2009 September 30 | Poker Blog

Jason Mercier Photo

334 players entered the £10,000 buy in 2009 WSOPE main event. The event is down the the final 9 players and it is an incredible line up. Well, most likely it was going to be pretty tough table being that mostly pros entered the event. Two of the WSOPE final table players are from the 2009 WSOP November 9! James Akenhead and Antoine Saout both have made it to the final table! This is an amazing poker accomplishment and congrats to the both of them. Jason Mercier is leading the pack with over 3 million in chips.

Final table of the 2009 WSOPE Main Event
Seat 1: Barry Shulman – 1,090,000
Seat 2: Jason Mercier – 3,198,000
Seat 3: Praz Bansi – 1,160,000
Seat 4: Markus Ristola – 784,000
Seat 5: Chris Bjorin – 518,000
Seat 6: James Akenhead – 1,398,000
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu – 438,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout – 701,000
Seat 9: Matt Hawrilenko – 674,000

Daniel Negreanu has made it too (despite his dispute with Men the Master). Matt Hawrilenko is on a super hot streak so don’t count him out with his short stack. Please note the father of one of the Final 9 made it too. Barry Shulman is father of Jeff Shulman and they own Cardplayer Magazine together. Chris Bjorin is no joke with over 3 million in winnings and hes on his home territory, he has bracelets, and he has final table experience. Barry has 1.5 million in tourny winnings and a bracelet. Praz Bansi could be a dark horse if he doubles up from one of the large stacks early. I really think its going to come down to early races amongst the short stacks and weather Jason get unlucky or runs bad. Markus Ristola is the least likely to win and has the least amount of tournament experience. If I had to pick, I would have to put my money on one of the two larger stacks of either Jason Mercier or James Akenhead to win it.