The 2009 World Series of Poker was the 40th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Held in Las Vegas at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, the 2009 series began on May 27 and featured 57 poker championships in several variants. All events but the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Texas hold 'em Main Event, the most prestigious of the WSOP events, ended by July 15. The final table of the Main Event, known as the November Nine, was suspended until November, to allow for better television coverage. Following the WSOP custom since 1976, each of the event winners received a championship bracelet in addition to that event's prize money, which this year ranged from US$87,778 for the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em to US$8,546,435 for the Main Event.

WSOP game variants Most of the tournaments played at the WSOP are variants of Texas Hold 'em. Hold 'em is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and the player's own two hole cards to make a poker hand, in contrast to poker variants such as stud or draw in which each player holds a separate individual hand. Between 2000 and 2009, hold'em surpassed seven-card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos. Seven-card stud is a poker variant wherein each player is dealt two hole cards and one face-up to start the hand, followed by three more face-up cards one at a time, and then another hidden card, with betting after each round. Another poker variant played is Omaha, a game in which each player is dealt four hole cards and must use exactly two of them in conjunction with three community cards to make the best possible five-card hand. Other games played at the 2008 tournament included Razz, HORSE, and Deuce-to-Seven.

Within each of these poker variants a myriad of options exist. For example, depending on the betting structure, a tournament might be described as no limit, limit or pot-limit. Games may also include other variations on the rules governing the execution of the specific game such as shootout, eight or better, or heads up.

2009 highlights There were 57 events, two more than in 2008. The main event had 6,494 buy-ins, 350 fewer than the previous year. Other changes for 2009 include the elimination of rebuy events and the introduction of triple starting chips.Expect Rule and Structure Changes at 2009 WSOP, a March 16, 2009 article from pokerworks.com. Accessed 2009-07-29. Archived 2009-09-08.

In recognition that 2009 was the 40th WSOP, the tournament started with a special $40,000 No-Limit event. As one of the most expensive poker tournaments ever, the event attracted what considered to be one of the toughest poker fields ever assembled. Poker pro, Vitaly Lunkin, won his second bracelet in this event. Lunkin then finished in second place at the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event and the $50,000 HORSE Championship, finishing the summer with over $2.7 million. David Bach, a player with several final table appearances, won his first bracelet in the $50,000 HORSE Championship. At 18 hours and 44 minutes the final table of the $50K HORSE event was the second longest final table in WSOP history.

Jeff Lisandro became the fifth player to ever win three bracelets in the same year, and the first ever to win bracelets in all three stud variants offered at the WSOP (stud high-only, stud high-low, and Razz) in the same year. Poker superstar Barry Greenstein, said that "A lot of people might have said before this year, we may not ever see another guy win three bracelets because the fields are so big... Lisandro proved them wrong." He was the first player to do so since Phil Ivey did it in 2002. By winning two bracelets, Ivey, considered by many to be the best overall poker player in the world, became the youngest player to ever amass seven WSOP bracelets. The milestone means he is tied with Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter at sixth place on the most bracelets list.

Due to capacity limitations, the 2009 WSOP turned away over 500 players from the Main Event. Patrik Antonius, T. J. Cloutier, Layne Flack, Ted Forrest, Brandon Adams, Richard Ashby, and Mickey Appleman were among the notable players turned away from the Main Event. 1996 WSOP champion Huck Seed would have been included in that list, if he had not won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship which meant he was guaranteed entry into the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Another tournament which met its capacity limits was the "$1,000 buy-in Stimulus Special." This event set a new record for a non-main event tournament with 6,012 participants.

Results Key *Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame (#/#)This denotes a bracelet winner. The first number is the number of bracelets won in 2009. The second number is the total number of bracelets won. Both numbers represent totals as of that point during the tournament. Place The place in which the player finished. Name The player who made it to the final table Prize ($) The amount of money, in U.S. Dollars ($), awarded for each finish at the event's final table

Event 1: $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em 2-Day Event: Wednesday, May 27 to Thursday, May 28 Number of buy-ins: 866 Total prize pool: $389,700 Number of payouts: 81 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize1st Andrew Cohen (1/1) $2nd Paul McPeterson $3rd Casey Kuhn $4th Grant Yasui $5th Jun Dulay $6th Bobby Rooney $7th John McAvoy $8th Ferdinand Boleski $9th Sammy Porter $

Event 2: $40,000 No Limit Hold'em

4-Day Event: Thursday, May 28 to Sunday, May 31 Number of buy-ins: 201 Total prize pool: $7,718,400 Number of payouts: 27 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize1st Vitaly Lunkin (1/2) $2nd Isaac Haxton $3rd Greg Raymer (0/1) $4th Dani Stern $5th Justin Bonomo $6th Alec Torelli $7th Lex Veldhuis $8th Noah Schwartz $9th Ted Forrest (0/5) $

Event 3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

3-Day Event: Friday, May 29 to Sunday, May 31 Number of buy-ins: 918 Total prize pool: $1,253,070 Number of payouts: 90 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize1st Thang Luu (1/2) $2nd Ed Smith $3rd Ming Reslock $4th Robert Price $5th Pascal Leyo $6th Jordan Rich $7th Jim Geary $8th Freddy Deeb (0/2) $9th Senovio Ramirez III $

Event 4: $1,000 No Limit Hold'em

5-Day Event: Saturday, May 30 to Wednesday, June 3 Number of buy-ins: 6,012 Total prize pool: $ Number of payouts: 621 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Steve Sung (1/1) $2nd Peter Vilandos (0/1) $3rd James Matz $4th Larry Sidebotham $5th Nathan Mullen $6th Dan Heimiller (0/1) $7th Jeff Oakes $8th Phong Huynh $9th Danny Fuhs $

Event 5: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha

3-Day Event: Monday, June 1 to Wednesday, June 3 Number of buy-ins: 809 Total prize pool: $1,042,085 Number of payouts: 81 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Jason Mercier (1/1) $2nd Steven Burkholder $3rd Kevin Iacofano $4th Matt Giannetti $5th Chris Biondino $6th Jonathan Tare $7th Dario Alioto (0/1) $8th An Tran (0/1) $9th Vic Park $

Event 6: $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud

3-Day Event: Monday, June 1 to Wednesday, June 3 Number of buy-ins: 142 Total prize pool: $1,134,800 Number of payouts: 16 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Freddie Ellis (1/1) $2nd Eric Drache $3rd Ville Wahlbeck $4th Max Pescatori (0/2) $5th Hasan Habib (0/1) $6th Ivan Schertzer $7th Greg Mueller $8th Tim Phan $

Event 7: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

3-Day Event: Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday, June 4 Number of buy-ins: 2,791 Total prize pool: $3,809,715 Number of payouts: 297 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Travis Johnson (1/1) $2nd Steve Karp $3rd Michael Ciotola $4th Mark Salinaro $5th Craig McConville $6th Brian McInnis $7th Walter Wright $8th James McClain $9th Anthony Esposito $

Event 8: $2,500 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball

3-Day Event: Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday, June 4 Number of buy-ins: 147 Total prize pool: $ Number of payouts: 21 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Phil Ivey (1/6) $2nd John Monnette $3rd Yan Chen $4th Eric Kesselman (0/1) $5th Rodeen Talebi $6th Raphael Zimmerman $7th Elia Ahmadian $

Event 9: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed

3-Day Event: Wednesday, June 3 to Friday, June 5 Number of buy-ins: 1,459 Total prize pool: $ Number of payouts: 144 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Ken Aldridge (1/1) $2nd Carman Cavella $3rd Peter Gould $4th Bryce Yockey $5th Charles Furey $6th Manny Minaya $

