2009 World Series of Poker results

The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the 2009 series began on May 27 and featured 57 poker championships in several variants. All events but the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas hold 'em Main Event, the most prestigious of the WSOP events, ended by July 15. The final table of the Main Event, known as the November Nine, was suspended until November, to allow for better television coverage.^[1] Following the WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners received a championship bracelet in addition to that event's prize money, which this year ranged from US$87,778 for the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em to US$8,546,435 for the Main Event.

WSOP game variants

Most of the tournaments played at the WSOP are variants of Texas Hold 'em. Hold 'em is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and the player's own two hole cards to make a poker hand, in contrast to poker variants such as stud or draw in which each player holds a separate individual hand. Between 2000 and 2009, hold'em surpassed seven-card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos.^[2] Seven-card stud is a poker variant wherein each player is dealt two hole cards and one face-up to start the hand, followed by three more face-up cards one at a time, and then another hidden card, with betting after each round. Another poker variant played is Omaha, a game in which each player is dealt four hole cards and must use exactly two of them in conjunction with three community cards to make the best possible five-card hand. Other games played at the 2008 tournament included Razz, HORSE, and Deuce-to-Seven.

Within each of these poker variants a myriad of options exist. For example, depending on the betting structure, a tournament might be described as no limit, limit or pot-limit. Games may also include other variations on the rules governing the execution of the specific game such as shootout, eight or better, or heads up.

2009 highlights

There were 57 events, two more than in 2008. The main event had 6,494 buy-ins, 350 fewer than the previous year. Other changes for 2009 include the elimination of rebuy events and the introduction of triple starting chips.^[3]

In recognition that 2009 was the 40th WSOP, the tournament started with a special $40,000 No-Limit event. As one of the most expensive poker tournaments ever, the event attracted what considered to be one of the toughest poker fields ever assembled.^[4] Poker pro, Vitaly Lunkin, won his second bracelet in this event. Lunkin then finished in second place at the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event and the $50,000 HORSE Championship, finishing the summer with over $2.7 million.^[4] David Bach, a player with several final table appearances, won his first bracelet in the $50,000 HORSE Championship. At 18 hours and 44 minutes the final table of the $50K HORSE event was the second longest final table in WSOP history.

Jeff Lisandro became the fifth player to ever win three bracelets in the same year, and the first ever to win bracelets in all three stud variants offered at the WSOP (stud high-only, stud high-low, and Razz) in the same year. Poker superstar Barry Greenstein, said that "A lot of people might have said before this year, we may not ever see another guy win three bracelets because the fields are so big... Lisandro proved them wrong."^[4] He was the first player to do so since Phil Ivey did it in 2002. By winning two bracelets, Ivey, considered by many to be the best overall poker player in the world,^[4] became the youngest player to ever amass seven WSOP bracelets. The milestone means he is tied with Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter at sixth place on the most bracelets list.

Due to capacity limitations, the 2009 WSOP turned away over 500 players from the Main Event. Patrik Antonius, T.J. Cloutier, Layne Flack, Ted Forrest, Brandon Adams, Richard Ashby, and Mickey Appleman were among the notable players turned away from the Main Event. 1996 WSOP champion Huck Seed would have been included in that list, if he had not won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship which meant he was guaranteed entry into the 2009 WSOP Main Event.^[5]

Another tournament which met its capacity limits was the "$1,000 buy-in Stimulus Special." This event set a new record for a non-main event tournament with 6,012 participants.^[6][7]

Results

Key

References

^a The $7.7 million dollar prize pool was the largest non-main event prize pool in WSOP history.^[6]

^b The 918 players set a record turnout for an Omaha event at the WSOP.^[6]

^c Event 5 was originally scheduled to end on June 2, but because of the size of the field the tournament was extended a day.

^d Event 4 had the lowest buy-in of all the open events since the 2006 WSOP. Dubbed the "$1,000 buy-in Stimulus Special," it set a new record for a non-main event tournament with 6,012 participants. This number would have been larger, but the tournament was capped at 6,012 players.^[6][7]

^e Like all the Pot Limit Omaha events, event 52 was a "Triple Chance" event. In these events players had access to three equal units of chips. For example, in a $2500 event, players have access to a total of 7500 in chips, but they had to option to start with either 2500, 5000 or all 7500. If they started with 2500, and lost those chips, they could access another 2500 or their remaining 5000. They were not eliminated until they had lost all 7500 of their possible starting chips. Thus the event was not a rebuy event(There were no rebuy events in 2009 WSOP.), but rather one where players could lose all their chips during the first three rounds but not be eliminated until they lost all 7500 chips. If a player started with less than the full 7500, at the end of three rounds any remaining available 2500 units were added to the player's stacks, and anyone losing all their chips after that point would be eliminated.

^f The final table of the Main Event is now known as the November Nine as the nine players have to wait until November to determine who the champion is.

References