Early this morning when Dennis Phillips was eliminated we went on our final break of the World Series of Poker Main Event. It is now 10pm local time in Las Vegas and for the final time this year we have congregated for the WSOP. The Penn & Teller theatre is a buzz as we await the start of the heads up action between these two men. The crowd is alive with anticipation one side of the room has Eastgate’s supporters all wearing black t-shirts that say “It’s in the Stars”, while Demidov’s supporters are wearing a mixture of various authentic Russian outfits.

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