November 10, 2008

Las Vegas - The Final Day of the Final Table of the Final Event of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP)  is finally here. Last July 3, 6844 players began their quest for poker's ultimate championship and now it is down to two players. After a four and a half month wait, the final two are fighting heads-up for the first place prize of $9.1 million.

Peter Eastgate of Odense, Denmark, is a  professional poker player. His previous major-tournament cashes include a final-table appearance at the 2007 Irish Poker Open, as well as a cash in the 2008 European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open main event. 27 year-old Ivan Demidov is a professional poker player from Moscow, Russia. At the 2008 World Series of Poker, Demidov made his first major tournament cash when he finished 11th in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em rebuy event and finished 3rd in the WSOP - Europe Main Event.

As the two players resume play the final 8 minutes at Level 37, the blinds are 300,000/600,000, with 75,000 antes, which means there will be over one million chips in the pot as each hand begins. As the cards hit the felt on hand 170, Peter has the button and bets 1.5 million chips, which Ivan called. Ivan checks the flop of 10s - Kh - 10h, Peter raises 1.75 million and Ivan again calls. A Kd slows down both players check. When the Kc completes the full house on the board Ivan bets out 8,000,000 chips and after over a minute in the tank, Peter folds, giving Ivan the nearly 8 million chip pot. As is indicative of heads-up play, there is a lot less caution than yesterday, when it took 30 hands before the first river card was revealed. This is one hand I want to see on ESPN on Nov. 11th, because I do not think I could have folded, because I did put Ivan on either a King or a pocket pair higher than 10s.

Ten Hands into Heads-Up, Demidov has been the aggressor, forcing Eastgate off several hands after Eastgate put money into the pot and has taken more of the blinds. Five hands later, with some deft play, increased aggression and better cards, Eastgate has the returned the stacks to nearly even, separated by less than one million chips. With his continued rush, winning four of six hands, two with substantial pots, Eastgate has 81,025,000 chips to Demidov's 55,875,000 after hand 193. Since the blinds went up to 400/800 million, any hand where a bet is made is seeing pots of a several million chips. This is causing constant flucuations in the chip counts.

Hand 202 saw the first opportunity for a major chip shift when the pot reached 30 million chips. Luckily for both players they both held a 6 for the straight and chopped the pot. Hand 204, immediately before the 20-minute break, saw a pot of more than 25 million chips go Eastwood's way when his A - Q caught a held up through the river. We have now reached 40 hands played heads-up. The vast amajority have gon to whichever player raises the 1.5 to 2 million chips. With only a handful of flops being seen and onla coule of rivers, it is not surprising that the chip vcounts are very close to when it all started this evening.

Time for an aside: As I have sat here for nearly three hours, I have been trying to figure out why the tournament started at 10 PM Las Vegas time. I finally realized that 10:00 PM Pacific Time is 1:00 AM on the East Coast and ESPN can honestly bill the final table as "Same Day" coverage. If this is the reason, it is another blatant marketing ploy, just like the whole November 9 set-up was to increase marketing and audience for Harrah's corporate entities and ESPN.

The last twenty-one hands have gone more for Peter than they have for Ivan and at Hand 225 Eastgate's stack is up to 101,100,000 while Demidov's has dropped to 36,800,000 chips. Eight hands later, Jack Effel, the Tournament Director, announced that in time of play, this is now the longest Final Table in Main Event in history. It surpassed Joe Hachem's 2005 victory. At Hand 242 another record has been broken when Level 39 raised the blinds to 500,000/1,000,000 with ante of 150,000 for the first time ever. Each circuit of the table (two hands) now costs each player 2.1 million chips.

Hand 247 is showing that Ivan is slowly picking off chips, though Peter still leads 97,400,000 to 39,500,000.  Hand 254 shows the continued chipping away of Eastgate's stack so that his lead has again shrunk to 85,300,000, while Demidov is again close to his starting stack size with 51,600,00 chips. From Hand 254 to Hand 265 each player took the blinds uncontested and only once was a flop seen.

