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Catching Up With the 2009 November Nine

For a few months, they were the most famous names in poker. So what have the the 2009 November Nine been up to as the clock runs out on their year in the sun?

While only a few hundred people can directly testify on the matter, one would assume that playing any tournament after playing at the final table of the WSOP Main Event has to be a bit of a letdown. To go from the bright lights and cheering crowd at the Rio to being just another seat number with a tiny stack of cheap chips at a local casino is a pretty tough adjustment for even the most seasoned pro.

Combine that with the fact that any place but first is bound to leave you with a gnawing sense of an opportunity missed and an endless string of “what ifs”, and it’s easy to see why the post-WSOP tournament schedules (and results) of the 2009 November Nine have been, in a word, light.

Here’s the drill-down, in order of their 2009 WSOP Main Event finish, of what the 2009 November Niners have been up to since the lights went down at the Rio:

James Akenhead:
Akenhead earned the minimum for his WSOP Main Event final table appearance – $1,263,602 – and hasn’t done much in the interim to pad that bankroll.

Poker fans looking for Akenhead to pop up on the tournament radar in 2010 had to look pretty closely – his only recorded cash came six months to the day of his WSOP bust. It paled in comparison, as well – $13,500 was the total take-home for Akenhead after placing 38th in the Main Event of the PokerStars NAPT at the Mohegan Sun.

Kevin Schaffel:
Based on his pre-WSOP media appearances, it seemed as if Schaffel might be angling himself for a permanent sponsored spot on the tournament circuit. Maybe it was the early exit that dimmed interest of potential backers, or maybe it was the $1.3 million he walked away form the WSOP with, but for whatever reason, we haven’t seen Schaffel much on the tournament trail lately.

It’s going to be tough for Schaffel to match his 2009 results at his current pace, as 2010 has brought exactly $0 in cashes for the November Niner. The strange part is how much momentum Schaffel had in 2009 – the WSOP, a nearly half-million WPT win – and how that momentum has apparently failed to carry him to any post-WSOP success.

Phil Ivey:
The seventh-place finisher at the 2009 WSOP – picked by many to win it all – has been the busiest of all players in the wake of the Main Event. In fact, on the strength of his WSOP cash and his $553,776 score at the small field, high buy in Aussie Millions 100k challenge, Ivey actually took over the Lifetime Tournament Winnings Title from Daniel Negreanu in early 2010.

In addition to the Aussie Millions hit, Ivey threatened before busting in two NAPT events, taking 91st at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and 29th at NAPT Mohegan Sun. While that’s not a ton of cashes in terms of volume, his post-WSOP results pushed his lifetime tourny earnings to a whopping $ 12,829,990.

Steven Begleiter:
The poker world hadn’t heard much from Begleiter before he made his massive WSOP run, and it appears they won’t be hearing much from him after it either – if the last few months are any indication.

The total number (and amount) of cashes for “Begs” since the Main Event wrapped: a well-rounded goose egg. Don’t feel too bad – he’s still got a career earnings number that almost all tournament players would be thrilled by: $ 1,616,400, all but about 29k of which comes from his sixth-place finish at the 2009 WSOP.

Jeff Shulman :
The man who threatened to use his WSOP win against the Harrah’s behemoth if he managed to capture the WSOP bracelet has gone back to being about as low-key as he was before the Main Event dust up.

Whether he’s been focusing on CardPlayer, licking his wounds from the nasty suckout that sent him home or is just charging his batteries for the 2010 WSOP is anybody’s guess, but whatever the reason it’s been all cricket chirps and tumbleweeds for Shulman since the final table – a grand total of zero cashes since his untimely exit from the Penn and Teller theater.

Eric Buchman:
Those following the WSOP showed little surprise when Buchman immediately took on the top of table captain at the Main Event final table. Those watching the final table – especially after Ivey’s exit – could be forgiven for thinking that Buchman had a lock on the tournament. He had chips, he had momentum, and he seemed to have the right game plan for the table.

The table (and fate) decided that it wasn’t to be, sending Buchman home in what had to be a brutally disappointing fourth place. Buchman always said he played poker for the money, not the fame, so it’s a bit unsurprising that he’s been content to sit on the $2,502,890 he received as reward for his WSOP run. Buchman is yet another member of the 2009 November Nine that has, more or less, sat on their hands in the interim, totaling zero tournament cashes in the months between now and then.

Antoine Saout:
The Frenchman, who came into the final table short-stacked, surprised everyone with his stunning turnaround. Far from behaving like most observers expected a short-stacked unknown to behave, Saout quickly became the surprise story of the final table.

With his fearless play and ever-increasing chip stack, Saout seemed to be riding a straight line to the bracelet, until he, like others, was derailed by the luck of Cada. Along with Ivey, Saout’s easily been the most active of the November Nine. His post-WSOP cashes include deep runs at the EPT Grand Final and Wagrams Poker Event in Paris, along with a 3rd place finish at the 2010 Open de France Main Event.

Darvin Moon:
Even with his massive chip lead going into the final table, almost no one gave Darvin Moon a shot to win the Main Event. To the credit of the skeptics, Moon started off with some really uneven play at the final table, decimating his stack and rendering his chip lead a distant memory.

Luck, both direct and indirect, conspired with Moon to gloss over his transgressions and to rebuild his stack until he managed to get heads up for the title. Then, something amazing happened – Moon, for a solid few dozen hands, absolutely outplayed Cada. It didn’t last – Cada lucked up and Moon reverted – but it suggested that Moon might have a taste for the game and could possibly develop into a bit of a force.

That hasn’t come to pass. Free of any sponsorship requirements to show up at this event or that, Moon has retreated right back into the unspotlighted life he led before the WSOP made him an almost-household name. He’s one of the majority of 2009 November Nine members with no post-WSOP cashes to their credit.

Joe Cada:
With appearances on seemingly just about any show on the dial targeted at a young, male audience, Joe Cada can be forgiven for not having the time to play a packed tournament schedule. His position as a Team PokerStars pro, however, has kept him fairly active on the live felts since his historic bracelet win, with a schedule that certainly ranks among the most active of any of his fellow NNers.

The busy schedule, however, has produced only one cash of record – $51,450 for his 11th place finish in the High Rollers event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Not bad for a weekend’s work, but still no threat to the $ 8,546,435 he pocketed for his win in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Want to be a member of the 2010 November Nine? Qualify for the WSOP Online. Info on all major qualifiers here.

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