With 96% of the field gone, players took to the felts for Days 5 and 6 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on ESPN. Three women, two former Main Event champions, and one gold bracelet remained.
The first hand shown at the feature table, which once again contained Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jeff Shulman, saw Randy Propson and Grospellier see a flop of 10-2-6. The action went check-check to bring a king on the turn and Grospellier check-called a bet of 42,000 from Propson. The river was a deuce and Grospellier once again check-called a bet, this time 75,000. Grospellier showed A-8 for ace-high, good enough to scoop the 330,000 chip pot. Elsewhere in the room, Phil Ivey bet 40,000 on a board of 8-7-7-8-J and Charles Clark called. Ivey showed J-6 for a rivered two pair to claim the pot.
At Table Two, Andreas Flakstad shoved all-in holding pocket eights on a 7-J-2-3-5 board with three hearts. Antonio Esfandiari tanked before finally folding pocket queens. Table Two also included “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” winner Lou Diamond Phillips. Back at the feature table, Brent Catalano doubled up at the expense of Joe Hachem, who joined the cast. Catalano held pocket queens in the hand, which saw Hachem miss a flush draw.
In the PokerStars-sponsored “Straight from the Pros” segment, Hachem relived a hand from the 2007 Main Event in which he stressed the importance of position. Then, back at the Rio, Estelle Denis, one of three women remaining in the field, pushed all-in over the top of a raise by J.C. Tran. However, the dealer pulled her cards into the muck. A floor supervisor, Steve Frezer, was called. After Denis told him her cards, Frezer looked at the top two cards in the deck, which did not match, and her hand was declared dead. Denis noted that she had aces.
Joe Sebok could be found alongside his cousin, Mike Linn, and both were decked out in PokerRoad gear. In the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand, Francois Balmigere raised pre-flop with unknown cards and Hachem called from the big blind with 5-7 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-2. Hachem checked, Balmigere bet 43,000, and Hachem called to see the turn fall an ace. Hachem once again checked, Balmigere fired out a bet of 86,000, about half the size of the pot, and Hachem folded. Balmigere held just 6-7 for a bluff.
At Table Two, Esfandiari signed a woman’s chest and promptly autographed a man’s stomach, attracting the attention of ESPN cameras. Then, his pocket aces sent Adam Sanders and his pocket tens packing after the board ran out 4-K-K-8-3. In “The Nuts,” which asked poker pros which of their peers would make ideal reality television show contestants, Phil Hellmuth claimed his agent inquired if he wanted to be on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” In one of the final hands shown during the first episode, which aired at 9:00pm ET, Phillips was all-in with kings against two players holding pocket aces. The board came 8-9-9-5-9 and one of the last celebrities left in the field hit the rails in 186th place.
The second episode profiled Day 6 at the 2009 WSOP Main Event and kicked off with a rap by bracelet winner Prahlad Friedman. ESPN announcer Norman Chad quipped, “In terms of rapping, I’d have to put him ahead of Jeff Madsen, but behind Jay Z.” Out in the field, ESPN viewers saw two eventual November Nine members clash, as James Akenhead check-raised Steve Begleiter, who promptly re-raised to 505,000. Akenhead made the call on the 9-8-Q board with two clubs to see the three of spades hit the turn. Akenhead check-called an 850,000 chip bet to bring the river, the seven of spades. Both players checked and Begleiter scooped the massive 2.8 million chip pot with 9-7 for two pair.
Seated at the same table during the 10:00pm ET episode were Hachem, Tran, Dennis Phillips, and Peter Eastgate, a group dubbed by ESPN announcer Lon McEachern “the table of death.” Elsewhere, Dan Bilzerian, one-half of the Norman Chad-labeled “Flying Bilzerian Brothers,” was ousted by Jonathan Tamayo with his A-6 could not out-draw pocket tens. After the Full Tilt Poker sponsored segment “Deal Me In” recapped a hand with Jennifer Harman during the 2005 Main Event, Nichoel Peppe took down a pot at Table Two. Peppe and Leo Margets headlined the side table and represented the lone women remaining in the 2009 WSOP Main Event after Denis was sent packing.
Darvin Moon put in a raise to 650,000 and Ben Lamb called on a board of A-3-2-J. The river came a nine. Lamb checked, Moon bet 500,000, and Lamb folded, boosting Moon’s chip stack to 4.1 million, among the top tallies in the Amazon Room. Adam Bilzerian doubled up after calling all-in with 5-4 on a board of 6-5-2. His opponent showed J-9 for a bluff and Bilzerian’s hand held up. Bilzerian would give some of his newfound chips to John Martin after Martin was all-in with pocket nines on a 5-8-7-2 board with two spades. Bilzerian held 5-6 of the suit for flush and straight draws, but the river was the jack of hearts.
Tom Schneider, the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year, took down a 2.6 million chip pot at the feature table to close out Tuesday’s WSOP on ESPN festivities. New episodes air at 9:00pm ET on Tuesdays on ESPN and replay throughout the week.
