This week’s episode was all WSOP. Huff spoke about the November Nine as a guy who has seen many a tourney, but never one like this. Caldwell and I offered our thoughts having seen development from freshman to sophomore year, BJ lamented being stuck in Foxwoods, but along with Gary shared how the experience transcended beyond Vegas via the internet and TV.

Oh, plus Phil Ivey, Joe Cada, and Darvin Moon. And maybe a little Antoine Saout.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Caldwell, Wise, Michalski, Nemeth, Stapleton
11/12/09

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/upload/radio/23/audio/PokerBeat111209.mp3]

How the final hand was called early on Bluff’s Internet audio stream Sunday morning at the WSOP Main Event final table with David “The Maven” Chicotsky”, Phil Hellmuth, and Bluff’s Eric Morris:

As the November 9->2 comes to a close, Pauly and I evaluate the make-up (TV- and industry-wise) of the Final Three … and when Antoine Saout goes down, a double-crushed Benjo finds himself baffled by Joe Cada yet still tickled that his countryman’s play allowed him to lock himself in a giant room for 17+ hours to witness this final table spectaculaire.

Episode 7: The Final 3
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_07_Final3.mp3]

Episode 8: Wave the Flag
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_08.mp3]

For seriously the best summary of what went down yesterday, it’s all there at Tao of Poker

Pauly and I look further into drinking with Padraig Parkinson, and in general what it means to be at the WSOPenn and Teller Theater at about midnight with seven players still remaining.

(NOTE: Ivey busted a few minutes after we finished recording this episode.)

Episode 6: Not-so-Last Call
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_06.mp3]

Benjo joins us all the way from France … and boy, have you ever heard our favorite poker Frenchman so excited before? That’s what happens, apparently, when Darvin Moon attempts to make a play … and let’s face it, always a better episode when Benjo’s in studio.

Episode 3: For Those about to Rock, We Saout You
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_03.mp3]

We’re back … with the world’s shortest poker podcast … so short, we’ve already got two episodes for you.

Episode 1: Pre-action Action
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_01.mp3]

Episode 2: Homme-team Advantage
[audio:tao/TOP_N9_02.mp3]

Pomp and circumstance is underway … and a betuxed TD Jack Effel began with a lesson on “poker fan etiquette”. Jack’s rules:

• Cheer and clap all you want
• Do not, however, interfere with play in any way by screaming “Go All In!” or “Don’t do that!”
• Scream all you want
• Please don’t boo.

[Editor’s Note: Booooo!]

• No flash photography

With all that explained, Jack “Link’s” Effel (who’s clearly been studying the works of the Buffer Brothers and touring rock bands) tried to rally the crowd to see who had the biggest cheering section. In terms of volume, Joe Cada’s rail-gang was clearly the loudest. “Joey! Joey! Joey!”

But in terms of style … Antoine Saout’s Frenchy hooligans definitely have it. They are all wearing Everest Poker soccer jerseys, with “Saout” on the back, along with Everest Poker scarves … and they’re showing us American sports fans don’t know a thing about local support songs.

As the mostly American crowd briefly paused to listen to whatever soccery song they were singing … Cada’s fans finally drowned them out with the creatively eloquent: “USA! USA! USA!”

The first of a series of Inside Deal shows this weekend, along with daily episodes of the Poker Edge podcast.

The long wait is almost over as the November Nine take their place at the final table Saturday afternoon. The following look at stack sizes, seat position, blind levels, M, etc. is part of a much larger post I made over at 2+2 regarding the final table, the information taken from the WSOP November Nine Media Guide:

Final Table Details

1 – Darvin Moon 58,930,000
2 – James Akenhead 6,800,000
3 – Phil Ivey 9,765,000
4 – Kevin Schaffel 12,390,000
5 – Steven Begleiter 29,885,000
6 – Eric Buchman 34,800,000
7 – Joseph Cada 13,215,000
8 – Antoine Saout 9,500,000
9 – Jeff Shulman 19,580,000

More…

Slow action or not … that’s what TV editing is for, and makes me think some damn good poker is being played. (Ahh, how I’ve been corrupted from back in the day when I thought every final table should be shown live in its totality.)

Seriously, can’t wait to see it on TV. You’ve got bracelets out the yin-yang. Two November Niners. The father of the November Nine’s bad-guy. An epicurean old-timer Brit. Daniel Negreanu. International flavor. Accomplished young guns. Scandis. All in the pretty cool setting that is The Casino at the Empire.

It was a sexy, if not tough field to get through, too. The in-the-money fight from four tables down to one saw Doyle Brunson, Liz Lieu, EPL soccer legend Teddy Sheringham, Devilfish, Men the Master, Hendon Mobber Ram Vaswani, Steven Z for good measure, and plenty of valid others.

(Wouldn’t it be dandy if ESPN could show maybe an hour of lead-up, with two hours of final table? Just an NFL football game, ya know?)

@JeffreyPollack‘s been giving his eloquently bare-bones play-by-play.

And you can also follow via our pals at Betfair.

Click below to see a more detailed breakdown of the players of what may well be one of the most storied final tables of the year:

More…

The main event of WSOP Europe is underway now, with a super exciting final table of poker stars. These were the starting chip counts when they took their seats:

Seat 1: Barry Shulman (1,090,000)
Seat 2: Jason Mercier (3,198,000)
Seat 3: Praz Bansi (1,160,000)
Seat 4: Markus Ristola (784,000)
Seat 5: Chris Bjorin (518,000)
Seat 6: James Akenhead (1,398,000)
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu (438,000)
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (701,000)
Seat 9: Matt Hawrilenko (674,000)

The group consists of six previous WSOP bracelet winners (Shulman, Mercier, Bansi, Bjorin, Negreanu, & Hawrilenko), two members of the November Nine (Akenhead & Saout), and a father of a November Niner (Shulman).

More than four hours into the final table “action,” Negreanu worked his way into second place. And that’s about it. Play continues with the likelihood that someone will eventually be eliminated. Live coverage can be found on the World Series of Poker website.