The youngest main event champion ever.

The youngest main event champion ever. The release of a new book from the man who wrote the book on poker. Another member of the Brunson 10 announced. All in all there was a lot going on in Vegas around the November 9. There is no event in poker that comes close to the level of interest that surrounds the World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2009 version of the event is now in the books with 21-year-old Joe Cada coming away with the title. While Cada was in route to etching his name into poker lore the Godfather of Poker was having a busy weekend himself.

On Saturday November 7th Doyle Brunson was at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino to kick off the final table play at the World Series Main Event. After wishing the players luck and giving the command to shuffle up and deal Brunson joined the many other poker pros in attendance watching Cada, Phil Ivey and the other 7 members of the November Nine battle for a spot in the heads up match for the championship that was scheduled for Monday November 9th. Ivey was felled by a bad beat in 7th, drawing the air out of the room and leaving many a follower disappointed to see the man many consider the best in the game come up short of a main event title yet again.

The action went well into the next morning before the play was down to the final two of Joe Cada and Darvin Moon but even with the late night there was plenty of other poker related activity planned for the next day. While the final two in the main event were made available for a day of interviews Doyle Brunson had a press conference of his own set up. Not one to waste around Brunson was able to kill two birds with one stone at the press conference, announcing both the release of his new book and the newest member of the Brunson 10.

Brunson wrote the book on poker with “Super System” which is still today atop the reading list for players looking to get into the game. While “Super System” gave readers a look into Doyle’s take on how to play poker the release of “The Godfather of Poker” Brunson gives the world a chance to see the details of the amazing life he has led. The tell all book is chock full of 76 years worth of amazing life experiences both inside and outside of the poker world.

The release of the “The Godfather of Poker” wasn’t the only big announcement Doyle had planned for the day. His Brunson 10 is starting to take form and with the Brunson combined his book release with the revelation of Dani “Ansky” Stern as the 5th member of the Brunson 10. Stern is a 22-year-old poker pro that has already established himself as one of the top poker minds in the game. “Stern is the future of this game and I’m proud to have him on my team,” Brunson said.

Stern joins Amit Makhija, Zach Clark, Alec Torelli and Chris Moorman on the current roster of the Brunson 10 leaving Brunson five spots left to fill on his team of young elite poker players. The young guns Doyle is bringing on continue to be impressed by Doyle’s amazing longevity at the pinnacle of the game and are presented with the opportunity to combine their youth and rising star status with the wisdom and experience Brunson can provide to them.

While Brunson was announcing the 5th member of his team, Joe Cada was preparing himself for the most important day of poker in his life. The young pro went into heads up play against Darvin Moon with a chiplead and what many perceived to be a large skill advantage, but once the cards were in the air Cada found himself faced with an unexpectedly tough opponent. Moon played aggressively and put Cada to the test many times and even pulled ahead to a 3 to 1 chip lead over Cada at one point.

Moon had a shot to win the tournament with one card to go. Cada called Moon’s all in bet on the turn of a board showing T-9-5-T board with his J-9 for two pair. Moon had pushed with an open ended straight draw. His holding of 8-7 left him looking for a jack or a six on the river to clench the title but the 3 of hearts left Moon wanting and vaulted Cada back to the chip lead. After that it wasn’t long before the two were all in again, this time with young Cada having Moon covered. After Cada raised to 3 million and Moon reraised to 8 million Joe then moved all in and after brief pause Darvin made the call, risking his tournament life with the QJ of diamonds. Cada had pocket nines and was slightly ahead in the coinflip for the title and the $8.5 million first place prize. His pocket nines held up and the youngest main event champion ever was crowned.

For Moon the unlikely run netted over $5 million for second place. Frenchman Antoine Saout came in 3rd place after losing two huge pots to Cada. Saout had the eventual champion on the ropes with his pocket queens dominating Cada’s deuces but a two on the flop gave Cada a set and the pot worth almost 80 million chips. Only 4 hands later the two were all in preflop again, this time Saout only had a slight edge in the hand with his pocket eights against the AK of Cada. It took all five board cards but a king on the river gave Cada the pot and eliminated Antoine Saout in 3rd for nearly $3.5 million.

Eric Buchman became a favorite of many to win the title after he eliminated Kevin Schaffel in 8th place ($1.3 million). The two were all in preflop with Buchman holding pocket kings and Schaffel sitting on aces. A king on the flop jumped Buchman to the lead and the case king on the turn locked the hand up for him. The come from behind gave the experienced Buchman a large chip stack but after running his AQ into Saout’s AK later in the tournament he ended up being eliminated in 4th place for $2.5 million.

Joe Cada had a few other spots during the final table where he was on the verge of elimination. He spend much of the first half of the final table as the short stack and even when play was down to the final 5 players Cada was the shortest stack. His stack was all in against Jeff Shulman on the 195th hand of heads up play, again with Cada having a pair dominated by his opponent. A three on the flop saved Cada, giving him a set against the pocket jacks of Shulman. Jeff was eliminated a few orbits later in 5th place ($1.95 million).

Cada wasn’t the only player at the final table to get it in as an underdog and get there on more than one occasion. His heads up competitor Darvin Moon eliminated Steven Begleiter in 6th place ($1.58 million) when the two were all in preflop with Moon’s AQ well behind the pocket queens for Begleiter. An ace on the river eliminated Begleiter in brutal fashion.

Just as brutally Moon was able to finish off one of the biggest names in poker. Coming into the final table the poker world rallied around a short stacked Phil Ivey hoping and believing the superb play of Ivey could overcome his chip disadvantage. Ivey hung around for hours, looking for ways to exploit his opponents and for ways to minimize his risk while still picking up some chips. As the blinds escalated and Ivey’s stack dwindled an all in move became his only play and after Phil put all his chips in the middle Moon made the call. It looked like Ivey was going to get a double up and continue to fight for the title with his AK a prohibitive favorite against the AQ of Moon but a queen on the flop put Moon out front in the hand and ultimately eliminated Ivey in 7th place leaving his oh so close yet again at the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Day starting shortstack James Akenhead rounded out the November Nine and was eliminated in 9th place ($1.26 million), though he did triple up early on in final table play.

With the biggest poker event of the year officially wrapped up the poker world looks forward to one of the other major events in poker. The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic will bring the top pros back to Vegas in December to play the $15,000 buy in World Poker Tour event at the Bellagio. Win your seat on DoylesRoom.com for as little as 22 cents.