Back in 2009, the World Series of Poker celebrated its 40th anniversary. After the disaster of the 25th anniversary and the awarding of Russ Hamilton—the man behind the Ultimate Bet scandal—his own weight in silver, no rubies were being weighed at the close of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Instead, a new record was set as the poker world was stunned, and two very big players fell agonizingly short in totally different ways.
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New Winners as Lisandro Takes Treble Chance
Now in its 40th glorious year, the World Series of Poker surpased one billion dollars in prize money that had been awarded in bracelet events since its inception back in 1970. With 57 bracelet events in 2009 – two more than in the previous year – combined with the victory of Peter Eastgate, aged just 22, caused quite a stir in the poker community.
There were more young players at the felt than ever before. Poker styled up to become a more attacking game, and pre-flop aggression was a much more commonplace theme in hands from 2009 onwards. The opening event was, as ever, the $500-entry Casino Employees Event, with play commencing on May 27th.
With the exception of the ‘November Nine’, which returned again to delay the final table of the World Championship to November for television broadcast reasons, the WSOP schedule took place between June and mid-July. It has been repeated almost every time since, and today, it is the standard part of the year devoted to the WSOP.
The third iteration of the World Series of Poker Europe was held in September, coming between the final nine of the WSOP Main Event being reached in Las Vegas and then won in November.
There were many new winners of bracelets in 2009, but one seasoned pro stood out. Jeff Lisandro won three bracelets, one in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud, a second in the $2,500 Razz, and the final was the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud 8, as well as reaching another final table. Those numbers – and two other cashes – put him atop the leaderboard to win the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year, claiming $807,521 in winnings across the series.
Other Multiple Winners Celebrate
Three players won two bracelets in Las Vegas in the summer of 2009, with Brock Parker, Greg Mueller and Phil Ivey all celebrating double gold. Ivey’s victories came in the $2,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw where he beat John Monnette heads-up and in the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event, where Ming Lee was his final victim. Winning a bracelet in both Las Vegas and in his native London at the WSOP Europe, J.P. Kelly deserves a special mention too, for a fairly unique achievement.
There were a couple more firsts at the 2009 WSOP, where Ville Wahlbeck became Finland’s first bracelet winner in the $10,000 World Championship 8-Game Mix event, and Peter Traply scored one for Hungary for the first time in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event.
British player Roland de Wolfe did something even more impressive, becoming only the second player in poker history to win a WPT Main Event, an EPT Main Event, and a WSOP bracelet – known forevermore as the ‘Triple Crown’ – after Gavin Griffin was the first in 2008. De Wolfe’s win in the $5,000-entry Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event added to his 2005 World Poker Tour victory and 2006 European Poker Tour title to fulfill an achievement that, to date, only ten players have ever accomplished.
Legends Make ‘The Nine’
With 6,494 total entries, the 2009 WSOP Main Event gave players a starting stack of 30,00 chips, an increase over previous years. Such was the demand for seats on Day 1d, which welcomed over 2,800 players, that up to 500 potential entries were turned away with famous names such as Patrik Antonius, T. J. Cloutier, Layne Flack, and Ted Forrest all said to have missed out.
Plenty of former Main Event winners ran deep, with Phil Hellmuth (436th), Chris Ferguson (561st), Joe Hachem (103rd), Bobby Baldwin (352nd) and Dan Harrington (252nd) all making the 648 money places. The reigning champion Peter Eastgate ran all the way to 78th place in defense of his crown, cashing for $68,979.
As the final table approached, players such as Fabrice Soulier (49th for $138,568), Jeff Duvall (42nd for $178,857), Leo Margets (27th for $352,832), Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger (18th for $500,557) and James Calderaro (13th for $633,022) all fell just short of the final table. They may have missed out but it was possibly the most exciting final table to look forward to for months of all the ‘November Nine’ Main Events.
English player James Akenhead was in the form of his life, American Jeff Shulman was indomitable, Frenchman Antoine Saout had been a star of the series, and Joe Cada was the youngest player at just 21 years old. The chip leader was a recreational player and logger, Darvin Moon, who had over 30% of the chips in play, while Phil Ivey was the star name around whom the camera bulbs flashed. Four months passed, and the players reassembled, awaiting glory… but for whom?