If  Peter Eastgate eventually wins this tournament, Hand 276 may be the defining hand. With Demidov on the button and 2.1 million in the pot, Ivan raises 2 million chips and Peter calls. A scary flop of Kd - 10d - 7c his the board and both players check. When the Jd falls on the turn, it brings thoughts of a royal flush to mind. Peter bets 2.5 million and Ivan raises back to make it 8 million, which Peter quickly calls. When the river is the 3s Eastgate checks as if he was on the diamond draw. Demidov glances at his cards, as if insuring he has the two diamonds, and bets 12 million chips. Taking this as a sign of weakness (or brilliant acting) Eastgate calls. Ivan tirns over the Ac - 9s for only an Ace High semi-bluff. Peter turns over the diamond suited 4 - 7 for the flush and sweeps in the 44 million chip pot. Peter's stack reaces a tournament high 109 million and Ivan's drops to only 28 million.

Four hands later, another substantial hand goes down. Ivan Demidov seems to get in trouble from the button with another standard 2,000,000 chip raise, followed by Peter's call. Another dangerous flop appears with the 8s - 8c - 5c forcing both players to again check. the turn appears to be a harmless 3d and Eastgate raises slightly less than half the pot and Ivan calls the 2.5 million. A dangerous 9c hitting on the river does not slow down Eastgate, who raises 4.5 million and gets the call. When Eastgate shows the 3s - 3h for the boat, he rakes in another 20 million chip pot, further crippling Ivan's dwindling stack to slightly less than 20 million chips. This is another hand that hopefully ESPN will not send to the cutting room floor, since I am dying to see if Ivan is trying to pull off a bold and decisive play or if he is experiencing a Matasow Meltdown.

Just two hands after the devasting full house and when it appears that the tournament may be over with any hand Ivan Demidov gets a short stay of execution with the mandatory 20 minute break. Hand 274, the first one following the break, found Eastgate on the button. He limps and Demidov checks his big blind. With a rainbow 2d - Ks - 3h it appears that with neither player betting out pre-flop, it could be a flop that hit someone. Demidov checks and Eastgate bets 1.25 million which gets the call. When the 4c comes on the turn Ivan checks, Peter raises 2 million and Ivan check-raises to 6 million after tanking for 20 seconds. The concept of pot-committment is in full force, since Ivan has less than 10 million chips remaining, so I am sure he was praying for a fold from Peter. After about half a minute of thought Eastgate calls, which brings the gallery to its feet. With a 7s on the river Demidov goes All-in and Eastgate performs a Phil Hellmuth Patented Insta-Call. Ivan turns over the 4h - 2h for two pair and Peter turns over the Ad - 5s for the wheel. Though it was a valient effort, Ivan Demidov ended his remarkable 2008 WSOP, taking home nearly $6 million. Peter Eastgate, the young professional player from Denmark not only sealed his victory with a Hellmuth Insta-Call he also took Phil's 19 year record as the youngest player to win the Main Event. At only 22, he beat Hellmuth by nearly two years. His $9.1 million payday also dwarves Phil's lifetime poker earnings.

One thing can be said for Ivan Demidov is that he has been involved in the two longest Final Tables in WSOP history. His third place finish at the Final Table in the 2008 WSOP - Europe lasted 19 and a half hours, only a few hours longer than this mornings marathon. Though any finish except a first is rarely remembered, the fact that Ivan finished as the runner-up in the 2008 Las Vegas Main Event and third in the 2008 London Main Event is a feat that may never be bested.

ESPN's World Series of Poker -- By The Numbers

Final Table airing November 11th

·         $9,119,517 - Prize for the Champion of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

·         28,000 - Number of pounds of TV equipment used to produce the Final Table.

·         7,000 - Number of hours taped in July at the WSOP.

·         6,844 - Players that began the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

·         2,750- number of hands logged during WSOP Main Event taping (up to 300 more expected for Final Table)

·         175 - Total Number of days worked for the 2008 WSOP (Pre-production on May 22- set strike on Nov 12)

·         124 - The total number of countries and territories represented by players at this year’s WSOP

·         40 - Number of cameras used by ESPN to film the entire 2008 WSOP

·         39 -Number of years the Main Event of the World Series of Poker has existed

·         24 - Hour operation needed to turnaround the Main Event Final table Nov 11

·         20 - Number of HD cameras used to film the Final Table

·         20 - Number of Main Event hours that will air on ESPN in 2008 (highest ever)

·         15- Average amount of hours worked daily by crew covering the WSOP for 17 days

·         13 - Avid editing systems used to turnaround the Final Table show for same-day airing

·         6 - The number of years in a row an amateur has won the Main Event

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November 9, 2008

Las Vegas - The much anticipated "Shuffle Up and Deal" for the final table for the 39th World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event finally heard, nearly four and a half months after it was set. The Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio Suites Hotel and Casino is the site for the ESPN broadcast, to begin airing November 11th. Dennis Phillips began the day as the chip leader, followed closely by WSOP - Europe Main Event 3rd place finisher Ivan Demadov. One interesting fact is that this tournament is now, in essense, a free roll, since each player has already been paid over $900,000, the purse for a ninth place finish.  

The starting chip count and country:

	Player Name	Chip Count	City	State/Country
	Dennis Phillips	26,295,000	St. Louis	Missouri
	Ivan Demidov	24,400,000	Moscow	Russia
	Scott Montgomery	19,690,000	Perth	Ontario, Canada
	Peter Eastgate	18,375,000	Odense	Denmark
	Ylon Schwartz	12,525,000	Brooklyn	New York
	Darus Suharto	12,520,000	Toronto	Ontario, Canada
	David Rheem	10,230,000	Los Angeles	California
	Craig Marquis	10,210,000	Arlington	Texas
	Kelly Kim	2,620,000	Whittier	California

With millions of dollars on the line, "Caution" was the word of the day. It took one and a half circuits of the table before a flop was finally seen and thirty hands before one went to the river. At that point, Ylon Schwartz won a pot of nearly 15 million chips when his suited K - 10 hit two pair on the flop and beat Ivan Demadov's suited Big Slick. During the eleven hands following the first river until the first break action heated up more, with several players swapping chips and the chip lead. The chip count at the first break found:

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Craig Marquis was the first player eliminated, finishing in 9th place for a $900,000 payday. He pushed All-In with pocket sevens against Scott Montgomery's A - Q. The flop looked good, first for Montgomery, then Marquis as the dealer spread 10 - A - 7. The Jack on the turn gave Montgomery four outs with the straight draw (at least until we see the ESPN hole cam shots to see if anyone was holding a King. Unfortunately for Marquis, Montgomery completed the runner - runner Broadway for the win.On Hand 52, Craig Marquis pushed All-In with the red sevens and Scott Montgomery called with Ad - Qh. The flop looked good, first forMontgomery, then Marquis as the dealer spread 10s - Ah – 7c. The Jd on the turn gaveMontgomery four outs with the straight draw (at least until we see the ESPN hole cam shots to see if anyone was holding a King. Unfortunately for Marquis,Montgomery completed the runner - runner Broadway with the King of Spades for the win. Marquis was the first player eliminated, finishing in 9th place for a $900,000 payday.

It took only one more hand for the next elimination. Starting the day with only ten big blinds, Kim made his final stand when he had only 150,000 chips behind his big blind. Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto and Ivan Demidov limped in before Kelly Kim moved all in from the big blind and all three players called to see the flop. With a flop of 9h – 6s – 2s, Demidov decided not to check down and raised 600,000 chips, getting Shwartz to fold before Suharto called. The Ah and Qd elicit checks at both the turn and the river. Suharto showed the 9c – 10c for the win over Demidov’s 9d – 5s. Kelly Kim mucked his final hand, having succumbed to the inevitable when a player is saddled with no chips and does not get cards worth playing. He moved up one position to finish in 8^th, taking home nearly $1.3 million.

