This was billed as youth verses age.  Both players being new to the World Series of Poker. Both having beat out some of the best-known names in poker to be here for the final round.

Devine Moon, the lumberjack and Joe Cada, the college drop out turned poker pro. One simply wearing his favorite NFL team’s hat, the other decked out in his sponsor’s clothing line.

Cada came into the final round with a unbelievable chip lead.  Almost 3 to 1 against Moon.  Cada showed up with a large fan base where Moon came with a few friends and relatives.

Moon is a very stoic, cold-faced player against a usually very animated and a bit jumpy Cada.  Except the final round saw two men seriously focused on a game of poker.  In fact they never really exchanged any conversation until an hour into the game.

With some amazing swings in chip counts and plays, it took three hours of play before Cada finally swept the pot and took the prize.

In all the interviews, both players said the same thing when asked about winning.  They came here for the jewelry.  The money was secondary.  They wanted the bracelet more than the money.  It’s about the bling!!

TVT Sports sends out our warm congratulations to the winners for giving us fans a very exciting weekend of Poker competition and enjoy the bling!!

Don’t let anyone fool you.  It’s not about the $8.5 million.  It’s not about the title “WSOP World Champion”… Nope… tonight’s battle between a young college drop out and self-employed logger is all about the bling, baby!!

The pile of cash in front of them meant nothing.  It really never does.  The jewelry is what they play for.  Something they can flash in front of their friends and foes.  A piece of history they can leave to their children or the pawn broker, depending on their post WSOP life.

Tonight’s battle is also about styles.  The age difference and style of play.  As with any poker game, anybody can play and anybody can win.  There is no One Way to play it.

Here we have Darvin Moon. A straight forward, cold as steel looking guy.  An everyday man’s man who never played in a WSOP tournament until this year.  And he played it all the way to the end.

He is going against Joe Cada.  A kid raised in the digital age, who has a crazy way of acting and probably is AHDD to the max.  He pissed off a few players along the way to the table tonight because of his antics and sometimes crazy behavior.  But it all paid off.  He is here tonight as chip leader.

So who will win??  It’s really anybody’s guess.  Just by the pure chip count 58,000 to 139,000.  Again I say: it’s not about the money.  It’s about the Bling.

When you are at this level of play, your life has already changed.  With sponsors, potential sponsors, endorsement offers and the chances of more lucrative payouts down the road… Why stress out about the chip count?  Why play all night??  Call it a short night, go all in and meet up at the bar afterward for a celebratory toast.

Hmmm… it’s either going to be a really long night into morning… Or we will be home before last call..  Well, if Vegas has a last call…

Replay will be on ESPN tomorrow starting at 9pm/est

Doyle Brunson, At the 2009 World Series of Poker final table.  Signing autographs for his new book “The Godfather of Poker”.

Is poker a sport?  Many would say no, we say yes…Hell Yes!  Can you sit for hours on end mentally sharp, doing complex math problems, reading your opponents tells, and in general staying in the game even when the chips are down?   Today the nine best players in the world sit down to play the game/sport they love until there is only one left.  The first place finisher goes home with just over $8.5 million.  First player to walk away from this table of 9 goes home with just over $1.2 million.

Play starts today with $120,000-$240,000 blinds and $30,000 antes.  In the photo above Phil Ivey and Darvin Moon count and set up their chips.  Mark is rooting for Ivey and I think Moon is going to take it.  Darvin Moon has a fan club that rivals Dennis Phillips club from last year.

Davin Moon is in seat one with top chip stack at $58,930,000, holding 30% of the chips in play.  This is his first WSOP event and he is the true Cinderella story this year.  Darvin is a self employed logger from Oakland Maryland.  He has never played online poker, doesn’t own a computer, and doesn’t even have an email address.

Phil Ivey is the home town favorite.  He is often refered to as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” and holds 7 WSOP gold bracelets.  Phil Ivey is regarded by most as the world’s greatest poker player and is expected to take this event.

All hands are on deck for this big event.  “The Associate” above is pictured at the final table befor play started.  The Associate helped to set up all the video and the audio for the main table.  We have also set up a special interview for “The Ace Reporter” in St. Louis……wanna guess with who?

We will bring you more updates as we get them.

I say give them thirty minutes of actual play and the first player will be out.  Sazzy thinks forty five.

Here’s my thinking;  You have relatively young players at the bottom. No doubt they worked hard to get here.  Yet they are under tight scrutiny,  the ever glare of the media and of course intense pressure to “win”.  But they have won and they are here.  All expense paid trip to Vegas with the family.  Guaranteed million dollar paycheck and if the drop out early, they miss the media glare while cleaning up in some of the high roller joints. Picking off tourists is easier money than high stakes tournament.

All that will be too much temptation for the bottom players.  One of them will bale early and enjoy the vacation.

Just my Opinion.  We will see.  Cards start flying at noon

Look for Mark and Sazzy to be there and bring you our unique brand of updates and news.

The final nine players of 6,494 participants in the $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship. There will be $27,220,989 in prize money on the line along with the most coveted prize in poker, the WSOP Championship bracelet. The first-place finisher will collect the top prize of $8,547,042.

Everything starts at Noon (pst) this Saturday inside the Penn and teller Theater at the Rio resort and Casino.  Final nine will play down to 2 before they break for the night.

On Monday, the final two players meet back at 10pm (pst) and play until there is one.

ESPN will carry the final table on Tuesday night starting at 9PM (et)/6PM (pt)

And for the lovers of Stats:

The 2009 World Series of Poker attracted a record 60,875 entrants from 115

different nations and territories; the players competed for more than $174 million in prize money over the 57-event, 50- day extravaganza

Just a quick reminder that the Bulls are not the only things we are watching.  Heck no… There are other things going on in town… Like WSOP is about to hit again.

With only one really known (Some consider him to be the greatest player in the world) player in the field, Phil Ivey, The November Nine are about to assemble again for the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker.

Many will argue that this is the most talented Main Event final table to have been assembled in years. They will have had almost four months to argue back and forth over which player they think has the best shot. The final table festivities will take place from November 7 – 10.

Of course, we will be there to cover it and give you some of the unusual highlights and results as only TVT , Mark and Sazzy can!!

Just in case you forgot… Here they are….

Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000

We have the World Series of Poker final table. And we will be there!!
Yes, the final table has been set and will reconvene on November 7th when the final nine players battle for their share of over $27 million. First they will play down until only 2 remain. Then the final 2 will finish play on November 9th and the champion handed their bracelet and winnings. The event will be broadcast by ESPN on November 10th.

What are they playing for besides a bracelet??

1 $8.5 million
2 $5.2 million
3 $3.5 million
4 $2.5 million
5 $ 2.0 million
6 $1.6 million
7 $1.4 million
8 $1.3 million
9 $1.25 million

Not a bad pay for a few days in Vegas!!