WSOP’s November Nine

Last night at approximately 3:30am PST the so called November 9 was finalized! When Dean Hamrick finished in 10th after his As Jc, couldn’t catch up to the Qh Qc of Craig Marquis. Hamrick has won the right to have a private life where as the final nine will definitely not be as lucky. Now the remaining nine players will take a 117 day break before returning to the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino on November 9th 2008. The Official chip counts, names, home towns and seat assignments are as follows:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips (Cottage Hills, Illinois, USA) – 26,295,000
Seat 2: Craig Marquis (Arlington, Texas, USA) – 10,210,000
Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, New York, USA) – 12,525,000
Seat 4: Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario, Canada) – 19,690,000
Seat 5: Darus Suharto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) – 12,520,000
Seat 6: David Rheem (Miami, Florida, USA) – 10,230,000
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia) – 24,400,000
Seat 8: Kelly Kim (Whitter, California, USA) – 2,620,000
Seat 9: Peter Eastgate (Odense, Denmark) – 18,375,000

These 9 men will be the centre of the Poker world’s attention for the next 16 weeks, as the poker world tries to create more a main stream sports imagine by building hype about this the 100m dash of the Poker Olympics. With two Canadians, a Russian and a Dane there is definitely international flavor. The nine players remaining are all being paid out the 9th place prize money of $900,670 USD, thus meaning who ever finishes in 9th on November 9th will get no more money. Everyone else will have that amount deducted from there prize money. Harrah’s will also be covering all travel expenses for the nine gentleman to return for the November 9th & 10th final table, which will be broadcasted on ESPN on November 11th. Let’s get to know who these nine men are.

The first player we will get to know today is our chip leader. Dennis Phillips the oldest player of our final nine hails from Cottage Hills, Illinois. He was the chip leader as day began and ended in the same position sitting on 26.295 Million in chips. Dennis is sponsored by Poker Stars and will look to bring the Bracelet back to the power house website, who has not done notably well at this World Series. This 53 year old is a self confessed amateur, who has a full time job as an Account Manager for a trucking company out of St. Louis. After coming out of day 7 as the chip leader Poker Stars quickly got Dennis on the payroll. It still unknown how he paid for the main event, but one would have to assume he either direct bought or won satellite at the Rio. This is not Dennis’s first taste of success in the world as he final tabled a $500 buy-in WSOP Circuit Event @ Tunica. He took home $2,386 for his 9th place finish there which is a drop in the hat to what he is already assured to take home for this event. However just two days later he made his second final table this time a 7th place finish taking home $2,192 for a $550 buy-in. Dennis Phillips will look to take come the main event bracelet when it’s all said and done on November 10th 2008. He will start in Seat 1, Good luck Dennis!

Craig Marquis is next on our list of players to learn more about. This Arlington Texas native is a relative “newbie” to the Poker scene, and at 23 years of age he got his start on the first day of 2007. In his first trip to the World Series last year, he took home two cashes. The first one in the World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em, a $5,000 buy-in event that saw Allen Cunningham best 398 other runners. For his 34th place finish Craig received $14,030. The second cash came 6 days later when he finished in 30th place in event #52 for $16,133, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Re-buy event. Craig was another player who had no sponsorship until after day 6, when after losing there best hopeful (Mike Matusow who finished 30th) Full Tilt went out and grabbed four of the remaining 27 players in hopes of having some good final table presence. Craig will hope to add to the great success that has been seen by team Full Tilt who have taken home 10 bracelets this year along with over 12 million in team winnings. Craig was believed to be the chip leader as day 6 ended but when the final counts were officially released he was 45k behind Dennis Phillips. Craig Marquis looks up to some of the great internet players such as Durrr and Raptor. Craig Marquis is among the short stacks as he had narrowly survived day 7 on a number of occasions he will begin in Seat 2, with a shade over 10 million. Good Luck Craig!

