Live Tournament History
Total Live Tournament Winnings: $10,000 (WSOP prize package)
WSOP Cashes: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0
First Place Finishes: 1
Total Cashes: 1

Darvin Moon Profile
Darvin Moon is a 45 year old working man from Oakland, Maryland. Nowhere near a professional poker player, Moon owns his own logging company. Poker was not much more than a hobby for Darvon Moon, and yet his participation in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event has made Darvin Moon a household name across America and beyond.

On July 15th, Moon found himself in an amazing position. Not only was he named one of the historic November Nine, set to play at the final table of the WSOP Main Event later this year, he will be going into the final table with the largest chip stack by far, at 58,930,000. The next nearest competitor is Eric Buchman with 34,800,000.

Darvin started playing poker with his Grandfather as a young boy. His game of choice back then was 7 Card Stud. In fact, it wasn't until about 3 years ago that Darvin Moon actually learned how to play Texas Holdem. Moon participated in numerous charitable tournaments, mostly to benefit the local fire department.

Pleased with his performance, Darvin Moon bought into a $130 live poker tournament in Wheeling, West Virginia. He fought his way through the field and took the 1st place prize. He had two choices. Take $10,000 in cash, or the $10,000 buy-in for the 2009 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.

Moon says the decision was not any easy one, but he finally decided that he would take the WSOP prize package. Looking back on that now, Moon most certainly made the right decision! As a member of the November Nine, Moon is guaranteed to walk away with at least $1.2 million, even if he is the first to hit the rails come this November. Should his chip lead hold out, he could pocket an astonishing $8.5 million, plus the WSOP Championship Bracelet.

Moon has absolutely no documented live tournament experience, aside from the fated WSOP prize package win that brought him to Las Vegas this summer. Moon has made some incredibly wise decisions since then, enough to leave him as the chip leader going into the WSOP Main Event final table. Darvin held the chip lead ever since day 6 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

One such decision was the mucking of pocket kings when faced with an all-in bet. Moon assumed his opponent must have pocket Aces, and chose to give up the beautiful hand. Moon did not once push his entire stack into the pot, risking everything on a single hand.

Darvin has no disillusion about his poker skills, compared to that of some of his competitors. With the cards I'm getting it's easy, Moon stated. The first hand I sat down I had pocket kings and rivered trips. Three hands later I had pocket aces and flopped trips. How hard is it?"

Darvin admitted that his amateur skills combined with incredible luck brought him this far , "I told them as soon as I go card dead you guys will eat me alive. I'm humble. I know where I stand among the class of people I'm against. I'm outclassed by so far."

Commenting on his expectations for the final table, Moon stated, “I got my goals set. It’s not first. But it’s not ninth, either. I’ll be happy. I don’t care if I go out on the first hand tomorrow. I’ve had fun. It’s been worth every minute of it. I just like to play, and it’s unreal. It’s something I can’t even dream of doing, and here I am.”

Will Darvin Moon's luck hold up when the November Nine reconvene on November 7, 2009? He may hold a substantial chip lead at this point, but let's not forget he's going to be competing against some impeccably skilled pros, including Jeff Shulman and 7-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey.