2009 World Series of Poker

Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em
Day: 7
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Event Info

2009 World Series of Poker

Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Entries
6,494
Players Left
9
Next Payout
Place 9
$1,263,602
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
30,000

One Day More 'til the November Nine

[user75032]
[user75032]
Darvin Moon leads all runners for the second night in a row.
Darvin Moon leads all runners for the second night in a row.
It seems like a fortnight ago that the first of the four flights of what would become 6,494 players took the felt in this year's Main Event. Now less than one-half of one percent of those players -- 27 total -- remain.

Play started out with the elimination of Prahlad Friedman just ten minutes into the day. That would set the tone for the day right up until 28 players remained, with players flying out of their seats. At the start of the second level of play, six players were eliminated in a span of twenty minutes. Among them was one of the fan favorites, 2007 Player of the Year Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schneider. He finished in 52nd place. 2008 November Niner Dennis Phillips joined Schneider on the rail soon after, ending his second Main Event run in 45th place. Friend of PokerNews and PokerRoad CEO Joe Sebok was also among the early casualties, knocked out in 56th place.

The primary story of the day was the play of the big stacks. Day 6 chip leader Darvin Moon, Billy Kopp and Phil Ivey -- yes, that Phil Ivey -- amassed chips early and then were relentless in their attacks on the short stacks. Our bubble to Day 8 of the tournament lasted the better part of two hours, with nobody wanting to be the player who missed out on an extra $99,000 by finishing in 28th place. At the end it was Joe Ward who was bad-beated into 28th place, bringing a halt to the action.

When play stopped, Moon was the player who bagged the most chips (20,160,000 total). He will carry the title of chip leader, and a huge lead on the rest of the field, into Day 8. Ivey is very much in the hunt for his third bracelet of the summer with 11,350,000. Two other well-known names left in the field -- Antonio Esfandiari and Ludovic Lacay -- have their Day 8 work cut out for themselves with 4,470,000 and 5,610,000, respectively.

27 players remain. Each is that much closer to the dream of every poker player that started in this tournament 11 days ago -- a berth at the final table and the "November Nine", a guaranteed seven figure payday, and a chance at true poker immortality by being crowned champion of the Main Event.

Those 27 players will come back tomorrow to play down to the final table. It will be a long day -- a very, very long day. Action starts at noon and will end in the wee hours. Stock up on coffee, cigarettes and foodstuffs and we'll see you at noon tomorrow!