Ylon Schwartz is up next and the Poker Stars sponsored player is a native of Brooklyn New York, who got his start hustling chess games in the parks in New York City. After making a career switch from Chess to Poker Ylon has seen great success, his first cash came in the 2004 United States Poker Championship in a Limit Hold’em Event. On a $300 buy-in he out lasted 363 of the 369 players to finish 6th and take home $3,874, which was followed up by 2 more cashes in the next 8 days. Just 9 months later he got his first WSOP cash under his belt when he finished 15 out of 2,013 in a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event at the 2005 WSOP taking in 25k. He has numerous other cashes including one in Event #20 at this years’ event a limit hold’em event in which he again finished 15th in a WSOP Event, leaving him with just over 10k. His career earnings over the last 4 years is $302,950 with November still to come and at least another 900k. As we look forward to November 9th Ylon has to feel confident with multiply previous final table appearances that he should be in good shape to take his 12.525 million into a solid finish and hopefully a gold bracelet. Ylon Schwartz will start in Seat #3 when they return in 16 weeks time, Good Luck Ylon.

The next player we will meet is Scott Montgomery, a 26 year old from Perth Ontario Canada. He is one of two Canadians that will look to add to the success Canadians have had at this year’s tournament, and they will both look to win the bracelet in the main event which fellow Canadian Tuan Lam failed to last year when he was a runner up to Jerry Yang. Scott Montgomery is no stranger to high profile final tables as he finished 5th at this years L.A.P.C. in which Phil Ivey came away with the win but left Scott Montgomery with just under $300,000. Scott even took time to play in a Bellagio Cup event that was during the day off from the main event the day before Scott was to return for Day 2a among the chip leaders, in that Bellagio Cup event he finished 4th for $36,025. With three cashes during the 39th WSOP he has amassed $73,750 in WSOP winnings and a lifetime tournament poker winnings of $406,585 for his so far brief career. He finished 16th in the Heads-up Championship at the WSOP for $36,096. With 19.690 Million in chips and sitting in the 4 seat he will be in great shape to climb the all time money winners list for the WSOP. Scott is one of the few players in the original 6,884 player field that is in on his own dime, and so far that was a great investment. He joined team Full Tilt after day 6 and is along with Kelly Kim and Craig Marquis are the only representatives for Full Tilt in the final nine. I think I can safely say for all those poker players in Canada your country will be cheering you on! Good Luck Scott.

The next player is yet another Canadian, Darus Suharto who hails from Toronto Ontario. Darus had to make an extremely tough lay down after he found himself in a 7 way pot with Ace-Jack. When the flop landed J-5-9 two spades he got 3 bet after raising an early position bettor. He spent some time thinking then finally laid it down before asking “will you show me if I fold?” To his relief his opponent chip leader Dennis Phillips showed him Aces that were slow played to perfection. Darus qualified for the main event after winning a $650 satellite on Poker Stars, and is thus sponsored by Poker Stars. This is Darus Suharto’s second cash in the Main Event as he finished 448th the year Jamie Gold won giving him $26,289. Darus is a 39 year old Accountant, and has been playing poker seriously for about 3 years. That cash in the 2006 main event is his only tournament winnings until this deep run here in 2008. In his player Bio that all players fill out in the WSOP Main Event he regards his cash in 2006 as his greatest poker accomplishment due to the fact he was a self admitted “Donkey”. Darus Suharto will be in Seat #5 when the cards are dealt again in November, Good Luck Darus!

Our next player is David “Chino” Rheem who will be starting in Seat #6, of all the players at this final table David is the most well known. He has had much success including finishing 5th in the Mixed Hold’em Limit/No-Limit Event in early June. For his 5th place finish to eventual winner Erick Lindgren, David received $93,624. David Rheem is from Miami Florida, and will look to get the bracelet in November. The bracelet which he has narrowly missed on a few occasions; including a 2nd place finish in the 37th WSOP to Allen Cunningham in a $1,000 re-buy event. That was his largest cash to date. David’s previous Main Event cash came in 2005 when he finished 193rd taking home $39,075 for his efforts there. With plenty of experience in major tournaments and final tables, David Rheem will be well equipped to change his status as short stacked at 10.230 Million chips to “this is the guy to watch out for” Good Luck David “Chino” Rheem.

