Ten PocketFivers Remain in Final 27 of WSOP Main Event
Wednesday marks the last day of play in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event until November. After two months and 57 tournaments, it all comes down to the last 27 standing, who will play down to the final table this afternoon. The group will forever be known as the November Nine and each player will take home at least $1.2 million. The final 27 includes not one, not two, not three, but ten PocketFivers, led by Bill Patrolman35Kopp, who has been seated near the top of the leaderboard for much of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament. Kopp holds the second largest stack overall at 15.9 million, trailing only Darvin Moon’s tally of 20.1 million. All of the action before play is paused for four months can be found on PocketFivesLive.com.
Play on Tuesday concluded with the untimely demise of PocketFiver Joe LatestLines2Ward (pictured at left), who was sent to the rails by Jamie TheNewRobbins. Ward picked a prime spot to double up, holding A-K against Robbins’ A-Q. However, Robbins spiked a queen on the river to secure his spot in the final 27. Robbins now holds the ninth largest stack overall at 9.8 million. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman noted, “Jamie got involved at all of the right times and he chipped up nicely over the course of the day. Unlike a lot of the other players, Robbins never got concerned about being below average because he knew he still had plenty of chips to work with. He got a little lucky against Joe Ward at the end of the night, but he is still playing well and appears to be peaking at just the right time.”
Kopp (pictured at right) has been perched near the top of the leaderboard for virtually the entire WSOP Main Event. He ripped a final pot off Kevin Schaffel late in the day after firing out a bet of 700,000 on a board of 10-5-4-10. His opponent folded, shipping the one million chip pot to the PocketFiver. Welman recapped Kopp’s impressive run through the world’s most prestigious poker tournament: “Billy continues to play well and run well, which is the combination everyone wants at this stage in the tournament. Even when Phil Ivey was moved directly to Kopp’s left, he was undeterred and continued to play his game and pick up chips. Kopp is really playing in the zone and I think he is already one to watch who is capable of taking this tournament down.” Kopp has made a habit of doubling his chip stack each day, moving from eight million to 16 million on Tuesday.
Ben benbaLamb doubled up fellow PocketFiver Jordan Scarface_79 Smith (pictured at left) late during play. Lamb called Smith’s all-in holding A-7 of spades, but ran into pocket aces. The flop came J-4-9 with two spades, giving Lamb hope, but running clubs sealed a double up for Smith. Nevertheless, Lamb holds a stack of 9.4 million, which is good for tenth place overall. Smith, meanwhile, has a stack of 4.5 million entering Wednesday’s play down day. On Lamb’s Tuesday, Welman noted, “Lamb did a bulk of the work in trimming the field from 64 to 27. Every time I walked by during the first half of the day, Ben was busting another player to chip up and inch closer to the final three tables. He slowed down towards the end of the day, but he is in great shape.”
Here is how the final 27 look in the 2009 WSOP Main Event:
1. Darvin Moon – 20,160,000
2. Billy Patrolman35Kopp – 15,970,000
3. Steven Begleiter – 11,885,000
4. Phil Ivey – 11,350,000
5. Kevin Schaffel – 11,245,000
6. Antoine Saout – 11,135,000
7. Jeff Shulman – 10,170,000
8. Eric Buchman – 10,005,000
9. Jamie TheNewRobbins – 9,795,000
10. Ben LambaLamb – 9,410,000
11. James Akenhead – 8,615,000
12. Joseph jcada99Cada – 6,565,000
13. James Calderaro – 6,475,000
14. Andrew luckychewyLichtenberger – 5,625,000
15. Lacay CutsssLudovic – 5,610,000
16. Warren Zackey – 5,485,000
17. Marco Mattes – 5,285,000
18. Tommy Vedes – 5,070,000
19. Jordan Scarface_79 Smith – 4,510,000
20. Antonio Esfandiari – 4,470,000
21. Ian Tavelli – 4,385,000
22. Jonathan driverseatiTamayo – 3,300,000
23. Jesse thorHabbak – 2,750,000
24. George Caragiorgas – 1,615,000
25. Nick fu_15 Maimone – 1,545,000
26. Leo Margets – 1,530,000
27. Francois Balmigere – 1,440,000
The action is already underway at the Rio in Las Vegas, so check out PocketFivesLive.com, your source for the top WSOP coverage of online poker players.