Now that we’ve finished with the 2008 WSOP, and made our various criticisms of the November Nine, it’s time to plan for next year’s WSOP. Most people who watched the final table found it a bit lacking, especially the heads-up play between Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov, as 105 hands of headsup play lasted 2 hands on ESPN.

Here’s my suggestion for next year: I suggest a shorter delay from when the final table is established to when we find out who is the winner. Move the start of the WSOP back one week, and with whatever schedule they choose to make up with the last tournament being the Main Event. ESPN starts televising the Main Event July 21, 2009 with the same nine weeks of coverage as this year. You can still do the Final Table preview show September 22, with the final table scheduled for September 27. The other big twist, instead of nine players making the final table, you play it down to six. This way, one-third less players helps increases exposure and sponsorship opportunities to those remaining. You even get an alliterative nickname for the final table:

The September Six

Schedule the final table for September 27th, 2009 with the ESPN final table broadcast on September 29. Having only 6 players should also reduce the stress the production team has in editing the final table and gives you the opportunity to show more creative hands to help show the flow of the final table. The idea that you start the heads-up play at a late hour so that the newspapers won’t be able to let their readers know who won didn’t work exactly as hoped. If this idea was tried pre-Internet it would work better, but when the network that’s showing the final table repeatedly lets its viewers know who won, it completely defeats the purpose. Start the final table at a reasonable hour on Monday afternoon and play it out. If heads-up is a great back and forth battle, maybe you can dedicate the last 30 minutes to the action instead of two hands where it looks like Eastgate held over Demidov the whole way.

Anyways, it’s just a thought that I’m sure people can pick apart, but I’d still suggest Karridy to start buying up those September Six domains.

I’m curious what y’all thought about the big-hype show last night. I enjoyed the hands we did see — because really, this final table probably featured some of the best pure poker of any main event sit-n-go I’ve seen since I started following poker five years ago. Not sure how well that came across.

The Craig Marquis bustout hand really was incredible … that woulda been a good time for ESPN to show the audience, not just the players … because really, the whole audience was on pins-and-needles. Even we cynical media types temporarily forgot about our jobs and became true fanboys, just waiting for that devestating river card. (To some extent, poker fans are a little bit like NASCAR viewers, not wanting to see but kinda sorta waiting for an amazing crash.)

Overall, I thought ESPN did a better job covering the whole of the World Series better than any year prior. But the final table was a little disappointing … I give it a B-. But hey, I’m always very forgiving the first go-round … you learn so much from doing something once. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next year.

A few more random thoughts about the whole experience:

• Penn & Teller Theater was an awesome venue. Woulda been a better experience, however, had the whole set-up been rotated 90 degrees, so the MBL Lounge wasn’t blocking so much of the view.
• ESPN seemed to have difficult lighting the crowd for such shots. I will give them my secret for free: set your cameras to “Auto”.
• Two hours was not long enough for the show. Had they made it three or four hours — or fuck, the whole shebang on pay-per-view — it woulda been more interesting and more of an event. The promotion woulda been easier, too, because it woulda stood out as something different … but two hours? That’s just an NBA game. What’s special about that?

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A champion is in our midst, and he is the youngest WSOP main event champion ever. Congratulations, Peter Eastgate from Odense, Denmark!

Both players got in cheap to see the flop of 2d-Ks-3h. It was Eastgate who bet out, and Demidov check-called. The 4c hit on the turn, which prompted another check from Demidov. Eastgate bet again, and Demidov then raised to 6 million. Eastgate called, and when the 7s came on the turn, Demidov pushed all-in. Eastgate called instantly with Ad-5s for the wheel. Demidov’s 4h-2h wasn’t good enough, and he was out in second place with $5,809,595 in prize money.

Peter Eastgate became the 2008 WSOP main event champion at only 22-years old, breaking Phil Hellmuth’s record to become the youngest champion ever. He was subsequently awarded the WSOP bracelet and the $9,152,416 that accompanied it.

But hey, let’s keep this on the down-low, huh? Since this is semi-live and will be aired on ESPN in less than 24 hours, keep this to yourselves until it the TV broadcasts the news. Thanks!

More than two hours into heads-up play, most of the crowd remains in their seats, despite discovering how slow and uneventful live poker can be at times. Some other points of interest:

~From the time the final table began yesterday, this just turned into the longest WSOP main event final table in history, beating out the 14-hour 2005 table which went to Joe Hachem.

~Dennis Phillips and Darus Suharto are in the audience to sweat their former opponents and see this thing come to a conclusion.

~Reportedly, Erick Lindgren’s name was misspelled on his engraved Harley.

~Demidov came on strong tonight by evening up the chip stacks, but within the last hour, Eastgate not only regained his lead but became the first player to leap over the 100 million chip mark. Demidov just dipped below the 30 million mark and can’t seem to find a spot to make a comeback…yet.

When the security guys came out with the money in silvery aluminum briefcases — 9 million semi-real American dollars — a few of us in media row joked about telling the story that the guys left at the final table had decided to chop up the remaining prize pool and play for it Deal or Ne Deal style. (Ha ha, we are so damn funny.) But on this episode of Tao of Pokerati, Pauly and I take the issue a bit more seriously, and break down what’s really at stake for Ivan and Peter — who became friends recently playing on the EPT on PokerStars’ dime — beyond just the $3.34 million in prize differential between 1st and 2nd.*

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.11: Deal or No Deal? 5:33

*I don’t care what anyone says … that’s not enough money to justify an even chop, I don’t believe. And kudos to tourney organizers for breaking down the prize pool in such a way that it mathematically would mathematically make little sense (on the surface, at least).

Either that or Peter Hellmuth. As we wind down the day yesterday and look forward to tonight’s action, that’s what’s at stake — either we’ll have a new youngest main event champion ever, or the Ruskies will have a new national hero. Meanwhile, Dan gets his facts wrong, but does Pauly even care when he can’t see the final f-in table?

Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.10: Ivan Moneymaker 3:29

… are here in (small) force, supporting their man Ivan Demidov:

At this moment, Dennis Phillips is drawing dead with one card to come. That will be 3rd place for him — his boisterous crowd and his Red Hat Brigade are honoring him the way friends of someone who has just won $4.5 million should. (That’s Greg Raymer money.) Lots of applause.

Heads-up will be Ivan Demidov vs. Peter Eastgate (who stands to be the youngest player ever to win the main event).

Year of the European Young Guns, it turns out to be.

Most of the under bets, by the way, regarding time, win … except for Jen, who took the under on 10 pm. (What was she thinking!)

Chip Counts

Peter Eastgate - 79,425,000
Ivan Demidov - 57,800,000

Clearly anybody’s game. Russians vs. Scandis. I’m going with Demidov, though. As we know, the Russians were the ones that really made a showing at the 2008 WSOP, regardless of how tomorrow turns out. Scandis were like so 2007.

Dallas-to-Vegas transplant Linda Tran is one of five dealers dealing the final table. While there’s a wee-bit of hubbub from the usual featured-table dealers who weren’t invited to pitch … I know Linda is one of the best dealers I’ve ever sat/worked with, whether that was at charity tourneys in Dallas, or as a player in WSOP cash games in previous years. Kinda exciting to see her throwing Kems in such a big game — she’s earned it, imho.

She was at the Rio last night working with the TV table felt — something about the grain affecting the speed of the slide … and think about it, if she messes up here, sure, flipped cards and the like are part of the game, but still … can you imagine working on stage, in the spotlight, knowing if you make one of those mistakes that is inevitable … it potentially affects a player’s personal outcome by a million dollars or more? No pressure.

NOTE: She’s on the felt now, and kept Ivan Demidov alive by not cracking his pocket kings (despite flopping a nut-flush draw for his opponent, who I believe was Scott Montgomery). Meanwhile, in the crowd, Dennis Phillips’ fans have started chanting college-hoops style: “Let’s - Go - Den - Nis - [clap] - [clap] -[clap][clap][clap]!”

UPDATE: Whoa!!!! A one outer-on the river, compliments of Linda, to knock out Scott Montgomery in 5th place. $3,096,768. (Still pretty good money — more than Moneymaker won.)

CURRENT CHIP COUNTS

Ivan Demidov — 49,100,000
Peter Eastgate - 47,635,000
Ylon Schwartz — 22,175,000
Dennis Phillips - 17,325,000

Players are off on dinner break … and the chip counts are nicely on display for all to see:

Ivan Demidov: 30,725,000
Peter Eastgate: 27,175,000
Dennis Phillips: 26,950,000
Ylon Schwartz: 20,475,000
Scott Montgomery: 20,300,000
Darus Suharto: 10,600,000

Damn, that’s tight poker. And I don’t mean tight tight … I mean close-tight.

Before dinner break, btw, Phil Hellmuth introduced Johnny Chan, and Hellmuth got more boos than Tiffany Michelle. He said, that’s OK, boo all you want … and the crowd that is at this point tired-drinky (think post-football game tailgate in college) obliged.

They were announcing a multi-year deal between the WSOP and ALL IN energy drink. Oy, I guess all I can say for now is that after going through my bajillion cases … I didn’t rebuy.

Ivan Demidov, courtesy of the PokerStars blog

Within the first hour, despite having seen less than a handful of flops, one person has changed the poker-face of this table. The lone Russian, Ivan Demidov, took only one pot early in the action, but in the 18th hand of the day, he took a monster from now-former chipleader Dennis Phillips.

After Phillips attempted to limp into the pot, Demidov raised to 1.025 million. Phillips reraised to 3.525 million, and with some consideration, Demidov pushed it up to 8.225 million. Phillips called, and the flop came 8d-10c-Js. Phillips began post-flop betting with 4.5 million, but Demidov came over the top with an all-in move. Phillips would have been covered and at-risk for his tournament life, and he finally folded.

That left Phillips with only 8.88 million and Demidov with a significant chip lead over the pack with 35.875 million.

Considering that Ivan Demidov is the first WSOPeople person in the spotlight today, we can announce that he has won the opportunity to wear a Pokerati patch for the remainder of the final table…..for free! Yes, at no cost to him, he can come to us on the next break and grab that patch. Congrats, Ivan! We’ll wait for you in the lobby.

It only took 22 hours, but the final table of the WSOP Europe at the Empire Casino in London finally has a result. After 484 hands, exactly half of which were headsup, saw John Juanda take down the title along with £ 868,800 ($1,543,395 US). Russians finished 2-3 at the final table as Stanislav Alekhin finished 2nd, and November Nine participant Ivan Demidov took down 3rd. Here’s how the entire final table came out:

1 £ 868,800 John Juanda
2 £ 533,950 Stanislav Alekhin
3 £ 334,850 Ivan Demidov
4 £ 271,500 Bengt Sonnert
5 £ 217,200 Daniel Negreanu
6 £ 171,950 Scott Fischman
7 £ 135,750 Robin Keston
8 £ 108,600 Toni Hiltunen
9 £ 81,450 Chris Elliott

Focus now turns toward the EPT London event, which drew an overflow field of 596 ponying up £5,200 with a guaranteed £1,000,000 to first. Over 100 remain as play continues on day 2, with the final table being held this Sunday. An interesting no-show turns out to be Dennis Phillips, chip leader at that other WSOP Main Event back in Las Vegas. He and his coach, Roy Winston(?), were planning on being in London, but it looks like Dennis showed up and then went back home.

More updates possible…

UPDATE: A commenter mentioned that Dennis’ mother passed away, explaining his leaving London. Apologies and condolences to Dennis and his family.

People have been wondering how Harrah’s et al will market the November Nine, and what will be done to promote them. Ivan Demidov earned himself a bit of promotion as he just made the final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event, which also includes multiple bracelet winners John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, and Scott Fischman. Demidov, currently 2nd in chips for the final table in Las Vegas, become the first to final table both the WSOP and WSOPE final tables (of course, being only the 2nd WSOPE main event final table narrows the possibilities of it happening, it’s impressive nonetheless). ESPN360.com will start final table coverage at 8 am ET tomorrow, those who don’t have the service may be able to see the final table over at http://wsope.betfair.com/live-video/live-video.html. Here’s how the rest of the final table looks:

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In a stunning development, one of the WSOP November Nine has cashed in a poker tournament. And it just happened to be Kelly Kim, the shortest stacked player waiting to head back to the Rio in Las Vegas to attempt an immediate double-up at the WSOP final table. But instead of stuntin’ around Los Angeles with his 9th place money, he’s honing his final table skills.

In Event #13 of the Legends of Poker tournament series at the Bicycle Casino in L.A., Kelly was one of the 252 players in the $335 NLHE w/rebuys. And he ended up finishing in 4th place for a $10,650 payday.

In other November Nine news, David “Chino” Rheem did make the trip last week to Uruguay for the LAPT Punta del Este, but he was busted early on Day 1 when his 9-6 ran into a 6-4 and a 4 flopped. (PokerStars reported the action here.) Chino, along with Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate, are scheduled to play the WSOP Europe next month, so it will be possible to see some results from them there.

A few weeks back, a bunch of us got a press release from PokerStars boasting that six of The November Nine were Team PokerStars players. Now don’t get me wrong — I’ve got lots of friends at PokerStars and generally like what they do. But c’mon, who ya tryin’ to fool? Those guys aren’t really PokerStars players — at least not in the way Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer were!

So while I’m happy to share the official word on the Stars-heavy WSOP main event final table (even though none only one of their 2,000 true online qualifiers made it), I couldn’t help but try to get a little more info first on what goes into buying a temporary online team in an effort to increase the odds that the buyers will indeed get to be the site that crowns the next American (or non-American) Poker Idol:

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