In Seat #7 is Ivan Demidov, who is from Moscow, Russia. Ivan Demidov considers himself to be a semi-professional. He has been playing poker for two and a half year’s and has made two cashes in international tournament poker. The first being in Russian Poker Championship’s in October 2006, when he finished 5th in a Pot Limit Omaha with Unlimited Re-buy’s event. With a $200 + $30 buy-in and 70 entrants combining for 189 re-buys, Ivan found himself with a nice $3,517 payday. His next cash came in the WSOP this year when he finished 11th in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with Re-buys, that cash left him with $39,854. He considers his biggest poker accomplishment his entering the Main Event and in conjunction his deep run to the final table. He finds himself second in chips with 24.400 Million. He is looking to survive the second largest field in the history of poker to win the bracelet and just over 9 million in cash. Ivan Demidov is like many others here who found themselves with out sponsorship and like all but one of those received sponsorship after day 6. Ivan is now with Team Poker Stars. Good Luck Ivan Demidov!

Kelly Kim is our short stack sitting on 2.620 Million and will be sitting in Seat #8, he managed to survive on day 7 while being the short stack for the majority of the end of the day. Kelly Kim is the last of Full Tilt’s hopefuls to bring the main event bracelet to there site. Kelly Kim is well known around the L.A. area and hails from Whitter California. Kelly Kim as many cashes in poker events around the U.S.A. those cashes total $351,774 over 35 instances. At 31 years of age, in February 2006 he made his largest cash of his career when he finished 3rd to Kenna James and Michael Mizrachi (2nd) in a $2,500 buy-in event at the L.A.P.C. the finish netted Kelly Kim $62,201. Just eleven days later in the L.A.P.C. championship Kelly Kim finished 17th taking home $46,502. The majority of Kelly Kim’s cashes have been in World Poker Tour Events, this will be Kelly Kim’s 3rd WSOP cash the first two where in the 38th WSOP in two preliminary events. Kelly Kim prefers to be called “KK” and has been playing poker for over 13 years where he learnt to play with friends and has been playing professionally for the last few years. This is Kelly Kim’s 5th trip to the World Series and will be his most memorable for a long time to come. Good Luck Kelly!

The last of all our players is another “Great Dane” named Peter Eastgate, who is looking to break Phil Hellmuth’s record as the youngest ever main event champion. Peter is 22 years old and would best Hellmuth’s record by 2 years. Peter Eastgate is a self proclaimed professional poker player who hails from Odense Denmark. Along with Ivan Demidov are the only two players from outside of North America. His greatest poker accomplishment, he feels is his ability to beat middle to high stakes poker ring games consistently. His previous major tournament experience includes a 32nd place finish in the Scandinavian open in February giving him $14,860, and a final table appearance at the Main Event of the Paddy Power Irish Open in April 2007, when he finished 9th. Peter also participated in the Party Poker Millions V & VI. He as well as a few other’s here at the final table have paid there own way. Peter Eastgate is the last of 6 players who have joined Poker Stars. With 18.375 Million chips, he is third in chips and is sitting in the nine Seat. Good Luck Peter!

Now that you know who the infamous November 9 are, it’s time for you to all pick the horse your going to cheer on when they all saddle up on November 9th. These five American’s, two Canadians, a Russian and a Dane one thing will be for certain they will all do all they can to win. As well they will all be making ridiculous amounts of money in endorsement deals as we lead up to the second week in November. When these guys start up on November 9th they will be vying for just a shade over 50% of the entire prize pool from the tournament. On a quirky note if they were to all chop evenly they would each take home $3,625,983.40 which is just under 4th place prize money. I would once again like to say good luck to all nine men, and would also like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my introduction to these 9 men.

By Staypuff!