fell further behind when a king spiked on the tun but a beautiful queen arrived on the river to double up 'Sick Dog'

Just ten hands later he was all in again against Schaffel but this time his Kings could not out-flop his opponents' Aces and he was crippled again. Shortly after he moved in with pocket three, was up against the nines of Schaffel and with no help from the board he headed for the rail.

Another hand fit for the internet happened as Akenhead's assassin, Kevin Schaffel found himself all-in with Aces against Eric Buchman's Kings, with the latter improving to quads by the turn.

Phil Ivey was next to go when his Ace-King was out-flopped by Darvin Moon's Ace-Queen and Moon struck again soon after when his Ace-Queen once again prevailed against a better hand, this time hitting an ace on the river to beat Steve Begleiter's pocket Queens.

Slowly but surely the remaining players fell by the wayside and it was apparent that Moon and Joseph Cada had Lady Luck on their side. Cada's 33 prevailed against Jeff Shulman's JJ and his 22 beat Antoine Saout's QQ for a huge pot, whilst Moon's KJs beat Buchman's A5o all-in preflop.

Moon was also guilty of some strange plays, at one point he four-bet all-in against Cada with King-nine offsuit and also check-raised Steve Begelieter from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 but then folded for just 6,000,000 more despite getting around 7.5/1 on his money. Meanwhile Cada seemed like he could do no wrong, getting his money in like it was one of his internet tournaments and out drawing anyone that stood in his path.

Joseph Cada will go into tonight's heads-up battle with 135,950,000 chips, giving him over a 2:1 advantage over Darvin Moon's 58,580,000. The very best of luck to both of them.

Related entries

James Akenehead eliminated in 9th place
Kevin Schaffel eliminated in 8th place
Phil Ivey eliminated in 7th place
Steve Begleiter eliminated in 6th place
Jeff Shulman eliminated in 5th place
Eric Buchman eliminated in 4th place
Antoine Saout eliminated in 3rd place