Day 8 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event played out on cable station ESPN on Tuesday night. The two-hour broadcast featured future November Nine members Phil Ivey, Jeff Shulman, and Darvin Moon.
ESPN announcer Norman Chad opened Day 8 coverage with a timely Bible metaphor: “Moses never made it to the Promised Land, but my man Phil Ivey will make it to the November Nine.” A total of 27 players remained in the hunt for the $8.5 million first place prize and Moon began the day as the chip leader. Ivey’s rocky Day 8 started by dropping a 2.3 million chip pot with pocket twos against the A-9 of Jordan “scarface_79” Smith.
Ivey, seated at the feature table, would witness Nick Maimone go four-for-four on double-ups, the first time chopping a pot with Moon holding Q-10 against Q-J. The second time, Maimone was all-in for less than nine big blinds holding Q-5 of clubs against Ivey’s pocket jacks. Maimone spiked a queen on the turn to stay alive and then recorded his third double-up at the expense of Smith, who pushed with pocket tens on a flop of 8-Q-4. Maimone held pocket sevens and needed to catch lightning in a bottle to stave off elimination. Sure enough, the turn gave him a set.
A rare lapse in judgment plagued Ivey in a hand at the feature table. Ivey held pocket eights, including the eight of spades, and raised to 320,000 pre-flop. Smith pushed the price of poker to one million and Ivey made the call. The action was checked down to the river with the board showing four spades, giving Ivey a flush. Smith flipped over A-9 and Ivey shook his head before mucking. As expected, Chad did not approve, telling his horse, “Phil, you had a flush. Five suited cards is a flush. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Ivey’s tumultuous run continued, as Marco Mattes was all-in for 2.5 million with pocket queens and Ivey made the call with jacks, telling Shulman that he thought Mattes had tens. The board ran out five cards 10 or lower, doubling Mattes up. All told, Ivey had lost 30% of his stack on the two misreads. Contrastingly, Maimone’s run of luck continued. This time, he called all-in with pocket queens against Mattes’ A-K for a race situation. The board ran out 8-9-8-J-3, doubling him up for a fourth and final time.
Antonio Esfandiari officially recorded his first WSOP Main Event cash to close out the first of two one-hour episodes on ESPN. “The Magician” pushed over the top of a raise by Steven Begleiter with pocket fives and Begleiter made the call with K-10 after the flop came 2-4-10. The turn was a six and the river was an ace, sending Esfandiari out in 24th.
Ivey continued to bleed chips, dropping one-sixth of his stack to George Caragiorgas, who was all-in with pocket deuces against Ivey’s A-10. The board came 6-J-3-9-4, doubling up Ivey’s opponent. Away from the feature table, two future November Nine members tangled, as Antoine Saout raised to 425,000 pre-flop with pocket aces and Begleiter called with K-10. The action checked to the turn on the A-3-8-8 board and Belgeiter led out for 450,000. Saout called with his boat to see the river come a jack. Then, the fireworks went off, as Begleither bet 1.15 million, Saout raised to 3.25 million, and Begleiter promptly funneled his cards into the muck.
Warren Zackey hit the rail in 22nd place when his pocket twos could not hold up against Ian Tavelli’s Q-J. Other late eliminations included Caragiorgas and World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago champion Tommy Vedes, who finished in 20th and 19th, respectively.
Returning this week were the “Deal Me In” and “Straight from the Pros” segments. The former is sponsored by Full Tilt Poker and featured Erick Lindgren recapping a hand during the 2008 WSOP Main Event. The latter saw Daniel Negreanu rehash a pot against Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton during the 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions. Negreanu identified Sexton’s hand on the river, pocket kings, and then called his bet despite being beat to show Sexton he had a read on him.
The 2009 WSOP November Nine will be determined next Tuesday beginning at 9:00pm ET on ESPN. On November 10th, the final table will play out just hours after a champion is determined in Las Vegas.