2009 World Series of Poker

The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker. It was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and ran from May 27 to July 15. There were 57 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. The "November Nine" concept returned for the second year, with the finalists of the Main Event returning to finish the tournament on November 7.

Event schedule

Main Event

The $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas Hold 'em Main Event began on July 3 with the first of four starting days. There were 6,494 total entries. After reaching the final table of nine players on July 15, the final table was once again delayed until November 7. The Main Event once again was a draw for many celebrities to play including:

Day 1A: Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett, Orel Hershiser, Nelly, Jennifer Tilly,
Day 1B: Shane Warne
Day 1C: Antonio Tarver, Paul Wight
Day 1D: Shannon Elizabeth, Sully Erna, Jordan Farmar, Audley Harrison, Scott Ian, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ray Romano, John Salley, Nate Silver, Sam Simon, Marlon Wayans, Torrie Wilson

The highest number of participants for a single day was Day 1D at 2,809, with Day 1B the lowest with 873. According to news reports, as many as 500 players, including Patrik Antonius, T. J. Cloutier, Layne Flack and Ted Forrest, were denied entry because capacity was filled.
Players started with 30,000 chips, up from 20,000 in previous Main Events.

Performance of past champions

Other notable high finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 100 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

Place	Name	Prize
14th	Ben Lamb	$633,022
18th	Andrew Lichtenberger	$500,557
21st	Jonathan Tamayo	$352,832
24th	Antonio Esfandiari	$352,832
39th	Eugene Katchalov	$178,857
45th	Dennis Phillips	$178,857
56th	Joe Sebok	$108,047
64th	Prahlad Friedman	$90,344
78th	Peter Eastgate	$68,979

November Nine

As in 2008, the final nine players returned on November 7 to complete the event. These players were as follows:

Name

Number of chips

WSOP
Bracelets

WSOP
Cashes*

WSOP
Earnings*

Final table

Notable achievements

Jeff Lisandro became the first player to win a bracelet in each of the Stud disciplines in the same World Series. In doing so, Lisandro was the first player to win three WSOP bracelets in the same year since Phil Ivey achieved this feat in 2002.
In addition to Lisandro, Ivey, Brock Parker and Greg Mueller won multiple bracelets during the series.
Ville Wahlbeck, who won Event 12, became the first Finnish player to win a bracelet.
Péter Traply, who won Event 41, became the first Hungarian player to win a bracelet.