Some of the players feel it was a success while others feel it was an utter failure, yet all through their opinions there were the politically correct tones of the positive things about the event. To get an idea of the true sentiment you need only look to the infamous Mike “The Mouth” Matusow to get an idea of the true feelings:

“If I was a fan, it’d be a big letdown. As far as that, I think it was a failure. As far as Harrah’s and ESPN, I think it was a major success.”

That is quickly becoming the theme. The “Main Event” final table had 274 hands over 100 of which were played heads up out of the 274 hands. ESPN showed its viewers and poker fans alike 23, and of the 105 hands and over four hours of heads up action, we bore witness to a mere two hands over five minutes. I was appalled after watching the show at the lack of coverage, this is being widely blamed on the fact that Peter Eastgate doesn’t make good T.V. like a Joe Hachem per say.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson Team FullTiltPoker.com Pro had this to say about the heads up battle:

“The one glaring omission was that the heads up lasted two hands on television,” said Ferguson. “It really didn’t show the entire battle between these two great players.”

This heads up match was very much a battle and all we saw was the final volley, Eastgate started with a 30 million chip lead (80 million – 50 million), but had to watch Demidov make a big comeback on three occasions during one of which he took the chip lead. Yet this young Danish player (Eastgate) managed to maintain his cool and pick his spots, ultimately allowing the hyper aggressive Russian (Demidov) to bluff off all his chips and give Eastgate the bracelet and record as youngest “Main Event” Champion ever surpassing Phil Hellmuth Jr. record set in 1989.

The decision is and has become a marketing success for Harrah’s, ESPN & The World Series of Poker as they saw an increase of 46% in viewer ship over the Final Table of 2007’s “Main Event”. Yet more and more players are speaking out, and showing their displeasure. The one player that I will be waiting to hear from is Daniel Negreanu who was one of the main people involved in the decision to have the delay, I imagine we will all be waiting a very long time to hear his thoughts.

The WSOP Player of the Year & Team FullTiltPoker.com Pro Erick Lindgren had this to say about the coverage:

“did the best with their situation.” Even Matusow acknowledged the impressive production work that it took to get it on the air, saying it was “nothing short of a miracle.”

Also note that he was present during much of the 17 hour marathon at the Penn & Teller Theatre in the Rio Hotel & Casino. Mike Matusow also had this to say:

“They just never showed any hands, they just showed everyone’s bust-out hand. This coverage could have been handled way better but with respect they were under the gun time wise and that’s just how it goes.”

In closing hopefully should they make the decision to go this route next year again, which I can’t see why they wouldn’t hopefully they do a better job. And hopefully we do have 2 more entertaining type guys at the final table! I’ll leave you with Mike Matusows’ final comments which I whole heartedly agree with:

“It’s a shame the rest of the American public didn’t get to see that, it would’ve been so sick to watch.”

This move comes just after the site dropped Clonie Gowen from their roster of players. The members that make up Team Full Tilt is absolutely unbelievable and consists of the likes of Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow and many more.

David Benyamine was one of the reasons that Full Tilt Poker could build a very successful reputation as the place for the high stakes action. He was a mainstay on limits of $200 - $400 and up including $500 - $1,000 which is their biggest Pot Limit and No Limit games. David Benyamine was a major attraction among poker players who logged in to enjoy soaking in and watching the high stakes action.

One has to wonder if Benyamine has quit as apposed to being fired or let go? These are the big questions that will no doubt flood the 2+2 Forum and other blogs worldwide over the next few days Or until one of the two parties offers an official statement.

Many are wondering if Benyamine has either bought into a new poker site and marketing himself as part owner or simply been enticed by PokerStars.com who are currently expanding their high stakes action and team. If he was signed by PokerStars.com, he would still have the freedom to play at FullTiltPoker.com without his “Red Pro Status” and personal Avatar. Which he was doing today, where as playing for Full Tilt Poker does not enable players to play at PokerStars.com.

The other belief is that he was maybe seeking a deal with the fast growing and European focused poker site Betfair.com. Betfair has been increasing their high stake action this past year and bringing on a nose bleed player like David Benyamine would certainly help their cause. For these sites high stakes action is big business as the nosebleed games attract small game players who want to play for low stakes while watching the action of hundreds of thousands of dollars being thrown around!

David Benyamine has had a career year winning a Bracelet at the World Series of Poker in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better worth over $500k, while also making two other final tables at the WSOP. This was then followed by a 2nd place finish at an event during the Bellagio Cup IV.

Currently, for 2008 he is among the top money earners on FTP with over $1,500,000 in earnings only behind a very impressive list of players that are: Phil Ivey, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Tom “Durrr” Dwan, “trex313” All the while David Benyamine is rumored to only receive 100% rake back and $35/hr to play on the site where as members of Team Full Tilt earns a percentage of total profits that the poker site brings in.

This possible change to the season 7 schedule has been rumored to happen for the last few weeks, but only became official today. One has to believe this decision will have something to do with the limited number of main stay pro’s that will attend, this due to the Auzzie Millions taking place during that time in Melbourne, Australia at the Crown Hotel and Casino. The Borgata Hotel & Casino has announced in the wake of the cancellation that they will have the Borgata Winter Poker Open in the time period that was supposed to be the WPT event. At present there is no announcement of a schedule. It is believed that the “Main Event” will be a $3,000 + $200 4-day event beginning on January 25, 2009 and that it will carry a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Currently, the World Poker Tour finds its self in trouble; they are facing a delisting on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in New York. As well they have seen constant declines in the number of participants in their events. This is due to many new tours being created such as the European Poker Tour (Pokerstars.com), The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (Pokerstars.com), World Series of Poker Circuit Events as well as an ever expanding World Series of Poker.

The World Poker Tour just doesn’t have the clout that they once held as the coverage of their events dwindles, and the coverage of the World Series of Poker is ever growing. However, with Full Tilt Poker getting behind them one has to believe that they will see a large increase in the number of entries due to the support of Online Poker Satellites, which can generate a single entry from a tournament for as little as a few dollars. It is these types of Satellites that is helping to grow both the EPT and APPT for PokerStars.com.

The World Poker Tour also announced some other revisions to their remaining Season VII schedule; the following are the remaining events:

December 13th – 19th, 2008 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic
The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

January 14th – 17th, 2009 Southern Poker Championship
Beau Rivage, Biloxi, Mississippi

February 21st -26th, 2009 LA Poker Classic
The Commerce Casino, Commerce(Los Angeles), California

February 28th – March 2nd, 2009 WPT Celebrity Invitational
The Commerce Casino, Commerce(Los Angeles), California

March 16th – 20th, 2009 Bay 101 Shooting Star
Bay 101, San Jose, California

April 4th – 9th, 2009 Foxwoods Poker Classic
Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut

April 18th – 25th, 2009 WPT World Championship
The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

One has to wonder if the WPT can make the turn around and make a return to stature. The WPT joined the poker world at a pivotal point in time on the heels of Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 Main Event. At the time there was only ESPN coverage of the WSOP and it was for all of a couple episodes. This meant that the WPT showing weekly on the Travel Channel (at the time) helped feed the T.V. Poker market. That same market is way over saturated today with shows like Poker After Dark (NBC/FullTiltPoker.com), EPT (The Score (in Canada)/PokerStars.com), APPT The Score (in Canada)/PokerStars.com), World Series of Poker (ESPN (TSN in Canada)/Everest.com), World Series of Poker Europe (ESPN/Betfair.com), High Stakes Poker (Game Show Network), Auzzie Millions (The Score in Canada), Auzzie Millions Cash Game (The Score in Canada), and that is just a sample of the events available on T.V.

This is becoming a very good year for Daniel as this makes a 3rd major cash for “Kid Poker”, after winning a Gold Bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em Event at the World Series of Poker, he then went to Europe and finished 5th in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. After winning the event Daniel had this to say: “Being Canadian myself, playing and winning the BC Poker Championships is extra special to me, The tournament was extremely well organized and my opponents were very good. It may have been a smaller tournament but I would say this has been the best $2500 buy-in event structure I’ve ever played.”

Daniel Negreanu is a native of Toronto, Ontario; Canada and is well known as one of the best poker players in the world. He is sponsored by PokerStars.com and has a online poker forum community FullContactPoker.com. His achievements are endless they include 4 WSOP Bracelets, 34 cashes in WSOP events with over $2 Million in earnings, he has nearly $11 Million in Tournament Earnings life time. He won the 2004 Poker Player of the Year Award after winning two World Poker Tour Events and a World Series of Poker Bracelet, to top that off he won the first ever World Series of Poker Event he ever entered.

Daniel is a main stay at the “Big Game” played regularly in the famous “Bobby’s Room” at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. One of Daniel’s most notable moments was on the T.V. Show High Stakes Poker a few years ago when he lost the largest televised pot in poker history (at the time) when he and Gus Hansen both flopped a Set, and Hansen made quads on the turn.

The field of 690 boasted a fairly well known list of Poker Professional’s. Dennis Phillips (finished 3rd in 2008 Main Event @ WSOP), well known poker commentator Gabe Kaplan. John Juanda (Winner of the WSOPE Main Event) along with Canadians “Yukon” Brad Booth, Gavin Smith and Isabelle Mercier. The final table players and their payouts are as follows (all payouts are in Canadian Dollars):

1st Daniel Negreanu - $371,910
2nd Adam Croffut - $238,191
3rd Warren Russell - $150,285
4th Vorakbotgh Eam - $118,335
5th Vincenzo Abate - $97,204
6th Tyler Patterson - $76,580
7th Chad Thomsen - $59,675
8th Christopher Dinson - $46,489
9th Mal Hagan - $33,810

High Stakes Poker is the brain child of two industry leaders in poker, recent Poker Hall of Fame inductee Henry Orenstein and Mori Eskandani. These two men have created a poker show that is a must watch among pros and amateurs alike, the mere fact that these players are risking enormous sums of their own personal money.

The show has made some players become house hold names over night, such as “Yukon” Brad Booth and his infamous bluff on Phil Ivey, where Brad dropped a million dollars into the middle of the table with 2s 4s for a gut shot straight draw and back door flush draw against Phil’s pocket kings. Another famous hand was when Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen mixed it up with quads vs. over full house for over a half million dollars.

The poker television show is hosted by Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza two industry titans. In past years the show has featured the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Jamie Gold, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Tom “Durrr” Dwan, and countless others. Last year the players had a side bet during the game in which every player had to give a player at the table has to given the winner of the pot $500 if he/she tables 7-2. This very prop bet led to Phil Hellmuth Jr. making a huge bluff on Mike “The Mouth” Matusows’ pocket kings and eventually made Matusow fold.

The Game Show Network ( GSN) has poker Sunday’s in which it shows High Stakes Poker and World Poker Tour Season VI. This is there so called bread and butter as these are two of their highest rated poker shows. Be sure to tune in and watch as High Stakes Poker always features great hands and great action, and will also tend to include some witty cracks from the various characters at the table.

This move has come about as many states are beginning to make move to seize assets of Online Gambling Sites. Microgaming Network issued an email in which it stated that this was not a new rule, but that it was just enforcement of an old rule. Microgaming is using a proxy detector along with other I.P. detection methods.

Their customers from these thirteen states as of now still have the ability to bet at their sports books, but not at the poker rooms or casinos that are operated as part of the Microgaming Network. It is also believed that if the move goes through it will only affect new accounts and not existing customers.

At this point the Microgaming Network consists of the following poker rooms: 32Red Poker, Intertops Poker, Crazy Poker, PokerTime, Royal Vegas Poker, Ladbrokes, Betway, Unibet, Pokerwize, Doyle’s Room, Jennings Poker, Gnuf, and Eurolinx.

It should be noted that Doyles Room will be leaving to a new network within a few weeks. They are currently negotiating with several networks that are Merge Gaming, Cake Poker Network, and Cereus Network. These are the largest networks that accept USA poker players.

The Fortune Lounge Group recently made the decision to stop taking new customers from the United States as a whole, and that this was effective November 10th, 2008. Fortune Lounge runs PokerTime and Royal Vegas Poker which are a part of the Microgaming Network. The Fortune Lounge Group states they are optimistic about plans to develop markets in the rest of the world, commenting in a press release sent to its affiliates, “We see this as an exciting opportunity for Fortune Affiliates and our valued partners as we aim to dominate new markets across the globe.”

The advertisement that Full Tilt will receive will promote the free play aspect of Full Tilt Poker’s operation. Also, as part of the deal Full Tilt will receive the right to air “in-show educational gaming brand integration.” according to Fulltilt LLC.

Full Tilt is not the first online poker site to hold the advertise rights with the World Poker Tour. A few sites that collaborated with the WPT are PartyPoker Millions, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

The agreement benefits both companies greatly, as currently the World Poker Tour’s shares have been dropping dramatically, even before the market crash. The WPT has also seen a decline in audience levels throughout recent years and has also had to switch television carriers twice (Travel Channel & Game Show Network). Last year, their main event finals saw a decline from 575 to 412 entrants. The agreement will benefit Full Tilt by improving their brand image while also getting their name and logo to a wide target audience.

As of now there has been no announcement of when Season VII will kick off on Fox Sports Net, but it is expected that it will happen before the year is out. I can only imagine that we will see Fulltiltpoker.com offering its players various ways of getting into WPT events around the country.

For more information and a detailed review of Full Tilt please visit our Full Tilt Poker Rakeback Reivew and bonus offer.

We pick up the action on hand #208, and it begins with Peter Eastgate limping from the button and Demidov makes it 2.75 million to go and draws a call from Peter Eastgate. When the flop hits the table 9h 7s 6d and after some thought Demidov leads for 3.625 million taking control away from Eastgate who after some thought makes the call. Both players sit in a quiet calmly awaiting the turn which ends up in the shape of the Jack of Hearts. Both players decide to make the decision to check the turn and when a Queen of Spades hits the river there a plethora of straights out there. With that river Demidov settles on a bet of 7 million and is called so quickly he has yet to grab the chips, upon which Demidov show’s As 10h for Ace high and sees that he has lost yet another big pot, this one to the Js 8s and with that the Danish contingent is showing there support! With that pot Peter Eastgate becomes the first player to amass 100 million chips.

Eastgate: 100,300,000
Demidov: 36,600,000

Now one is really beginning to wonder what will happen but bear in mind just one double up for Demidov and we will sit virtually even in chips.

After a few pots end with small raises preflop, one small pot that made it to the river and one that made it to the turn. We continue to see Eastgate keep control of this heads up match; it seems that no matter what is happening right now Demidov can’t catch a break whether he’s raising or calling he keeps ending the same way, with the chips going Peter Eastgate’s way. On hand #222 Demidov finally does something to slow Peter Eastgate. Demidov check raises the 1.25 million bet from Eastgate, on an un-raised preflop board that reads 8s Kh 6s. Making it 3.25 million to go and in turns draws a fold and wins the hand. With #225 hands in the books the chip counts are essentially the same with Demidov having gained back only two hundred thousand chips:

Eastgate: 100,100,000
Demidov: 36,800,000

After the completion of hand #232 Tournament Director Jack Effel stopped the action to announce to all of us here that we have set yet another record in this years event. We have now officially outlasted the 2005 Main Event Final Table in which Joe Hachem won in a staggering 14 hours and 10 minutes. One also has to bear in mind about that final table was that those players did not have any of the breaks seen here in this event. First they played the following day upon losing the 10th place player; as well they played from nine players straight down to the winner Joe Hachem. None the less this table does set a new record. After another 10 slow hands we get to set a second record! According to Jack Effel he believes that the next blind level (level #39) is the highest blind level in WSOP history. The blinds are now a staggering 500,000 & 1,000,000 with a 150,000 ante.

Finally on hand #251 we finally get some action of more then a raise preflop and a fold. The hand begins with Demidov opening from the Button for 2 million and draws a call in the form of a splash from Eastgate. After the dealer supplies a flop of Ks 5s 3h Peter Eastgate elects to check the action to Demidov, who obliges with a bet of 3.0 million and is called by Eastgate. At this point one has to wonder if we may see our first All-in. when the turn falls the 2s it is either a miracle card or a disaster card for the mighty Russian. After a check from Eastgate, Demidov allows the River card to come off the deck. That card is none other then the King of Hearts! Eastgate once again checks and immediately Demidov is reaching for some ammo, and settles on 6.5 million bullets which scares Eastgate away. With that Demidov has restored a little of the optimism of a possible come back. On the very next hand Eastgate opens from the button for 2.35 million and is quickly pushed to 8 million by Demidov drawing a fold from Eastgate. On the verge of the 255th hand of this final table and the 85th of heads up the chip counts are as follows:

Eastgate: 85,300,000
Demidov: 51,600,000

And with that we are almost back to square one!

After 7 hands of preflop raise and fold, including one walk given to Peter Eastgate we are seeing more of the same we have seen for about an hour. The next 5 hands are no different expect that we get two limped pots that are both won with a small bet on the flop.

Hand #267 seems to be the final nail in the coffin for Demidov after clawing back for the 3rd time. Once again gets over aggressive and finds a huge leg cut out from under him. The hand begins with Ivan raising to 2 million from the button and is called by Eastgate. When the flop is produced it reads Kd 10d 7c and both players elect to check, bringing a Jack of Diamonds on the turn. With this Eastgate leads out for 2 million and is quickly raised to 8 million by Demidov. After calling the turn Eastgate checks the river which is a Three of Spades and finds himself staring at a bet of 12 million from Demidov and Eastgate insta-calls the bet. Once again Demidov produces Ace high (Ac 9s) and sees that he has walked ass first into a flush (4d 7d) at the hands of Peter Eastgate. This is the biggest pot yet and it goes to Peter Eastgate over 44 Million! After this pot Demidov finds himself at his shortest point yet:

Eastgate: 109,000,000
Demidov: 27,900,000

The misfortune continues for Demidov who after making it 2 million on the flop and checking the turn, calls bets of 2.5 million and 4.5 million on the turn and river only to see that Eastgate made 3’s full on the turn (Board reads: 8s 8c 5c 3d 9c). This leaves Demidov now at 19.650 million. With that we come to our next 20 minute break and it doesn’t look good for the young Russian who it now appears will follow up his 3rd place performance in Europe with a 2nd place finish here.

Hand #274 is our first hand after the break and plays out as follows. Both Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov limp in preflop. With the board reading 2d Ks 3h Eastgate bets following the check from Demidov in the amount of 1.25 million. With the Four of Clubs on the turn Demidov checks once again. This draws a second bullet from Eastgate this time 2 million, which after some counting and fumbling with chips Demidov makes it 6 million to go. With that bet Demidov now finds himself beyond what may be the point of no return as half his stack sits in the middle of the betting line. After short deliberation Eastgate makes the call and immediately everyone is on their feet as the sense this could be the last hand. When the river hits the board it’s the Seven of Spades and quickly Ivan Demidov announces ALL-IN!!! AND IS SNAP!!! CALLED BY EASTAGTE! Upon which Demidov tables his hand as 4h 2h for 2 pair and is then shown the WHEEL BY EASTGATE (Ad 5s). With that we have our Main Event Champion PETER EASTGATE.

Ivan Demidov will receive $5,809,595 for his second place finish and his accomplishment between here and Europe will be rivaled by few. It is my opinion that only the feats of Johnny Chan (Main Event winner in 1987 and 1988 and then finished 2nd to Phil Hellmuth in 1989) and Dan Harrington (Finished 3rd in 2003 with 839 entrants & 4th place finish in 2004 with 2576 entrants).

For finishing first Peter Eastgate will join a very exclusive group of individual that includes Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Stu Ungar, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth Jr. and few others. Peter Eastgate’s besting of 6844 is the second largest field only to the one Jamie Gold (2006) beat. For his efforts he receives $9,152,416 USD which is the second largest prize in poker history only to Jamie Gold (2006) 12 Million. Another accolade that Peter Eastgate gets for his win is he has bested the “Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth Jr.’s mark as the youngest ever champion.

From all of us here at PokerProp I would like to congratulate all those who participated in the November 9, and as well thank all of those of you who followed my up to the minute coverage of the goings on here in Las Vegas! So now I bade you farewell and wish you all luck in all your endeavors not just poker! Till next year so long!

We pick up the action on hand #192 and it continues to be very back and forth between these two, and continues to show signs of a monumental heads up battle. After both players limp into the pot and the board falls 8c 3s 2h at which point Peter Eastgate bets a Million straight so quick that he is almost out of turn. Demidov who looks a little surprised by the speed at Eastgate’s bet eventually calls. With a Five of Clubs the board gets very scary for both players and induces a check from each of them. With the 9d on the river Demidov elects once again to check and this time Eastgate puts out a bet of 2.675 million, though not quite as fast as on the flop. Which after a intent staring match and some careful thought is called by Demidov, who then sees the unfortunate news that Eastgate’s Jd 9h has made top pair on the river and is good for the pot. With that one has to wonder if Demidov missed a bet or instead bought himself a free card on the turn by calling the flop.

On the very next hand the action continues to keep up as we once again make it to a river cards and see a decent sized pot. The action this time begins with Demidov making it 1.750 million to go and is called by Eastgate, both men will take to the flop which falls 9d 8s 4c. This enduces yet another check round from these men however, once the 3c hits the turn and Eastgate takes control of the hand by betting out 2.75 million which after consulting his hole cards is called by Demidov. With the Jc on the river Eastgate fires his second bullet this time for 3.5 million into the 10.2 million chip pot, however even with good value on the pot Demidov is forced to fold. After this hand we see Eastgate now with his largest chip lead of the day and tournament and one has to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Demidov, the chip counts are as follows:

Eastgate: 81,025,000
Demidov: 55,875,000

The last few hands have gotten Demidov right back into the match. After a couple of preflop raises to win hands, along with two hands he took down on the turn, he found himself in great shape and then with these next two hands (#197/198) he is right back in this yet again and may even have the chip lead. Firstly on hand #197 Demidov raises from the button to 2 million and is called by Eastgate, and we get a flop of Jc 7h 3h which draws a check from both men. When the turn comes down the 8h Peter Eastgate makes it 2.5 million to Demidov who after a stint in the tank decides to force Eastgate’s hand by making it 7.5 million which draws a rather quick fold from Eastgate. Then on the next hand Eastgate has the button and makes it 2 million to go, after quite a while thinking the situation over he decides to make it 6.125 million which draws a fold from Eastgate! And with that the Russian fans here are really showing there enthusiasm and support for Demidov. Demidov finally gave Eastgate some chips for the first time in a few hands, and those chips were the small blind and his ante as he give Eastgate a walk, and then folds the big blind on the follow hand after Eastgate makes it 2 million to go. With that we have completed 200 hands here at the final table and we have completed 30 hands of heads up play. The chip counts are as follows:

Eastgate: 73,625,000
Demidov: 63,275,000

After this run of hands one has to wonder if Demidov is now in control or if he has just had some fortunate hands on hand #202 we got ourselves the biggest pot of the evening! It started with Eastgate limping from the button and Demidov checking his option. The flop came down 5d 7h 4d and with the action on Demidov he who chose to check to Eastgate who fired out 1.25 million, which was then raised to 3.375 million drawing a thoughtful call from Eastgate. With the 8h on the turn Demidov once again checks which Eastgate poorly reads as a sign of weakness and bets out 4.25 million which is then for a second time check raised by Demidov to 14 million! After a deep gaze at Demidov amidst the cheers of the Demidov faithful Eastgate makes the call. As we head to the turn with almost 40 million sitting in the middle of the table in the shadow of the 9+ million in cash, one has to wonder if this is were we’ll end our night? The river hits in the form of the Three of Diamonds which is definitely a scare card for Demidov one has to imagine and thus he checks. Eastgate who has been check raised twice in this pot will not allow Demidov even a crack at a 3rd attempt so he checks. With that Demidov shows his 6c 8c which flopped the nut straight and Eastgate realizes that his 6h 4c got one major suck out on the turn and they chop the pot.

Just two hands later we again see these two men tangle in another large pot, this time it begins with Demidov raising from the BB to 2.8 million. After the call Eastgate and Demidov see the flop of Ad Jh 3s this draws a check from Demidov who is out of position and a subsequent check from Eastgate, following the Jack of Diamonds on the turn Demidov once again checks however, Eastgate decides to bet 3.25 million and is called by Demidov. With the Queen of Clubs on the river Demidov continues to leave all the action to Eastgate who obliges by betting 6.95 million on the river and is called so fast leaving Peter with a bit of a surprised look however, once Peter shows his Ac Qh for top two all Ivan can do is muck! With that you have to wonder if it now truly will be Peter Eastgate’s tournament to win one can only come back so many times but we definitely are not counting this Russian out yet! With that the chip counts are as follows heading into the first scheduled 20 minute break of the heads up action:

Eastgate: 86,325,000
Demidov: 50,575,000

Once again we will take a break from reporting here at the Penn & Teller Theatre in the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Keep reading everyone and make sure tomorrow night to watch the coverage from this last two days on ESPN.

Part 3 - Peter Eastgate vs Ivan Demidov for the 2008 WSOP Main Event

There are some familiar faces in the crowd as well including former Main Event Winners Jamie Gold and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. Also in the crowd are Daniel Negreanu (who is a member of the competition committee who was involved in the decision to create this break in play.), Jeff Madsen, Cyndy Violette, Barry Greenstein, Hevad “Rain” Khan and Miami John Centuro. As both men approach the stage and begin unbagging the chips they do so in the shadow of the $9,152,416 USD.

