The Events

The 2009 WSOP had 57 events all in all, and the games included Texas and Omaha Holdem games, and they both have no limit and pot limit games. Aside from these two, the 2009 WSOP had also offered seven card stud as well as mixed events, and as expected, the H.O.R.S.E. and Razz events were also offered. The Main Event though, which is the most anticipated event of all, was, of course, the World Championship No Limit Holdem tournament which had a buy-in fee of $10,000 where Joe Cada took home the grand prize worth more than 8 million bucks.

The November Nine of the 2009 WSOP

Nine lucky players got into the Final table of the Main Event, some of them big names in the poker world while others newcomers to the scene like Darwin Moon. Although much hope has been placed on Moon winning the grand prize, especially since he has one of the biggest stacks of chips, the first prize and the championship title went to Joe Cada, as stated above, but Moon got to take home the second prize worth five million dollars though.

Other players in the November Nine include Antoine Saout who landed the third place and took home the prize of more than three million dollars. Eric Buchman won the fourth place, earning him 2.5 million dollars, while Jeff Shulman bagged the fifth place and almost two million dollars in cash prize. Sixth place went to Steven Begleiter and seventh place goes to Phil Ivey, and they took home 1.5 and 1.4 million dollars respectively. Kevin Schaffel got the eighth place and won 1.3 million dollars, and lastly, James Akenhead, at ninth place, won 1.2 million dollars.

The Main Event’s Final Table started last November 7, 2009, and it saw one of the poker circuit’s biggest prize pools. Last year’s Final Table had seen a total of 364 hands, 88 hands of which came from heads up plays.

The 40th Annual World Series of Poker is set to happen from May 27, 2009 up to July 15, 2009, although the results of the final event will be known only on November 10, 2009.  All WSOP events will take place at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

WSOP 2009 Events

This year, there will be 57 bracelet events and 1 non-bracelet special event.  There are to be no rebuys and add-ons for all events.

The tournament will open on May 27 with the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em.  This will be followed by the 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em and by the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better.  All three are single-day events.

From May 30th to June 4th, 9 multiple-day events will take place.  Event 4 is a 4-day No-Limit Hold’em.  Events 5 to 12 are all 3-day events and they include:
•    Three No-Limit Hold’em events: events 7, 9 (6-handed), and 11;
•    Two Pot-Limit events:  Omaha (event 5) and Hold’em/Omaha (Event 10);
•    One 2-7 Draw Lowball event (event 8); and
•    Two World Championship events:  Seven Card Stud (event 6) and Mixed (event 12).

From June 5 to June 30, there will be 44 3-day events.  Many poker variants will be played during this period.  There will be Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Low, H.O.R.S.E., 7-Card Stud, 2-7 Draw Lowball, 7-Card Razz, Triple Chance, and Mixed events.  Some events will be of the No-Limit type while some will be of the Limit and Pot-Limit type.

The special, single-day, Ante Up for Africa Charity event is scheduled on July 2.  The following day, the 13-day final event – the World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold’em will commence.  By July 15th, the players will have been whittled down to the final 9 who will play at the Final Table from November 8 to 10, 2009.

How to Join

If you wish to play at the 40th WSOP, choose your event/events and pre-register at the WSOP website until 2 weeks before the start of your event/events then complete your registration beginning on May 26.

You must pay the full event/events buy-in with pre-registration.  The buy-in for the Final Event is $10,000.  You can also participate in WSOP satellite games to win a seat in the WSOP for only a minimal investment.