So I, like everybody in the poker world (and not a few outside it), have watched the TV coverage of 2009 WSOP Main Event final table. Here are some random thoughts:

• First and foremost, we all have to be careful about Monday-morning quarterbacking any play that somebody makes. It’s far too easy to forget that they can’t see all the cards. I know that sounds silly, but I had to constantly fight that tendency when I was broadcasting for the European Poker Tour. Taking nothing away from Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, even they fall victim to it. Many plays that look foolish (or genius) seem far more ordinary when you realize that the people you’re watching are playing a game of incomplete information.

As a perfect example, consider the hand where Phil Ivey flops a monster draw with A 9 and get a K-Q-J flop with two diamonds. He’s up against Steve Begleiter’s pocket sevens. Ivey calls Begleiter’s flop bet, they both check the turn, and then Ivey bets out on the river. Begleiter folds and the announcers exclaim, “He folded the best hand!” Well, yes. But consider the hand from Begleiter’s point of view; the only thing he beat was a bluff. Sure, Ivey could be bluffing, but it’s not as simple as, “He might be bluffing; I call.”

When you’re watching poker on TV, work hard to separate your impressions of the play from your knowledge of the hole cards.

• Early in the final table, Joe Cada laid down TT when Shulman raised with 55 and Ivey jammed (holding KK). I was actually surprised it took Cada that long. Shulman had been playing tight and Ivey obviously knew that. It would have taken a miracle for Cada not to be badly behind at least one of his opponents.

In a similar situation, Steve Begleiter laid down TT in the face of Akenhead’s shove, and then Buchman’s re-shove behind Begleiter’s flat call. In retrospect, I think perhaps Begleiter should have re-shoved over Akenhead – it was likely that he was beating Akenhead, but he certainly didn’t want anybody else in the pot. Whatever, once he’d decided to call and Buchman jammed, laying down his TT was a no-brainer. He seemed upset that he’d laid down the “best hand,” but even if I hadn’t seen the cards, that would have looked like a clear fold. I think.

• Darvin Moon isn’t the dumb hick logger he’d have us all believe. He’s certainly a logger, and he’s definitely “rural country,” but that dumb act is, well, an act. It was fun to watch the players at the table come to that realization and begin to give him more respect. In particular, the man seemed to know no fear when it came to betting; that, almost single-handedly, makes for a fearsome opponent.

This was no more evident than when he and Joe Cada both had J9 with a flop of T98. It’s always interesting to see who wins a pot when both players have the identical hand, and in this case, Moon’s incessant betting took Joe off a split pot.

Darvin is certainly not the best player to come along in ten years, and he made some fairly egregious mistakes. Most of them were related to way overbetting the pot or otherwise betting more than necessary. But how many of us could say that we’d have the guts to continue to fire into some of the pots that he did? Clearly this was the style that had gotten him to the final table, and he was “gonna dance with the girl what brung him.”

Moon also showed a hunter’s canny when, heads-up with Cada, he check-raised a flop with just overcards, then spiked his top pair (queens) on the turn. He then checked the best hand, perhaps preparing another check-raise, but Cada checked back. Whether Moon missed the check-raise or not, that set up his value bet on the river, and he took full advantage of it.

• One of the most genuinely touching scenes was Phil Ivey asking Darvin for one of his mints, as Phil would do with Erick Lindgren or any other close friend. One man who will go down in history as the best poker player of his (or perhaps any) generation. Another who will likely be an all-but-forgotten footnote a year from now, mostly of his own choosing. And yet at that moment, they were simply two poker buddies sitting next to each other. Of course, for years to come, in backroom poker games at Maryland VFWs and Wyoming hunting cabins, people will beg Darvin Moon to retell the stories of his WSOP adventure, and how he gave Phil Ivey a breath mint.

• Overall, my favorite aspect of the entire final table, and particularly the heads-up part, was the respect the players showed for each other and the game. I think Darvin Moon was partially responsible for that – setting a tone that they were all very rich men, and they just happened to be playing cards together. At one point, Joe Cada noted the piles of $100 bills on the table and said, “That cash looks awfully sweet.” “It’s money,” replied Moon. The voice of a man who has figured out that the world is full of far more important things.

I am, I will admit, tired of players whose egos seem to take up more than their seat at the table... who constantly berate others and belittle them as part of their strategy. There was an exquisite scene when they got down to heads-up; Joe Cada said something to Darvin to the effect of, “This has been an amazing experience, hasn’t it?” Darvin replied, “Totally awesome.” Totally awesome, indeed.
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Lee Jones is the cardroom manager of Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of Winning Low Limit Hold’em, which is in its 15th year of publication.

More Articles by Lee Jones

Home Games are Better Than Casino Games Nov 07, 2009

Pretend It's a Bank Sep 14, 2009

This, Too, Shall Pass Aug 27, 2009

The Arc of a Home Game Jul 14, 2009

Getting What You Want from an Online Poker Site Jun 21, 2009

Lee Jones Podcast - May 21, 2009
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