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Event #8, the $2,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven Single Draw Lowball tournament was a new event added to the 2009 World Series of Poker, due to the resurgence in popularity of the draw poker games. This event saw 147 players enter, which was a small field in WSOP parlance, but it was a field packed with poker talent.

The final 21 players would carve up the $388,100 prize pool with the eventual winner taking away over $96,000. Day one saw the departure of such notables as Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Billy Baxter, Berry Johnston, Greg Raymer, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, David Singer, Michael Mizrachi, and Eli Elezra.

Barry Greenstein took the chip lead early on day one, but then things turned for him and he ended day one in the middle of the pack. Layne Flack took the chip lead into day two, with Phil Ivey fourth in chips, Phil Hellmuth 7th in chips, and Mike 'the Mouth' Matusow 8th in chips.

Vanessa Rousso was the only woman to advance to day two. She made the money, finishing 17th ($4,094). Phil Hellmuth and Mike the Mouth both departed before the money. Erick Lindgren and Barry Greenstein both managed to min-cash ($4,094) finishing 20th and 18th respectively. Freddy Deeb managed slightly better, hanging on to finish 12th ($4,959). Layne Flack burned through his chips and ended up bubbling the final table, finishing 8th for $8,452.

The final seven player returned on day three for the final table. John Monnette held the chip lead and Phil Ivey was the second-shortest stack. With blinds starting at 2,000/4,000, even the shortest stack had more than 20 big blinds. Nevertheless, they wasted no time getting their chips in the middle. Four players departed in the first three hours of play. The final three returned from dinner break with Phil Ivey as the short stack behind Yan Chen and John Monnette, who still held the chip lead.

Phil took some pots with uncalled all-ins and pulled ahead of Yan Chen in the chip standings. Then Yan decided to stand pat on a Jack-low, moving all-in pre-draw. Phil called and drew one to his 9432, catching a 5 to beat Yan. Yan departed with $38,891 for third place.

Phil Ivey and John Monnette then settled in for a 3.5 hour heads-up battle. John started with almost a 2-to-1 chip lead over Phil, but Phil began to pound away at John, raising and three-betting pre-draw, forcing John into difficult decisions. Phil had taken all but about 200,000 from John when John started pushing back, moving in pre-draw himself. John made a stand with a pat Ten-low against Phil's 9-low single draw. Phil paired up and John doubled up, getting back in the game. John then doubled again when all the chips went in and both players held pat Ten-9s, but John's T96 bested Phil's and he doubled up again, leaving Phil with about 200,000.

Despite the short-stack, Phil continued to pressure his opponent pre-draw and managed to grind his way back to even, then slightly ahead of John. On the final hand, all the chips went in pre-draw and both players drew one card. John was drawing to a 9752 and Phil was ahead, drawing to a 7642. John exposed his card first -- it was a 7, pairing him up and shipping the title to Phil as there was no card in the deck that would make Phil's hand worse. He actually caught a 5 for a final hand of 76542.


Phil Ivey finished in 1st place, winning his sixth WSOP bracelet and $96,361. John Monnette finished in 2nd place, earning $59,587.


Final table results:

1. Phil Ivey - $96,361
2. John Monnette - $59,587
3. Yan Chen - $38,892
4. Eric Kesselman -$26,757
5. Rodeen Talebi - $19,346
6. Raphael Zimmerman - $14,663
7. Elia Ahmadian - $11,627