Nine players left in the 2009 World Series of Poker NL Texas Hold Em.
When Jordan Smith said "Good night, Moon" and exited in tenth place, the November Nine were determined. 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
The final table events will take place from November 7 - 10 2009. We hope you'll follow us throughout the rest of the year as we cover major poker tournaments around the globe. Please stop back in November for what is sure to be an exciting conclusion to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.
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Seven-card stud, often abbreviated to seven-stud or 7-stud, is probably the most traditional form of poker played in public cardrooms at present. It is played in both high-only and high-low variants; the former is usually assumed to be the default but can be specified as "stud high" if necessary. This article concerns the high variant of seven-stud; see Seven-card stud hi-lo for the high-low split-pot variant.
Unlike community card games such as hold 'em, in stud each player has a separate hand. Because of the presence of exposed upcards, a diligent player can obtain a good deal of information on what cards are already dead, or dealt to other hands. Thus stud rewards players who both observe their opponents' folded hands carefully and remember their contents.
After each player has placed their ante, the dealer gives each player one card at a time until everyone has three cards. The first two cards are dealt face down, while the third card is dealt face up. This portion of the hand is called third street. Face up cards in Seven Card Stud are individual cards for each player, they are not community cards. Once the cards are dealt, the player with the lowest up card is forced to make a bring in bet. If there is a tie for the lowest card, the tie is broken by suit. Clubs is the strongest, followed by diamonds, hearts and then spades as the weakest. The bring in bet is usually about half of the small bet in the game. After the bring in bet has been made, play continues around the table in a clockwise motion. Each player has the option of folding, calling or raising. Raises at this point in the game are at the low betting amount, so in our example game, it would be $5. Play continues until all players have had the opportunity to act.
Fourth street in 7 Card Stud
During fourth street, the dealer gives each player another face up card, play then begins with the player who has the highest showing poker hand. Play continues as normal in a clockwise motion until all players have acted. Bets and raises during fourth street are of the small betting amount.
Fifth street and Sixth street in 7 Card Stud
Fifth street play is identical to fourth street in that all players receive an additional face up card and then play begins with the player who has the highest showing poker hand. The only difference is that from fifth street on, betting and raising must now be done at the large bet level, so in this example game it would be $10. Once all players have had the chance to act, the dealer gives all remaining players another face up card to begin sixth street. This is the last face up card players will receive. Play again begins with the highest hand and rotates clockwise from that point. Once all players have acted, play moves onto the final round called the river and the showdown
The river and the showdown
In the last round of play, the dealer gives all remaining players one final card face down. Play begins with the player who has the highest ranking poker hand. Once all players have had the chance to act, there is a showdown. The last player to bet or raise must reveal their cards first and then all challenging players can choose to either muck their hand in the event that cannot win, or they can reveal their hand if it is powerful enough to take the pot. The dealer then determines the winning hand and awards the player the pot.
As it is with most popular card games, the origins of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker are shrouded in mystery. No one is entirely sure how or where the game began. Further, when considering the history of 7 Card Stud Poker, you should first know how Poker is thought to have come about.
There are many theories about the history of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker. The most commonly held belief is the name Poker came from the French card game Poque (from the German word pochen, which means “to knock). However, the game itself more closely resembles a Persian game called Nas, which was played with a five-suit deck. Likely the game of Poker as we know it resulted from some combination of Poque and as Nas. The concept of bluffing in Poker came from still another source: the English game brag (first spelled Bragg), which is very similar to Poker but played using only three cards.
The first recorded instance of Poker in the United States was an 1829 game in New Orleans, played with a 20-card deck consisting of all cards with values of 10 and higher (four tens, four jacks, four queens, four kings and four aces). The game was not named, but the object was to bet on whose five-card hand contained the highest cards. This game soon spread to Mississippi riverboats, where con artists used a 52-card variant to bilk unwary travelers and claim their “pokes,” or gambling money stashes. Author Jonathan H. Green described this “cheating card game” in one of his books, and some give Green credit for coining the final term of "Poker."
Stud Poker emerged during the American Civil War. Some attribute the invention of stud, or stud-horse as it was sometimes called, to cowboys around Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 5 Card Stud was the first version played, appearing in The American Hoyle as an “official” Poker variant in 1864. Still, draw Poker was the favored variation until someone--no one is certain exactly whom--introduced 7 Card Stud in the early 20th century. The game remained the most popular form of professional and casino Poker until the 1980’s, when a slight twist on 7 Card Stud called Texas Hold ‘Em overtook the traditional version to become the favorite among gamblers and casual players alike.
The majority of Poker tournaments are based on core games of 7 Card Stud or variations of it. Binions Casino, the founder of the largest professional Poker tournament in existence--the World Series of Poker--began a Poker Hall of Fame to commemorate the greatest Poker players in history. Among them are “Wild Bill” Hicock, who was shot and killed during a Poker game holding a two-pair hand of aces over eights (which is still known as a “dead man’s hand” among gamblers); and “Red” Hodges, considered the greatest 7 Card Stud Poker player to have ever lived. 7 Card Stud is still an immensely popular game in Vegas, home games and Internet casinos.
Raymond Rahme
Sixty-two year-old Raymond Rahme only started playing no-limit hold'em two years ago. This life-long seven card stud player is a semi-retired entrepreneur from South Africa and is part of a television program that has followed him here to Vegas. Rahme has a large contingent of South Africans here with him in Las Vegas and was responsible for breaking the final table bubble by busting the tenth place player after flopping a set of queens.
Mena Suvari
A couple of years ago the beautiful young actress who became famous as the vampish cheerleader in American Beauty (1999) was working on a film with Nicholas Cage in New Orleans. It was there that she started hanging out in casinos, learning first to play Texas Hold'em, then moving on the Seven Card Stud. An avid fan of the game, she uses her petite good looks to her best advantage, probing herself to be extremely knowledgeable and a fierce competitor.
Ted Forrest
Gained renown for his ability to play almost any hand against his competitors, he was part of a consortium that played billionaire Andy Beal in heads up holdem in extremely high stakes; he has won 5 bracelets and 1 WPT title. He used to primarily play cash games but is now a strong tournament player.
Chris Ferguson
By 1999, Chris had spent exactly half his life at UCLA. After five years as an undergrad and another 13 as a graduate student, UCLA awarded him a Ph.D. in Computer Science and told him it was time to leave the nest of academia. He went reluctantly.
He didn't wander very far. A year later and only 300 miles away, it was new school meets old school as Chris defeated TJ Cloutier to win the Main Event in the 2000 World Series of Poker. It marked the beginning of a professional career, with a record unmatched by any player of the last decade.
Long before any of today's popular poker sites existed, Chris started playing over the Internet on an IRC channel, and quickly became its highest ranked tournament player. In 1994, he recognized that his knowledge of game theory was a powerful weapon and began playing in the small tournaments in and around LA. A year later, Chris played in his first World Series of Poker event. Despite playing relatively few tournaments in those first five years, he made seven final tables and had 12 money finishes, peaking at fourth place.
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