At Hand 72, the chip counts are:

At Hand 76, Chino Rheem shoved his last 3.5 million chips and Peter Eastgate called. In a day indicative of his hands after the four month lay-off, Rheem turned over his As – Kc and Eastgate shows the weaker Ah – Qd. The flop crushes Rheem’s hopes of doubling up with a Qs – 5s – 7d hitting the felt. The 9d and 4h did not allow Rheem to improve his Big Slick (a running theme at this year’s final table) and he collected over $1.7 million for his efforts.

The updated chip count following Chino Rheems elimination:

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Play was fairly sedate for thirty hands with limited shoving of chips back and forth. Later, continuing the trend of the short stack shoving All-In pre-flop, Darus Suharto came over the top of Scott Montgomery’s one and a half million chip wager with his final eight million plus chips. Suharto showed the “Dead Man Walking” hand of Ah – 8c, whileMontgomery flipped Big Chick, with the As – Qd. The flop of Ks – Js – 2s simply removed the 8s as a winning out, giving him only one of the red 8s to win, though a runner – runner Broadway was still possible for a chop. The 4s put an end to Darus’ hopes of victory and he was drawing dead as the 4c hit the board. Though disappointed about the loss, the nearly $2.5 million prize for 6^th place should ease his pain.

A dozen hands later, Hand 114 saw such a major blow to Scott Montgomery's chip stack that it lead to his anticlimactic elimination a handful of hands later. Ivan Deminov’s Ks – Kd was facing off with Montgomery’s Ad – 8d with a flop of 6d – 4d – 6c The strong pocket cowboys were facing a coin-flip situation against Montgomery’s over card and nut flush draw. The 10s and 3c leftMontgomery with only 8 million chips and Deminov with his biggest lead of the night at 50 million chips. At hand 119,Montgomery, now severely short-stacked, pushed All-In after Peter Eastgate’s 1.25 million chip raise. An instant later, Eastgate called, showing the 6s – 6h withMontgomery holding the Ad – 3d. The Ac – Qs – 4d flop elates Montgomery, who has visions of doubling up and getting back into the thick of the hunt when the As hits on the turn. Dennis Phillips tells all that he folded a 6, so only the case 6 can end Scott Montgomery’s tournament. As fate, the poker gods or (my favorite) the balancing of the odds would have it, the 6d shows on the river to crush Montgomery and send him home with over $3,000,000 for 5^th place.

After that hand, a break was called and the chip counts were:

Dennis Phillips has had an up and down day, starting as the chip leader, then a few loses crippled him to the point of near extinction, then doubling up several times and losing the chips again. As the table took a twenty minute break, his current position as the table short stack, which has not been the place to be today, with all but the first elimination coming from someone picking on the little guy.

At Hand 155, Peter Eastgate opens for 1,500,000 and Ylon Schwartz calls. The flop is Kh – 8h – 2s which elicits a check from both players. The turn is the scary Kd. Schwartz checks and Eastgate raises 1,750,000. After a moment, Schwartz calls. The river appears to be a harmless 5d. Schwartz again checks and Eastgate bets 4.6 million chips. After a short stay in the think tank, Schwartz moves all in for more than 11 million additional chips and Eastgate makes the call. Ylon shows the Ah – 10c while Peter Eastgate uncovers both black 5’s for a full house that sends Ylon looking for another place to stay. Schwartz exits the final table in 4^th place $3.75 million richer.

