The November Nine final table of the World Series has finally come to end, and what an end it was! Arguably the most anticipated World Series final table ever, with Phil Ivey making his first main event final table, this years November Nine did not disappoint. With last years event taking 168 hands to get down to the final two, we still had 7 players left fighting for the title this time around.

When play started, we had a huge difference in chips from the chip leader Darvin Moon over 55 million, to James Akenhead holding on just under 7 million chips.

Darvin Moon 58,930,000
Eric Buchman 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman 19,580,000
Joe Cada 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel 12,390,000
Phil Ivey 9,765,000
Antoine Saout 9,500,000
James Akenhead 6,800,000

It looked to be an early exit at first for Akenhead, who quickly changed everyone's minds with some big hands, doubling quickly. Also picking up some early pots was Schaffel. However our first casualty occured when Akenhead ans Schaffel squared off, with the unfortunate case of Aces against Kings. Schaffel collected the pot, and James was left with a tiny stack. Sooner after James pushes 33 and Schaffel calls with 99. The nines hold, and James collects $1.2 million for 9th.

Schaffel looked to be in great shape now, and even better shape when he got it all in, again with Aces against, this time Eric Buchman's, Kings. However all of Schaffel's early joys were quickly squashed as the board ran out KQJK and Buchman clinched the huge pot and the chip lead.

With 7 left, the biggest chip mover was probably Antoine Saout as he continued to play well and pick up pot after pot taking himself out of a dangerous position into a position of control. Ivey was able to build his stack up to about 16 million, however having trouble picking up any hands he found himself back around the 9 million mark when he looked down at AK. Ivey managed to get the chips into the middle against Moon's AQ. Unfortunately for Ivey, and what seems like millions of supporters, the Queen hit the flop, and Ivey was unable to catch up. Ending his main event run in 7th.

Moon, wasting no time, decided to ride his wave of luck against Steve Begleiter's all in, and again showed AQ. However he was in trouble once again as Begleiter tabled pocket Queens. The flop ran out harmless, with a brick on the turn it looked as if Begleiter was going to take a huge pot, only for the Ace to spike the river. Moon takes down another enormous pot from behind, and Begleiter is sent to the rail in 6th.

Shulman who has been relatively quiet, gets the chips in with JJ against Cada's 33 only to see a 3 out the door. The Jack never comes, and Shulman is left nursing a small stack. He manages to double back up with A5 against Saout's KQ, only to push 77 soon after. The call is made again by Saout, who seems to have it in for Shulman who tables an A9. The 9 hits the board and Shulman is sent packing in 5th.

Buchman ends up pushing all in preflop over Saout's raise, and Saout makes the call for his tournament life with AK. A flop of KT6 brings a bit of relief to Saout, and as he dodges the Q on the turn and the river, he collects the largest pot of the tournament sending him to 89m chips, and Buchman down to under 10m. Buchman doubles through Moon with KT v A7 hitting a K on the flop. However next hand the two get it all in again, this time Buchman has the A5 to Darvin's KJ. The flop whifs both players, but the turn brings the fatal King, and Buchman collects $2.5m for 4th.

After the break, Cada comes in with a raise, Saout reraises and Cada makes the all-in shove. Saout instantly calls and we have Cada's 22 against Saout's QQ. Cada again dodges elimination as the flop spikes his deuce. There is no Queen on the turn and river, and Cada doubles up. A few hands later, after some preflop raising, Saout and Cada get all the chips in the middle once again. Saout holding 88 and Cada AK for the coin flip. The flop and turn are both harmless for Saout, but the King hits the river, Cada rakes in the chips and Saout rakes in $3.4 million for third.

There was a break for heads up play, and the two remaining players were given a day to recover as the final Heads Up match would be played on November 9th.

Going into Heads Up, it looked like Cada would have a serious edge as he held a fairly dominating stack of just under 3:1 over Moon's ~50m chips.

However if the very first hand was an example of what was still to come, this match was far from over.

On a king high flop, a raising war broke out. An ace on the turn, Cada check calls as Moon bets 10m. They check the river and Moon wins the first pot with QQ over Cada's 99. After a number of hands Moon eventually takes the chip lead.

On a board of 4 9 T T Moon checks for the second time. Cada makes a bet and Moon moves all in. Cada takes some time with the decision and eventually makes the call showing J9. Moon tables 87 for the straight draw and needs to catch a 6 or a Jack to win. The river is a 3 and Cada recaptures the chip lead.

Eventually, with Cada holding the chip lead, both players get it in preflop, and we have a race. Cada has 99 to Darvin's QJs.
The flop is a harmless 278
The turn is a K
And the river is another 7.

The 21 year old Joe Cada takes the pot, and the Bracelet, as the 2009 World Series Champion!

1st $ 8,547,042 Joseph Cada
2nd $ 5,182,928 Darvin Moon
3rd $ 3,479,670 Antoine Saout
4th $ 2,502,890 Eric Buchman
5th $ 1,953,452 Jeff Shulman
6th $ 1,587,160 Steven Begleiter
7th $ 1,404,014 Phil Ivey
8th $ 1,300,231 Kevin Schaffel
9th $ 1,263,602 James Akenhead