The excitement is growing as the 2009 WSOP* final table action gets closer. The “November Nine” is all that remain from the 6,494 entries who dreamed of their chance at poker history. In our first preview of the November Nine, we featured Phil Ivey and Joe Cada. For this edition we will preview another two seats at the final table, Kevin Schaffel and Jeff Shulman.
The only other person I will be cheering for at the final table for the 2009 World Series besides Ivey of-course, will be Florida boy Kevin Schaffel. Kevin will be the eldest poker player at the table at 51 years old but don’t let his age fool you. With age comes great responsibility and wisdom, or something like that. Look for Kevin to play smart poker against a table full of young quick draw opponents. “There are lots of decisions to be made but then, I don’t want to over-think things,” Schaffel said. “If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. It's been a great ride whatever happens.”
Schaffel had his first taste of poker success when he finished 42nd at the 2004 main event taking home a little over $30,000. In 2006, his printing and direct mail company took a turn for the worse which allowed him to travel the poker circuit and gain valuable experience. He then came back strong in 2008 to cash at the world series of poker* main event, the EPT Caribbean Adventure and two WTP events. Schaffel will begin his final table run with 12,390,000 chips.
Jeff Shulman is a well known name in the poker industry for being the editor of CardPlayer Magazine. His quiet but brash poker etiquette has actually made him the villain of this year’s November nine. During the summer, Shulman was quoted as saying that if he had won this year's world series of poker tournament; he would throw the bracelet in the trash and he would never play poker again among other things. Sitting with 19,580,000 does he feel remorse for his comments? Hell no… "there certainly won't be an apology. I'm not going to throw the bracelet into the garbage. I've had time to think about things and it not the right thing to do. I've learned that for a lot of people, the bracelets equate with the tournament itself more than they do for me."
2009 WSOP November Nine Chip Counts
Darvin Moon, 45, of Maryland - 58,930,000 Eric Buchman, 28, of New York - 34,800,000 Steven Begleiter, 47, of New York - 29,885,000 Jeff Shulman, 34, of Las Vegas - 19,580,000 Joseph Cada, 21, of Michigan - 13,215,000 Kevin Schaffel, 51, of Florida - 12,390,000 Phil Ivey, 33, of Las Vegas - 9,765,000 Antoine Saout, 25, of France - 9,500,000 James Akenhead, 26, of England - 6,800,000
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