Event 10: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha

3-Day Event: Wednesday, June 3 to Friday, June 5 Number of buy-ins: 453 Total prize pool: $1,041,900 Number of payouts: 45 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Rami Boukai (1/1) $2nd Najib Bennani $3rd Ben Grundy $4th Cornel Cimpan $5th Daniel Makowsky $6th Paul Parker $7th Pawel Andrzejewski $8th John Kabbaj $9th Sigi Stockinger $

Event 11: $2,000 No Limit Hold'em

3-Day Event: Thursday, June 4 to Saturday, June 6 Number of buy-ins: 1,646 Total prize pool: $2,995,720 Number of payouts: 171 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Anthony Harb (1/1) $2nd Peter Rho $3rd Jim Geary $4th Adam Adler $5th Jonathan McGowan $6th Adrian Dresel-Velasquez $7th Scott Hall $8th Michael Dyer $9th Brent Sheirbon $

Event 12: $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event

3-Day Event: Thursday, June 4 to Saturday, June 6 Number of buy-ins: 194 Total prize pool: $1,823,600 Number of payouts: 24 Winning hand: (Omaha-8) Reference:

+ Final TablePlace Name Prize1st Ville Wahlbeck (1/1) $2nd David Chiu (0/4) $3rd Scott Dorin $4th Mark Gregorich $5th Huck Seed (0/4) $6th James Van Alstyne $7th Mike Wattel (0/1) $8th Todd Brunson (0/1) $

Event 13: $2,500 No Limit Hold'em

3-Day Event: Friday, June 5 to Sunday, June 7 Number of buy-ins: 1,088 Total prize pool: $2,502,400 Number of payouts: 117 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Keven Stammen (1/1) $2nd Ángel Guillén $3rd Shawn Glines $4th Bahador Ahmadi $5th Torrey Reily $6th Antoine Berube $7th Oktay Altinbas $8th Matthew Lynn $9th Gregg Merkow $

Event 14: $2,500 Limit Hold'em Short Handed

3-Day Event: Friday, June 5 to Sunday, June 7 Number of buy-ins: 367 Total prize pool: $ Number of payouts: 36 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Brock Parker (1/1) $2nd Daniel Negreanu (0/4) $3rd Tommi Hörkkö $4th Kevin Hong $5th Barry Shulman (0/1) $6th Kyle Ray $

Event 15: $5,000 No Limit Hold'em

3-Day Event: Saturday, June 6 to Monday, June 8 Number of buy-ins: 655 Total prize pool: $3,078,500 Number of payouts: 63 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Brian Lemke (1/1) $2nd Fabian Quoss $3rd Thomas Keller (0/1) $4th Mike Sowers $5th Lika Gerasimova $6th Danny Illingworth $7th Isaac Baron $8th Billy Kopp $9th Christian Iacobellis $

Event 16: $1,500 Seven Card Stud

3-Day Event: Saturday, June 6 to Monday, June 8 Number of buy-ins: 359 Total prize pool: $ Number of payouts: 40 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Jeff Lisandro (1/2) $2nd Rodney H. Pardey (0/2) $3rd Steven Stencil $4th Nick Frangos $5th John Juanda (0/4) $6th Eric Pardey $7th Daniel Studer $8th Mitch Schock $

Event 17: $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold'em World Championship

3-Day Event: Sunday, June 7 to Tuesday, June 9 Number of buy-ins: 1,060 Total prize pool: $964,600 Number of payouts: 117 Winning hand: Reference:

+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Lisa Hamilton (1/1) $2nd Lori Bender $3rd Mari Lou Morelli $4th Angel Pedroza $5th Kimberly Cunningham $6th Kim Rios $7th Lisa Parsons $8th Dawn Thomas $9th Lisa Santy $

Event 18: $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

3-Day Event: Sunday, June 7 to Tuesday, June 9 Number of buy-ins: 179 Total prize pool: $1,682,600 Number of payouts: 18 Winning hand: Reference: