2008 World Series of Poker will resume play on November with nine remaining players vying for the penultimate crown and to be named the best poker player on earth. Dubbed as the November Nine who battled their way through a field of 6,844 entrants,and last Monday they rose to the top of the final 27 players to take their positions at the final table.
The cream of the crop in this year’s 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event are Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov, Scott Montgomery, Peter Eastgate, Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto, David Rheem, Craig Marquis and Kelly Kim.
Dennis Phillips, one of the oldest players of the “November Nine” group hails from St. Louis, Mo. and currently is the chip leader. Phillips has some poker success on his resume. He came in ninth place back in 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Tunica $500 No-Limit Hold'em event.
He also won his way into the Main Event through a satellite at Harrah's Casino in St. Louis. Dennis Phillips has $26,295,000 over $2 million dollars difference from Ivan Demidov who has $24,400,000. Ivan Demidov is only a couple million behind Phillips in the chip count, but away from the poker table the two are worlds apart. The 27-year-old Demidov hails from Moscow, Russia, and is a professional poker player.
Running in third is Scott Montgomery who is another professional poker player at the final table. His poker resume looks pretty blank prior to 2008, but this has been a good year for the Canadian. In February he made the final table of the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, and he has already cashed in three other WSOP events as well. Scott Montgomery has $19,690,000.
The youngest player at the table will be Peter Eastgate, who is the only other player aside from Ivan Demidov who had to travel from outside North America to be at the final table. He comes from Odense, Denmark, where he is a professional poker player. If Peter Eastgate wins the Main Event, he would take over Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest-ever Main Event winner in Las Vegas.
Ylon Schwartz is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and is one of the five Americans at the final table this year. The 38-year-old is a former professional chess player who has been playing poker professionally for several years now and has 12 prior WSOP cashes to his name already, including a 15th-place finish in this year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
David "Chino" Rheem is probably the most well-known of the players at the final table this year. The 28-year-old professional player is from Los Angeles and has five prior cashes at the World Series. One of those is a final table in the 2008 $5,000 Limit/No-Limit Hold'em event, where he came in in fifth place.
Another contender for youngest Main Event winner on record is Craig Marquis, 23, from Arlington, Texas. Marquis is a college student who's only been playing poker for about 18 months.
Marquis had two cashes in the WSOP last year and cashed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout this year, but nothing compares to the money he'll take home after making the final table of the Main Event.
The short stack at the final table will be Kelly Kim from Whittier, Calif. Kim is a business-analyst-turned-poker-pro.
Kim has a long list of cashes in events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, but he has yet to post a major event win on his record. He'll now have four months to study up and practice ways to play his short stack to victory as the players take their break before play begins again in November
The cream of the crop in this year’s 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event are Dennis Phillips, Ivan Demidov, Scott Montgomery, Peter Eastgate, Ylon Schwartz, Darus Suharto, David Rheem, Craig Marquis and Kelly Kim.
Dennis Phillips, one of the oldest players of the “November Nine” group hails from St. Louis, Mo. and currently is the chip leader. Phillips has some poker success on his resume. He came in ninth place back in 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Tunica $500 No-Limit Hold'em event.
He also won his way into the Main Event through a satellite at Harrah's Casino in St. Louis. Dennis Phillips has $26,295,000 over $2 million dollars difference from Ivan Demidov who has $24,400,000. Ivan Demidov is only a couple million behind Phillips in the chip count, but away from the poker table the two are worlds apart. The 27-year-old Demidov hails from Moscow, Russia, and is a professional poker player.
Running in third is Scott Montgomery who is another professional poker player at the final table. His poker resume looks pretty blank prior to 2008, but this has been a good year for the Canadian. In February he made the final table of the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, and he has already cashed in three other WSOP events as well. Scott Montgomery has $19,690,000.
The youngest player at the table will be Peter Eastgate, who is the only other player aside from Ivan Demidov who had to travel from outside North America to be at the final table. He comes from Odense, Denmark, where he is a professional poker player. If Peter Eastgate wins the Main Event, he would take over Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest-ever Main Event winner in Las Vegas.
Ylon Schwartz is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and is one of the five Americans at the final table this year. The 38-year-old is a former professional chess player who has been playing poker professionally for several years now and has 12 prior WSOP cashes to his name already, including a 15th-place finish in this year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
David "Chino" Rheem is probably the most well-known of the players at the final table this year. The 28-year-old professional player is from Los Angeles and has five prior cashes at the World Series. One of those is a final table in the 2008 $5,000 Limit/No-Limit Hold'em event, where he came in in fifth place.
Another contender for youngest Main Event winner on record is Craig Marquis, 23, from Arlington, Texas. Marquis is a college student who's only been playing poker for about 18 months.
Marquis had two cashes in the WSOP last year and cashed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout this year, but nothing compares to the money he'll take home after making the final table of the Main Event.
The short stack at the final table will be Kelly Kim from Whittier, Calif. Kim is a business-analyst-turned-poker-pro.
Kim has a long list of cashes in events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, but he has yet to post a major event win on his record. He'll now have four months to study up and practice ways to play his short stack to victory as the players take their break before play begins again in November