Live från WSOP Finalbord 2009

Antoine seeks out the "poker gods" for a heart

Steve Begleiter raises to 1.5 million. Antoine, out of the small blind, makes it $4.5 million to go. Begleiter calls.

Flop: 8h-3c-9h

Antoine checks, and "Begs" bets out $6.3 million into Antoine. Antoine almost immediately re-raises all-in, and "Begs" sinks into his chair!

After a long...long...time, "Begs" makes the call, and looks even sicker as the hands are turned over:

Begleiter: 8c-7c

Saout: Ah-Kh

"Begs" has made the "right" call in terms of holding a pair versus a draw, but with all outs that Antoine has, he is technically the percentage favorite.

Turn: 10h

The Quiet Assassin Antoine Saout has "Begs" drawing dead and is the new recipient of around $22 million chips!!!

New counts:

Antoine Saout - 52.7 million

Steve Begleiter - 18.4 million

Antoine's Supporters Erupt As He Doubles Up!

Updated Chip Counts

Steven Begleiter - 47,450,000

Eric Buchman - 46,100,000

Darvin Moon - 37,150,000

Antoine Saout - 27,425,000

Jeff Shulman - 15,600,000

Joseph Cada - 11,450,000

Phil Ivey - 10,375,000

Ivey takes a hit

Phil Ivey opens for $1.25 million from middle position. Small Blind, and short stacked Joe Cada moves all in over the top of Ivey for roughly $5.8 million.

Ivey thinks for a long time, nearly 5 minutes, before putting Cada at risk with a call.

Showdown:

Ivey: As-8c

Cada: 4h-4d

Cada looks genuinely concerned, while Ivey is well, Ivey, and shows little emotion.

Board: 2d-10s-3h-9c-7h

Ivey losing this put moves him to the shortest stack at the table with a little over $10 million, while Cada has battled back from the extremely short stack to hold nearly $13 million in chips.

Though are hearts here at Everest Poker are strongly with Antoine Saout, you can't help but want Ivey to remain at this table as well. We will keep you updated on how things progress as the next blind level approaches.

Cada Ponders A Big Call

Joe Cada opened a pot to $1.25 million, followed by an all-in from Jeff Shulman for a little over $7 million.

Cada went deep into the tank for what seemed like forever before finally deciding to call Shulmans all in bet.

When the cards turned over however, Cada thought long and thought wrong, because his Ad-Js was second best to the As-Kh of Shulman.

Cada's cheering section went wild screaming for a Jack but as the board ran out:

Board: 3h-10s-9c-Qd-4d

Shulman doubles up, while Cada drops to $2,275,000.

Round 1: Who Won?

A little known fact about Team Everest Pro Antoine Saout's journey to this final table is that he spent most of the final days in July leading up to the final table playing at the same table as one, Phil Ivey! Does this give him a competitive advantage over the rest of the table possibly knowing perennial fan favorite Phil Ivey's game better than the other November Nine, I don't know...probably not! But what it does tell us is his comfort level of playing with Ivey has to be at least a notch above the other final tablists, and we might have seen our first glimpse of it moments ago when they finally went toe to toe in a pot. here's what happened:

Phil Ivey raises to $1,250,000 under the gun before Antoine re-raises to $4,050,000. Ivey gives Antoine the "Ivey Stare" before folding and giving up the pot to Antoine to a roar of cheers from the crowd.

This was the first time all day that someone has played back at Ivey, and that means that Round 1 of the Antoine Ivey war went to the Fiery Frenchman!

We will now take a 2-hour dinner break, and here is the breakdown of the chip counts as we head off to break:

Darvin Moon: 41,250,000

Phil Ivey: 14,900,000

Steve Begleiter: 38,100,000

Eric Buchman: 54,725,000

Joe Cada: 10,700,000

Antoine Saout: 28,725,000

Jeff Shulman: 7,175,000

The Face Of A Future WSOP Main Event Winner?

