Tournament: World Series of Poker Day 8 update

At last, the field of 6,494 hopefuls has been honed down to the November Nine. After eleven hours of action, eighteen more players saw their hopes for making the final table at the 40th Anniversary of the World Series of Poker Main Event come up short.

The first player eliminated was the only remaining woman in the field, Leonor Margets. Former chip leader Warren Zackey took her out of contention when his ace-ten offsuit topped her ace-seven offsuit and Zackey paired his ten on the flop. She finished in twenty-seventh place and earned over US$352,000

Another notable name not in the November Nine is poker pro Antonio “the Magician” Esfandiari. Esfandiari pushed all of his chips into the middle of the table with a pair of fives and his opponent called with king-ten suited. The flop gave his opponent another ten, forcing “the Magician” to disappear from the Main Event in twenty-fourth place, also earning him over US$352,000.

The final elimination of the night came when chip leader Darvin Moon knocked out Jordan Smith. Smith went all-in with two red aces; Moon called with two red eights. The flop gave Moon a third eight, cracking Smith’s aces and shattering his dreams of making the final table. Smith finished in tenth place and earned over US$896,000.

As the event goes into a four-month break, unknown player Darvin Moon leads the pack with nearly 59 million in chips, almost double the total for the second-place player, Eric Buchman, who sits at 34.8 million. Card Player Magazine editor Jeff Shulman is in fourth with about 19.6 million.

Poker pro Phil Ivey is still alive, but very short-stacked against the massive totals of his tablemates. He enters his first Main Event final table with just over 9.7 million, good enough for seventh place. The shortest stack belongs to British poker pro James “sickdog” Akenhead with 6.8 million.

Here is your complete list of the November Nine:

Darvin Moon 58,930,000
Eric Buchman 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman 19,580,000
Joseph Cada 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel 12,390,000
Phil Ivey 9,765,000
Antoine Saout 9,500,000
James Akenhead 6,800,000

Every player at the final table will earn at least US$1.2 million, with the winner taking home over US$8.5 million, the championship bracelet, and the title of World Champion of Poker 2009!

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