Live från WSOP Finalbord 2009

As the Sun sets outside, Moon rises inside

Joe Cada follows the old adage, if at first you don't succeed, try try again...and Once again opens the action with a $1 million bet.

Darvin Moon is the caller this time, as he peels a flop from the big blind.

Flop: 4c-8c-9d

Moon checks, Cada checks.

Turn: Ad

Moon Checks, Cada bets $1.4 million. Moon Calls.

River: 4s

Moon leads out with a strong $2.5 million bet into Cada. Cada, after some pondering, makes it $5.5 million to go. Moon snap calls and turns up the Ac-10d, and two pair (Aces and Fours) is good as Cada hands sails into the muck.

Moon up to $59.5 million, while Cada slips to $6.75 million.

Antoine Finding His Stride

Antoine has decided not to let the fact thathe just got his new chips stop him from moving them around. Only three hands back from break, here's what happened:

Joe Cada starts the action with a bet of $1 million.

Antoine, undeterred by Cada's opening bet, Re-raises it up to $4,000,000. Cada can't take the heat, and Saout adds to his fast growing collection of multi-colored chips!

Nervous Saout Supporters Look On As Antoine Calls All-In!

Here's a look at the stacks while we wait to resume the action:

Updated Chip Counts

Darvin Moon - 49,495,000

Eric Buchman - 35,135,000

Steven Begleiter - 24,820,000

Antoine Saout - 21,960,000

Joseph Cada - 16,635,000

Jeff Shulman - 14,780,000

James Akenhead - 12,515,000

Phil Ivey - 10,565,000

Kevin Schaffel - 8,960,000

Antoine Stands At Attention To Await His Fate

The dust hasn't even settled on the previous hand where Akenhead doubled up, and Antoine decided that he wanted to steal back the spotlight! Antoine opens the next pot with a bet of $750,000 from the cutoff. Darvin Moon, who's been quite up to this point, makes the call out of the blinds.

Flop: Ks-Jh-2c

Darvin Moon bets right out into raiser Saout for a healthy bet of 2.3 million. Antoine wastes little time before raising the price of poker to $6.75 million. Moon thinks for a bit befre declaring that he is all-in. Antoine nearly beatshim into the pot with a call, and we now have our second all-in in a row and first for Team Everest.

Showdown:

Darvin Moon: Ah-4d

Antoine Saout: Js-2h

Antoine has bottom two pair, up against the Ace-high of Moon, which immediately sends the "Sa-ooooooooooo-ut" section of fans into a roar of positive cheers and shouts of "Hold!"

Turn: 3d

Poker is never easy, and the turn card brings a seemingly drawing dead Darvin Moon a sign of life. Any five now gives us our first elimination and sends Antoine back to France with the same prize money he showed up with today!

River: 2s

Antoine's mighty J-2 holds strong and increases his stack to a dangerous $22 million in chips!

As the big stack Moon drops to $49.5 and Antoine surges, we go to a quick break in action.

Akenhead Hits Well-Timed Rivercard

James Akenhead open-shoved all in from early position, for 4,015,000 total. Steven "Begs" Begleiter went into the tank for a while before announcing call.

Strangely enough after the tight play overall thus far, the tables most active player Eric Buchman then announced a big re-raise to 12,000,000!

After "Begs" agonized over this decision for quite some time, he decided to let the other two players battle it out, giving us our first all-in showdown of the day.

Akenhead: Kc-Qh

Buchman: Ah-Ks

Flop: 2s-3s-Jd

Turn: Kh

The entire section of Akenhead supporters up in the VIP Family and Friends seating area is now on their feet with some etching ever so close to the table to catch the first glimpse of the river card that will seal their man Akenhead's fate!

River: Qs!!

The crowd erupts with appluase for the crazy rivercard, saving Akenhead's elimination for another day, and as he breaths a sigh of relief, fans rush the stage to hug their spared poker hero!

Akenhead now has a playable $12,855,000 in chips, while Buchman find himself almost back where he started the day at $35,175,000.

Buchman's Big Gain

Of all the players at the Final Table here today, Eric Buchman has by far been the most active.

This aggression has been rewarded handsomely thus far, as Buchman arrived here to play today with $34,800,000 and has in two levels already increased his lead to $40,630,000

Let's see if he can continue to move up without hitting a road block from any of the other players.

Antoine finds his groove

Out of the past five hands, Antoine has either bet or re-raised putting ultimate pressure on his opponents. He isn't being picky either, as he has now played a pot with Joe Cada, Eric Buchman and now Kevin Schaffel during his streak of aggressive play:

Kevin Schaffel's opens for 750,000. Team Everest Poker Pro Antoine Saout, continues to let the table know that he is not afraid to play a pot, re-raises to 2.75 million. Schaffel thinks for close to a minute before giving up and letting go of his hand. Antoine's fans let out a deafening cheer for their favorite November Niner, as we move on to the next hand.

Antoine Immediately Gains Back Ground

Just moments after losing nearly 2 million in chips:

Antoine is on the button. Eric Buchman makes it 800,000 two from the button. Saout doesn't take long to move all-in over the top of Buchman. After the blinds fold, Buchman almost immediately releases his hand, sending some chips back in the direction of the aggressive Saout.

Antoine Loses a Big of Ground

Joe Cada makes it 750,000 to go on the button. Antoine calls out of the small blind. Big Blind folds and we see a flop:

Flop: 5s-6c-8s

Antoine bets 1,000,000.

Cada pauses breifly before throwing out a call.

Turn: Qs

Antoine checks, Cada bets 1,475,000, and Saout thinks for a couple minutes. After Saouts deliberation, he folds and sends the pot over to Cada.

Play has just resumed after a 20-minute break in the action.



Here is a look at the updated chip counts:

Darvin Moon: 61,535,000

James Akenhead: 3,445,000

Phil Ivey: 10,035,000

Kevin Schaffel: 10,890,000

Steve Begleiter: 31,175,000

Eric Buchman: 39,820,000

Joe Cada: 11,835,000

Antoine Saout: 10,620,000

Jeff Shulman: 15,510,000