Antoine has shown an ability today to be overly patient, and yet overly aggressive, all in the right spots at the right times. Antoine started this action by betting out $1.35 million. Jeff "Happy" Shulman followed that bet with a raise to $4 million,which made everyone else on the path back to Antoine fold.

Antoine, ever emotionless at the table, paused, then announced he was all-in for a total of $21,125,000. Antoine, having Shulman covered, then got to sit back and wait for Shulman to make his decision.

Shulman thought, then folded within a couple of minutes, and Antoine picked up another pot, propelling his stack to near $26 million.

"Happy" looks sad after losing this one.

"Begs" stack is soaring!

Darvin Moon raises to $1,300,000 under the gun and "Begs" takes his time before cutting out a re-raise to $3,900,000. Moon doesn't take too long before making the call, which gives us one of our most expensive flops of the day.

Flop: 3s-4s-2d.

Moon checks, and Begleiter bets out a massive mountain which turns out to equal $5,350,000 in chips. Moon, after appearing to nearly decide to fold his hand,check raises "Begs" to $15,000,000!!!!

"Begs" looks shocked, but settles in and goes deep into the tank for what seems like 5 minuts or more. He then announces all-in, and Darvin shoots back in his chair like he was struck by the poker gods!

After much consideration, and finding out that the re-raise is a mere $6 million more, MOON MUCKS HIS HAND!!!!!

And that gives our WSOP Main Event a new chip leader for the first time since July 15!!!!

Begleiter is up to 44,750,000, trailing Eric Buchman (51,575,000) by a mere $7 million in chips!!!!

A Stunned Darvin Moon Copes With The Loss Of His Chips

The Quiet Assassin

Battle of the blinds:

Antoine completes from the small blind and Jeff Shulman, who has been relatively non-existent thus far at the final table, is in the big blind. Shulman elects to raise to $1,625,000, and Antoine calls.

Flop: 5d-10c-Qc

Antoine checks, Shulman checks.

Turn: 10h

Antoine leads out with a bet of $1,150,000. Shulman gives it some serious thought, but then folds his hand, sending more chips over to the Quiet Assassin Saout!

Ouch!

Kevin Schaffel makes a raise to 1,250,000 from middle position and Steve Begleiter calls in position. Eric Buchman applies massive pressure with a re-raise to $5.75 million. When is gets back to Schaffel, he moves all-in over the top for $17 million. Begleiter gets out of the way and Buchman goes into the tank. When he finally calls, the hand he thought of folding means he had a great read on the situation, as he is in trouble:

Showdown

Schaffel: Ah-Ac

Buchman: Kh-Kc

Buchman's sixth sense seems to have been right, except he wasn't reading the future, he was only reading "Begs." Buchman liked what the future held however, as the flop brought a Schaffel-heartbreaking:

Flop: Qs-Jh-Ks!!!

This flop got everyone in the crowd on their feet, since although Kevin Schaffel experienced the ultimate in bad beats, any ace or 10 would put him right back into the drivers seat. That was of course...until the even deadlier turn card:

Turn: Kd!!!

And just like that, Kevin Schaffel's WSOP is over!

Kevin finishes in 8th place for a cool $1,300,231.

It's a painful way to go out, but it creates an interesting development as Buchman now sits on $52 million which is ever-so-close to Darvin Moon's chip-leading $58 million.

And let's not forget about Team Everest's Own Antoine Saout, who is sitting in a comfortable yet strike-able 4th place.

James Akenhead, 9th Place

Akenhead, who has experienced more up and downs thanany other player at the table thus far, moves all-in for $4.5 million. Ivey folds which brings us to Schaffel who calls fairly quickly. As everyone folds, we get a look at the showdown hands:

Akenhead:3d-3c

Schaffel: 9s-9h

Board: 10c-2c-7h-2s-9d

No help for Akenhead, ans he is the unfortunate first elimination, who leaves with the same prize money he came to the table with. The bright side however for Akenhead, is that still makes him and WSOP Millionaire with $1,263,602 for finishing in 9th place.