Event 39 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em | 2009 World Series of Poker

06-22-2009 15:10 UTC-12

No Appetite For Poker

After a bit of early activity at this final table, things have slowed right down. The majority of the pots are being won with a preflop raise or reraise, or a single bet on the flop. For now the remaining eight players seem content to pass the button around the table and lock it down until after dinner.

06-22-2009 14:58 UTC-12

Patrick O'Connor Eliminated in 9th Place ($80,049)

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In a battle of the blinds, Patrick O'Connor moved all in for about 500,000 first into the pot from the small blind. In the big, Cantu peeked down at {3-Diamonds}

and made the call to put O'Connor at risk. The Irishman opened up {A-Spades}

, racing to stay alive.

The flop was bone dry for him, coming {2-Spades}

. O'Connor stood up and began stuffing his belongings into his backpack. The turn was a blank too, the {9-Diamonds}

. The backpack now went onto the shoulders. The last card off was the {7-Hearts}

, again no help to the all-in player. He slid his chair under the table with his foot, shook hands with the table, and made his way to the payout desk.

For his three-day run to the final table, he'll take home more than $80,000. Not too bad.

Tags: Brandon Cantu Patrick O'Connor

06-22-2009 14:49 UTC-12

Dinner Plans

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Tournament Director Robbie Thompson is polling the players to see if/when they'd like to take a break for dinner. There was little response from the players, so Thompson decided for them. We'll play out the remaining 28 minutes of this level and then take a one-hour dinner break.

No objections from the players, so that's the plan.

06-22-2009 14:48 UTC-12

If Lutes Can Raise, Brandon Can-tu

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Brandon Cantu opened to 100,000 from late position, drawing a reraise to 300,000 from big blind Richard Lutes. When the decision came back to Cantu, he moved all in for just less than 900,000 total.

"You know what's funny, Brandon?" Lutes started to say. "I knew you were gonna raise my big blind. I didn't know you were gonna move all in though." With that, he flashed {2-?}

and sent his cards back to the muck.

Tags: Brandon Cantu Richard Lutes

06-22-2009 14:34 UTC-12

Starting Off With a Double-Up

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From late position, Alex Jacob opened with a raise to 100,000, and Jonathan Markham moved all in from the big blind. The total amount was right at 400,000, and Jacob made the call to put Markham at risk.

Showdown
Jacob: {K-Spades}

Markham:

The flop was safe and sound for the all-in player, coming {6-Spades}

. Disaster struck the turn though as the {K-Hearts}

gave Jacob a big lead. Not to worry for Markham; the {Q-Diamonds}

landed on the river, improving Markham to the winning Broadway straight.

He's doubled up to just over 800,000, knocking Jacob down a peg to 1,800,000.

Tags: Alex Jacob Jonathan Markham

06-22-2009 14:26 UTC-12

Play Resumes

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Here's how the remaining nine players stack up:

Seat 1: Chairud Vangchailued (875,000)
Seat 2: Tyler Spalding (1,485,000)
Seat 3: Patrick O'Connor (580,000)
Seat 4: Brandon Cantu (880,000)
Seat 5: Alex Jacob (2,200,000)
Seat 6: Ray Foley (2,860,000)
Seat 7: Richard Lutes (1,555,000)
Seat 8: Wei Mu (1,370,000)
Seat 9: Jonathan Markham (400,000)

With the bios and introductions out of the way, the cards are in the air at the final table!

06-22-2009 14:08 UTC-12

A Quick Pause

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With the elimination of our tenth-place finisher, the final table has been set. The remaining nine players are taking a 15-minute break to get the table ready for action.

06-22-2009 14:07 UTC-12

Matt Livingston Eliminated in 10th Place ($56,071)

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Matt Livingston open-shoved for about 170,000 from middle position. The bet came around to the small blind where big stack Ray Foley made the call.

Showdown
Livingston: {J-Clubs}

Foley:

The flop paired Foley's ace, but gave the at-risk player a sweat as it came down {A-Clubs}

. "Nine!" came the calls from the rail, but the turn was a blank {3-Hearts}

. "Nine, nine!" but again there was no nine. The {5-Diamonds}

filled out the board, ending Livingston's day. He'll take home the last of the $56,071 payouts for his efforts over the past three days.

Tags: Matt Livingston

06-22-2009 14:00 UTC-12

Table Draw

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"Final" Table
Seat 1: Matt Livingston
Seat 2: Chairud Vangchailued
Seat 3: Tyler Spalding
Seat 4: Patrick O'Connor
Seat 5: Brandon Cantu
Seat 6: Alex Jacob
Seat 7: Ray Foley
Seat 8: Richard Lutes
Seat 9: Wei Mu
Seat 10: Jonathan Markham

06-22-2009 13:56 UTC-12

Moving Chips

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Now that we are down to 10 players, the field has been moved over to the secondary feature table. We'll play for one more elimination to set the official final table of nine.