Prior to the start of this event Tournament Director Jack Effel has just introduced Commissioner Jeffery Pollack. Who has just taken the stage to make the Player of the Year Presentation to Erick Lindgren. As part of his introduction Jeffery Pollack had this to say “a very popular winner, a guy who had to wait a long time to get his very first bracelet,” As Lindgren made his way on to the stage he received a thunderous ovation from the crowd here in the Penn & Teller Theatre.

“Wow, this is awesome,” he said. “I can’t believe all you people are here to watch poker.” With regards to the award here is some of what he had to say. “I feel truly honored. Some really great players have won this award.” And with that he added “You guys get to watch some great players play heads-up tonight. One more thing! Doyle Brunson told me to tell them that there is a cash game tonight after they’re done.” As part of the award Lindgren also receives a custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

As we prepare for the start of the action the official chip counts are as follows:

Peter Eastgate 80,300,000
Ivan Demidov 56,600,000

With that TD Jack Effel shouted out to a packed house “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table!” At which time he thanked everyone for coming and welcomed world renowned emcee Michael Buffer to the stage for the player introductions. And with that Michael Buffer in his world famous voice announced “Let’s get ready to shuffle up and deal!” With that were off and with only 8 minutes left in level 37 the blinds will be 300/600k with a 75k ante.

Hand #170 is the first heads up hand this evening and gets us off and running. Eastgate makes a raise to 1.5 million from the Small Blind/Button and draws a call from Demidov, who checks the flop of 10s Kh 10h. With that Eastgate fires out a 1.75 million chip bullet, and is called by Demidov. When the turn falls the King of Diamonds the room goes instantly quiet, and we get a check from both players. When of all cards we get the King of Clubs on the river and the crowd draws a gasp! With that Demidov fires out 8 Million drawing a coy smile from Eastgate who after some thought folds.

As we come to the close of level 37 there have been a couple flops but not a lot of action, mostly the players are just trading small pots back and forth. With that we come to the end of Level 37 and bring upon Level 38 and the blinds will now be 400,000 & 800,000 with a 100,000 ante.

On hand #181 we get our first showdown as both players make it all the way to the end of the hand. The hand begins with Demidov opening for 2,000,000 straight and is called by Eastgate. The flop runs out Kh Jc 6c, with that both players check the action through to the turn. Which come down the 5s which draws a 2,500,000 bet from Peter Eastgate and is called by Demidov. With a 3h on the river Eastgate makes the decision to check it to Demidov who after taking one more look at his cards settles on a bet of 6 million which is just below the pot amount of 7.2 million, and too many people here’s surprise the action is called by Eastgate. Upon which Demidov turns over Ks 3s for Kings Up to take down a 13.2 Million chip pot and take a small chip lead of 73.45 million to 63.45 million.

With the completion of that hand Ivan Demidov takes off at a run and ESPN has elected to change their tapes so we are on a short unscheduled break from the action. To give you an idea of what were looking at for the at least the better part of the next 2 hours is, even as the shorter stack Peter Eastgate has just under 80 big bets making both men very deep stacked! Which has been one of the complaints through out all the events is that in the later stages there aren’t enough chips.

The last 10 hands haven’t produced much action, the pots are staying small there has been only one hand that made it to showdown where Q10 from Eastgate gives him Queen high and that bested Demidov’s J10 for Jack high. After 187 hands we find ourselves at a near dead even tie in chip counts with both players holding 68 Million chips. The only difference is Demidov has an extra 900,000 (which is only one big blind and an ante) more then Eastgate.

Hand #190 produced some action, here is how it all went down. After Peter Eastgate limped on the Button, Demidov elected to make it 2.45 million more to go and is quickly called by Eastgate. The flop produced quite an action board as the board read 4h Js 2h, and with that Demidov leads out quite calmly for 3.125 million and is beat into the middle by Eastgate’s call. When the Jc hits the turn the crowd can only imagine what could begin, however after an unexpected check from Demidov, Eastgate decides to make it 5,675,000 to go and Demidov quickly ships his cards to the muck. With that we will take a break here the current chip counts are as follows:

Eastgate: 73,650,000
Demidov: 63,250,000

So far we have seen 20 hands played and there has been little change, a couple big pots have provided us with some excitement but it’s clear to see this event isn’t going to be done any time soon!

Part 2 - 2008 WSOP Main Event - Peter Eastgate vs Ivan Demidov