The November Nine

1. Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
2. Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
3. Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
4. Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000
5. Joseph Cada – 13,215,000
6. Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
7. Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
8. Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
9. James Akenhead – 6,800,000

Among the November nine sit some familiar faces as well as some new names in the WSOP history books. Among the notables is Phil Ivey – one of the most recognizable and feared names in the poker world. Phil Ivey has made a great deal of noise at the World Series of Poker in 2009 by capturing two bracelets and cashing five times in this year’s WSOP.

Another familiar face in this final table field is Jeff Shulman, the editor of CardPlayer Magazine. Mr. Shulman is best known for his regular appearance on the Poker Star television show, as well as for being the man behind the magazine.

Darvin Moon, the chip leader going into the final table. Darvin is a logger from Maryland who plans on going back to his day job between now and the reconvening of the WSOP Main Event.

Second in chips, Eric Buchman is not a stranger to the final table at the WSOP, as he placed sixth in this year’s event 25 – the Omaha and Stud Hi/Lo event.

From Chappaqua, New York, Steven Begleiter hails enters the final table of this year’s Main Event third in chips with 29,885,000. Steve won his way into the main event via a local poker league.

Joseph Cada is a 21-year-old online poker professional from Shelby Township, Michigan who has taken down over $500,000 in profit prior to his final table appearance at the WSOP.

As no stranger to being in the money at the WSOP, Kevin Schaffel has cashed in the WSOP a total of two times prior to his final table appearance. Kevin first cashed in 2004 and again last year, taking 42nd and 324th respectively. Additionally, Kevin finished fifth in the Legends of Poker No Limit Holdem Championships in 2007.

Hailing from France, Antoine Saout is relatively new to the game of poker, but has been tearing it up on Everest Poker – where he qualified for this year’s main event.

Finally, the short stack – James Akenhead from London England. James finished second in 2008, grossing over $500K in tournament earnings. While James comes in as the short stack, there are surely many a player from the London area who would claim that he might be down but not out.

However, a pair of middle level cards, such as a pair of sevens, is something that is more complicated to play. Some players say that it’s a risk and it’s better to fold them outright, but this advice is valid only if the alternative is playing them wrongly.

Playing well the mid-level pocket pairs can bring you a bit of profit, because there is a chance you might get three of a kind. While the odds aren’t great, when you hit the right set of cards, it will pay off. Pocket pairs generate a great deal of enthusiasm for the poker players, but you should know that they’re not solid enough to reraise another player before the flop.

It’s essential in order to win at UltimateBet Rakeback with your pocket pair that you get a third card like them, this should be the only goal, due of which you went to see the flop. After the flop, following many folds of the other players, most players will have a better hand than your pair of sevens, so it’s very unlikely you will win with it alone.

However, you must remember that this is a risky bet to take. If, in order to call the bet, you need to go all-in, then it’s better that you wait a bit more time. It’s not worth such a risk.

The odds of hitting a set are 7:1, but despite of this, it’s still worth to call 4 or 5 big blind bets to see the flop, because having a three of a kind will gets you a lot a profits when you win, making up for the lost bets when you missed the flop.

The reason why you will make up in profits when you have three of a kind is because your opponent will not expect you to have such a hand and he’ll be more generous with the pot than he would be when he suspects you have a premium hand.

When you hit the three-card set, you need to raise. Slow-playing with checks and calls is not the best strategy here, as it will not earn you the most money in the end.

Because your investment in the pot is relatively small, you should consider folding your hand if you don’t have a good hand. By a good hand we mean that you have at least one of the following: a big pair from before the flop, an improvement of your hand after the flop, or the chance to get in the future a straight or a flush.

Sometimes, a good pkr download pre-flop hand (like AK) might not improve after the flop and this might lead to a dangerous situation. Many players will simply fall in love with that hand and will not see the truth, which is that they have absolutely no card at hand and calling any raise is a big risk.

Another dangerous flop is when you get in the flop a match for your kicker. You have one pair, but not good enough and it’s difficult to decide whether to fold or not. This decision can be taken considering the circumstances of the game: if you are in late position and someone raised just a bit, you can call it, but if you are in early position, you might be better off by folding.

A suited or sequenced flop is also dangerous, because someone might have made a straight or a flush. Things get more difficult when some players also try to seize the opportunity and bluff.

Rather good flops for you are two pairs, the top pair on the board, or, even better than these, you have a pocket pair that is higher than any of the community card.

However, the best possible pkr rakeback hand you can have is the straight flush, which makes it almost to lose. This hand is particularly good when your opponent’s two cards have the same suite as your straight flush. He will think he’s got a good hand and he’ll risk a lot of his money on this.

Quads and full houses are also hands with which it’s very unlikely to lose, and also good are nut flushes and nut straights, that is the cards on the table that allow flushes and straights will not allow a full house or four of a kind. For such hands, it’s time to bet as much as you can.

In the case you have a marginal hand (for instance, just a pair), you can deduce, based on how the betting went so far, that your hand is good enough to win the PokerStar pot. You could be right and win the small pot with your hand and that’s okay, but you could be wrong and that’s why, you should risk much when you have such a mediocre hand.

If you have an excellent hand, for instance a full house, you might want to bet your whole chip stack right away, because it’s very likely you would win this game. Even with such a great hand, you can still lose, but happens so rarely, that the best strategy is to play it and have confidence in it. More often than not, you’ll win against another full, a flush or even a bad hand that was played foolishly.

Keeping the pot small is easier if you are in late position. The main trick for this is to skip a betting round. Usually, the pot tends to grow exponentially on each betting round. So, you could bet 2BB at pre-flop, 4BB at the flop, 20BB at the turn and 50BB on the river. As you can see, the bulk of the bet is on the river, so if you are able to avoid it, it’s in your best interest.

So, if you are in late position and you raised the bet pre-flop, the opponents will tend to wait for you, and they’ll check whatever you raised. They’ll do this at the PokerStar.com flop and on the turn, but they won’t be able to do this when you’ll simply check.

However, if you have a premium hand, then you want to have as big as possible. If you are in early position, it’s a bit more difficult, because you don’t know how your adversaries will play, and that’s why you shouldn’t slow-play it. If you check, the opponents might check too, and no chips will be added up to the pot.

In late position,  it depends on what the opponents behind you did. If they checked, it’s time to raise, but if they raised already, you might think about what’s the best strategy: you could simply call if you are afraid that the opponent will simply fold. This call will make you appear weak, which will encourage the opponent to raise the next time he has the opportunity.