Uh…Nice Hand?
Sunday, November 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I followed along with the November Nine coverage most of the day and most of the night, but when it hit 2AM and there were still 7 players left I gave up and hit the hay. Yesterday’s final table was the longest in WSOP history, and we’re not done yet. Darvin Moon and Joe Cada will battle heads-up for the title Monday night and if they play like they did yesterday it should be a most, um, interesting match.
Because the play yesterday was a bit…unorthodox. Yes, let’s call it that. I don’t think anyone could argue that both Moon and Cada ran good yesterday. Very good, in fact. Twice Cada was all-in holding an underpair to his opponent’s pocket pair…and flopped sets. Twice Moon put a ton of chips at risk holding Ace-Queen and found himself dominated–once by Phil Ivey’s Ace-King, once to Steven Begleiter’s pocket Queens–and won both hands, sending Ivey and Begleiter to the rail. Moon made some seriously odd moves as well, once re-raising to 15 million and then, when Begleiter moved in for 21 million and with Moon needing to put just 6 million more in for the call, Moon folded. My friend Pauly called it “The Worst Fold in Tournament Poker History” though perhaps Moon’s 15 million bet was The Worst Raise Ever.
But Moon still has a chance to win the bracelet, though he’ll have to overcome a 2-1 chip deficit to Cada, who at one point was seriously short-stacked before doubling up then winning those two huge hands where he was a 4-1 dog going into the flop. If you’re gonna run good, really really good, the final table of the WSOP Main Event isn’t a bad place for it to happen. And goodness knows it should make for some exciting TV come Tuesday. I saw pics taken from the Penn and Teller theater and the stage looked awesome, and the huge crowds that filled the space (at least for the first eight hours or so) lent it a real major-sporting-event feel. From what I read Cada’s supporters were an especially obnoxious lot, with lots of alcohol consumed and some inappropriate shouts coming from that part of the room. Irritating perhaps if you’re rooting for someone else, but it should again make for great television
I don’t envy the ESPN producers who had to endure an 18-hour final table and then are working frantically to turn that footage into a finished show in 48 hours. Nor did I envy my poker-blogging brethren who dug their trenches and fought the good fight all day and all night (and part of the next day). Those of you who have attended a final table understand why poker, for all it’s charms, will never be a major spectator sport. It takes a long time to play a final table, especially a fairly deep-stacked one. And not every hand is a riveting clash of titans marshaling their stack for the Final Confrontation. It took 276 hands to eliminate seven players, and that’s a long day’s work.
I may live-blog the broadcast on Tuesday, give my impressions of what went on (which of course is MUCH easier than covering the event live!) and experience the final table the way most people do, on TV in a (mercifully) edited format. Should be an interesting show, especially as we don’t know yet how it all ends.
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Tags: 2009 november nine, 2009 world series of poker, darvin moon, joe cada, world series of poker, WSOP
November 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
You forgot to mention that I said “Worst fold ever!” with the voice from the COmic Book Guy from The Simpsons! That adds an extra element to the phrase.
BTW, you are missed MeanGene!