Saout Sunk by Coinflip King Cada
The final nine proved to be just as intriguing as it was set up to be, just not in the way everyone expected. Heading into the action, Darvin Moon had 30% of the chips in play and a massive lead. James Akenhead was the short stack but hit a miracle three-outer on the river to win with king-queen against second-in-chips Eric Buchman.
It was only a delayed denouement for Akenhead, who busted with pocket threes to Kevin Schaffel’s pocket nines. Schaffel himself left next, busting in eighth when his aces were cracked by Buchman’s kings. This left both Phil Ivey and Joe Cada with just 10% of the chips combined.
If one of the pair were going to survive, the smart money would be on Ivey. But a brilliant bluff pre-empted a bad fold as Ivey raised with jacks and folded to Saout’s pocket sevens to miss a spot. Soon, Cada was all-in with the shortest stack holding pocket fours against Ivey’s ace-eight. A safe board gave Cada a crucial double-up and sent Ivey short. After the next break, Ivey was all-in with ace-king and he was called by Darvin Moon’s ace-queen. A queen on the flop was followed by two bricks as Ivey walked in seventh place.
“It’s Darvin Moon’s world, everyone else is just passing through.” said Norman Chad on comms.
After Steven Begleiter departed in sixth place, Jeff Shulman fell short in fifth. Eric Buchman followed them from the felt in fourth for $2.5m before French player Antoine Saout lost a flip to Cada to bust in third, his pocket eights losing to Cada’s ace-king.
“This is for the tournament,” Cada said to his rail as the dealer prepared to find a golden flop. It came 5-5-4 and was no good for Cada, nor was the ten on the turn as the French player became a 6:1 favorite to win the hand. A king on the river sent Saout home as Cada found favor on the river again.
The Light of the Moon
Heads up, Cada had a slightly better than 2:1 chip lead, but that disappeared as Cada later admitted he “played it like was a Sit N Go.” Winning once again with two pair against Moon’s failed straight draw, Cada regained the lead and, with pocket nines, raised it up. Darvin Moon re-raised with queen-jack of diamonds. Cada reraised all-in and Moon made the call, as a big flip would decide it.
Having a 52% shot at the title, Cada returned to his rail to watch it play out. An 8-7-2 flop made him a 3:1 favorite to win the hand, as his friends chanted ‘Joey, Joey’, backer Cliff Josephy told Cada, ‘relax, relax’. A king on the turn was close but not close enough for Darvin Moon, and as the logger stood stoic, Cada was embraced by his rail as a seven fell to make Joe Cada the youngest winner in Main Event history.
Cada broke away from his rail almost instantly to shake Darvin Moon’s hand and tell him: ‘You played a hell of a match.’ Moon raised his young opponent’s hand as the 21-year-old was world champion. Cada accepted the gesture, then, returning the gesture, raised Darvin Moon’s hand into the air too. Cada, who would become friends with his heads-up opponent in the years before Darvin Moon’s sad death at the age of just 56, later told this reporter why he raised Moon’s hand after the finale.
“He deserved to have his hand raised too.” Cada said.
To this day, no one has ever beaten Joe Cada’s record as the youngest-ever winner of the WSOP Main Event, though the man himself accepts that ‘it will happen one day’. Until then, Joe ‘The Kid’ Cada continues to be one of the greatest of poker’s ambassadors, winning subsequent WSOP bracelets in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
He’ll never win another like the one he took by the light of the moon in the Thunderdome in the Autumn of 2009.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Joe Cada | United States | $8,547,044 |
| 2nd | Darvin Moon | United States | $5,182,927 |
| 3rd | Antoine Saout | France | $3,479,669 |
| 4th | Eric Buchman | United States | $2,502,890 |
| 5th | Jeff Shulman | United States | $1,953,452 |
| 6th | Steven Begleiter | United States | $1,587,160 |
| 7th | Phil Ivey | United States | $1,404,014 |
| 8th | Kevin Schaffel | United States | $1,300,231 |
| 9th | James Akenhead | United Kingdom | $1,263,602 |
2008 WSOP Main Event 2010 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.