The Poker Thread

Antonio Esfandiari Eliminated in 24th Place ($352,832)

Antonio Esfandiari opened with a raise to 310,000 from under the gun, and Steven Begleiter called from middle position. The others got out of the way, and the flop came . Esfandiari continued with a bet of 535,000, then Begleiter raised to a total of 1.61 million. Esfandiari pulled out a column of chips, then announced he was all in. It was about 2.5 million more for Begleiter to call, and he thought a bit before saying he was willing to commit the chips. Esfandiari: Begleiter: clapped his hands once when he saw Esfandiari's cards. The turn brought the , giving Esfandiari an inside straight draw. "No three, no five," said Begleiter. The river was the , and Esfandiari is out. Begleiter is up around 15 million now.

For the Ivey Fans

Phil Ivey made it 420,000 to go and Steve Begleiter called from late position. The flop came down and Ivey led out for 600,000. Begleiter made the call and they went to the turn which fell the . Both players checked the on the river as well. Begleiter showed for busted straight and flush draws. Ivey turned up and took down the pot to a raucous chorus of "Ivey, Ivey, Ivey!" He's back up to 6.8 million.

Steal, Re-Steal, Re-Re-Steal?

In a hand that is destined not to make the ESPN television production of this tournament, Billy Kopp opened from middle position with a raise to 450,000. Action moved next to Ben Lamb, who reraised to 1.375 million. That reraise drew folds from Kevin Schaffel and Jordan Smith. Small blind Jeff Shulman did the exact opposite -- he moved all in. Everyone else folded, allowing Schuman to add 2 million chips to his stack without taking a flop.

Akenhead Cracks Robbins' Aces to Double Up

Jamie Robbins raised to 530,000, James Akenhead moved all in for 2,390,000 and Robbins made the call. Akenhead: Robbins: Boom! The flop came down , the room going absolutely bezerk as Akenhead flopped two pair. The turn was the , the river was the and Akenhead's cheering section exploded, high-fiving their man as he earned a much-needed double-up to 5.09 million. With that, we're on a ninety-minute dinner break.

Phil Ivey Starts Strong

Phil Ivey opened for 675,000 and Joe Cada called. The flop was . Cada checked, Ivey bet 800,000 and Cada called. The turn came the and Cada checked again. Ivey bet 1.7 million, Cada folded and Ivey raked in the pot. He's up to 9,030,000.

Cada Check-Raises Ivey

Joe Cada opened for 620,000 and Phil Ivey called from the hijack seat. Ivey led out for 800,000 on the flop and was met with a raise from Cada to 2.1 million. Ivey tanked for about three minutes before folding. "Ship it baller hollers!" shouted an inebriated fan from the lounge (it's actually Holla Ballas, dude). Cada took his stack back up to 13.2 million with that pot while Ivey slipped to 6.7 million.

Billy Kopp Eliminated in 12th Place ($896,730)

Wow. That's a succinct description of what just happened on the secondary feature table. Billy Kopp opened for 600,000 preflop from early position and was called by the small blind, Darvin Moon. So far, so good. On a flop of , Moon had first action and checked. He then called when Kopp bet 750,000. Again, nothing out of the ordinary yet. It was on the turn where everything went haywire. Moon checked again and drew a bet of 2.0 million from Kopp. Moon then check-raised to 6.0 million. Improbably, Kopp moved all in for about 20.0 million total. Even more improbably, Moon called! Kopp: Moon: Kopp looked like he wanted to cry when he saw Moon's hand. He knew that he was drawing dead and that Moon had him covered. Kopp had more than 80 big blinds to start the hand; with the river he had none. He didn't even wait for the river to come out, barreling out of the secondary feature table area as fast as he could. Moon is once again the chip leader with a whopping 45.0 million chips.

Jamie Robbins Eliminated in 11th Place ($896,730)

Jamie Robbins moved all in for 2.35 million and Phil Ivey made the call. Robbins: Ivey: The flop didn't help Robbins, coming down . The turn was the , the river was the and the crowd full of Ivey fans roared as their man took down the hand and sent Jamie Robbins to the rail in 11th place. Ivey is up to 9.61 million.

Jordan Smith Eliminated in 10th Place ($896,730)

Eric Buchman opened for 650,000, Darvin Moon flat-called from the button and Jordan Smith reraised to 2.6 million from the small blind. Buchman folded and Moon called. The flop was . Smith checked, Moon bet 4,000,000, Smith moved all in and Moon called. Smith: Moon: The turn was the , Smith picking up an inside straight draw to a wheel. The river, though, was the and Moon took down the pot with his set of eights, eliminating Smith and setting the 2009 "November Nine." Moon has an estimated 59,770,000 chips. We'll post the remainder of the final table chip counts as soon as they're verified.