2009 World Series of Poker


The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker. It was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and ran from May 27 to July 15. There were 57 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. The "November Nine" concept returned for the second year, with the finalists of the Main Event returning to finish the tournament on November 7.

Event schedule

Main Event

The $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold 'em Main Event began on July 3 with the first of four starting days. There were 6,494 total entries. After reaching the final table of nine players on July 15, the final table was once again delayed until November 7. The main event once again was a draw for many celebrities to play including:
The last day one, day 1d, had by far the highest number of participants, 2,809. According to news reports, as many as 500 players, including Patrik Antonius, T. J. Cloutier, Layne Flack and Ted Forrest, were denied entry because capacity was filled.
Players started with 30,000 chips, up from 20,000 in previous Main Events.

Performance of past champions

Other notable high finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.
PlaceNamePrize
14thBen Lamb$633,022
18thAndrew Lichtenberger$500,557
24thAntonio Esfandiari$352,832

November Nine

As in 2008, the final nine players returned on November 7 to complete the event. These players were as follows:
NameNumber of chips
WSOP
Bracelets		WSOP
Cashes*		WSOP
Earnings*
Darvin Moon58,930,000 00$0
Eric Buchman34,800,000 09$320,893
Steven Begleiter29,885,000 00$0
Jeff Shulman19,580,000 015$289,551
Joe Cada13,215,000 02$28,214
Kevin Schaffel12,390,000 02$92,166
Phil Ivey9,765,000 738$3,843,018
Antoine Saout9,500,000 00$0
James Akenhead6,800,000 02$525,867

Harrah's deposited the remaining prizepool of $15,847,250 into a risk-free interest-bearing account back on July 16, 2009 up until November 2, 2009. This was the total money left over in the prize pool after each member of the November Nine was paid out ninth-place money. The remaining money accrued $1,321 in interest and was distributed throughout the payouts. The 2009 final table lasted for 364 hands, including 88 hands of heads up play.

Final table

Notable achievements