2009 WSOP comes to a close with huge payouts and new faces

The 2009 WSOP is in the record books and while exciting the final results were predictable. One would expect that with every pro from every corner of the world entering this one tournament that you would see familiar names like Seidel, Juanda, Duke, Brunson, and Gordon but with a pack of 6,494 entrants only Phil Ivey was able to make it to the final table.

It was a fun and exciting tournament to watch and when the dust cleared the 21 year old Joseph Cada took home the $8,546,435 first prize and the coveted braclet while the true amature Darvin Moon finished in second with $5,182,601. The heavy favorite Phil Ivey only managed to get to 7th place before he was eliminated receiving only $1,404,002 for his trouble still better than Jay Chase who was eliminated in 648th place and the first paying position for $21,365.

What makes the WSOP so great? How many times can an average Joe play for the most prestigious prize in any sport? As far as I know poker is the only one. Just try asking the superbowl teams if you can be added to their roster but for as little as $40 you can work your way into the number one poker game of all time. While we do cheer for those names that have made their way into every household at the same time we can secretly cheer for the underdog who is known only as dead money.

So what would have made the WSOP better? I would like to see a woman make the final table. That throws a monkey wrench into a lot of amatures play since for some reason men are supposed to be better at poker so the macho game comes into play. The pros have been around and played enough to understand that the top female players are every bit as good as their male counterparts so they won't feel that same pressure. Another thing is that is always seems that for television they like to highlight the traps where you check a monster hand trying to get your opponent to go all in because they think they have the best of it. Often they don't show other stratagies since there nowhere near as exciting yet often times they are very succesful.

Well love it or hate it the 2009 WSOP is now history the cards hae been put away, the payouts have been made and the lights have been turned off. Now we look forward to the 2010 WSOP and who will be the next champion? Congratulations to all the 2009 players and I hope to join you in 2010.