At a little past12:30 AM the November 9 became the November 2. From the small blind, Peter Eastgate put in a raise to 1,500,000. Dennis Phillips calls to protect his big blind. The flop hits an innocuous Jc – 4d- 3s and Peter leads out with a smallish 1.5 million. As Phillips begins to cut out a raise, he decides to move All-In. Eastgate does a patented Phil Hellmuth Insta-Call (TM Pending). Phillips shows a 9h – 10c for a weak semi-bluff, while Eastgate shows the 3d – 3c or a set. Phillips is drawing nearly dead, needing runner – runner to stay alive. "Oh well!," Dennis says with a shrug as he stands up from his seat. When the As hits on the turn, he is officially drawing dead. A meaningless 9d falls in the river and the tournament ends for the night after 169 hands and nearly ten hours of play. With four and a half million reasons to be proud of his 3^rd place finish, Dennis Phillips  and his 300 plus supporters head for the door.

The story will continue later this afternoon as the two finalists get an uneasy nights sleep and rejoin the fray at 10:00PM Las vegas time with Peter Eastgate holding 79,500,000 chips to Ivan Deminov's 57,725,000 chips. One has to wonder if Deminov is feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, since he has bested his 3rd place finish in this years WSOP – Europe Main Event. First prize for today’s heads-up battle is $9.1 million, while the runner-up receives $5.8 million.

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October 3, 2008

29 Palms - With the World Series of Poker  in Europe complete, the biggest news after John Juanda's marathon win, was the play of Ivan Demidov. His third place finish makes him the first player to make the final table of both the Las Vegas and London Main Events in the same year.

This cash of $595,000 in London now makes him the money leader in previous tournaments with $635,000, topping the previos money leader David 'Chino' Rheem's $615,000 in career earnings. Other players with substanstial earnings in the last few years are Scott Montgomery with over $400,000, Kelly Kim with $316,000 and Ylon Schwartz with $302,000. The minimum $935,000 guarantee for the final table participants dwarfs the earnings of all of the players, and must be considered life changing money. This will be especially true for the ultimate winner and his nine million dollar first prize.

We have also added links to Card Player Magazine's biographies for each of the Novenber Nine.

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July 15, 2008

Las Vegas - The most controversial innovation at the 2008 World Series of Poker will be a groundbreaking format change for the Main Event. In another move by Harrah's to increase revenue, the WSOP Final Table, for the first time in its 39-year history, will be televised in primetime on ESPN the same day that the WSOP World Champion wins his bracelet.

The final nine players of the Main Event were set on July 14 and action will now be suspended for 117 days. The November Nine^SM players will have an opportunity during that time to secure sponsors and coaches, study their opponents' play and devise new playing strategies before reconvening at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Nov. 9 to compete for the most coveted prize in poker.

The Main Event, with four Day 1 dates to accommodate the 6,844 players, began on July 3. The Final Table, decided on July 14 consists of:

	Player Name	Chip Count	City	State/Country
	Dennis Phillips	26,295,000	St. Louis	Missouri
	Ivan Demidov	24,400,000	Moscow	Russia
	Scott Montgomery	19,690,000	Perth	Ontario, Canada
	Peter Eastgate	18,375,000	Odense	Denmark
	Ylon Schwartz	12,525,000	Brooklyn	New York
	Darus Suharto	12,520,000	Toronto	Ontario, Canada
	David Rheem	10,230,000	Los Angeles	California
	Craig Marquis	10,210,000	Arlington	Texas
	Kelly Kim	2,620,000	Whittier	California

These nine players return to the Final Table at the Rio on November 9 to play down to just two players. The final two will then go head-to-head late on November 10 to determine the champion and winner of poker's ultimate prize. From July through November, ESPN will televise their coverage of the 2008 WSOP Events. The Main Event winner will be determined in the early morning hours of Nov. 11. In order to increase ESPN's advertising revenues and Harrah's sponsorship fees, a telecast first will occur when ESPN airs its November Nine^SM coverage that night beginning at 9:00 PM ET.

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