Speaking of Austin … though I’ve still got nothing on any room violence down there, super-secret powerful inside sources do tell me that 2008 WSOP 4th place finisher Ylon Schwartz is in A-town right now … visiting a friend and supposedly shopping for a condo. I gotta think the quiet Brooklyner would fit right in the Austin scene. Income taxes in Texas (none) are much better, too. Perhaps Schwartz hasn’t cashed in his winnings yet?
Dennis Phillips was the chip leader for four months — possibly the longest time anyone in the history of poker has held onto the biggest stack. And though he got off to a shaky start and would ultimately finish 3rd (winning $4.5 million) he still skillfully survived a roller coaster session to be the Last American Standing. When it was all said and done (a day earlier than he had hoped for), he threw a party for his 200 or so traveling friends at McFadden’s (formerly the Tilted Kilt) — and without a heads-up match to worry about, it was some good wholesome relaxed American fun, compliments of a good wholesome All-American player who proved even a bald, middle-aged white guy could inspire a loyal and appreciative following to wear red hats and cheer.
As the 2008 WSOP was coming to a close a few days ago, Pauly and I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be no new sponsors that weren’t already around for in the summer. Disappointing, sure — but maybe it’s just the general economy?
I began to speculate that WSOP marketing honcho Tye Stewart must be in BIG trouble, dude! couldn’t have been too happy that the most celebrated deal inked between July and November was an extended contract with Johnny Chan’s All In Energy Drink. About 10 minutes later, though, Jeffrey Pollack was speaking to the crowd, giving specific thanks and extreme kudos to Stewart as the successful, hard-working architect of the The November Nine vision. And indeed, we now know the broadcast returned some admirable TV numbers; and even as players got eliminated, there were lines of people in the Rio hallways to fill the Penn & Teller Theater’s 1,200 seats. So maybe now, with something definitive to sell potential backers in the future, what looked a little disappointing while riding up and down the escalators is actually a sign of better things to come?
Below is a pictorial look at some added value for official WSOP banners (and inflatables) in action:
Keep Floppin’ Aces, on RoundersRadio. Lou Krieger’s guest will be none other than my own podcast co-homie, Dr. P. He tells me:
Our topics will be the WSOP final table and November Nine in Las Vegas and if we have time, we’ll chat about my experiences in London and Budapest.
There’s also a call in number if you want to ask any questions…. 810-496-3428.
Usually I don’t listen to these things live — I generally let Shamus direct me to the best episodes and download the podcast. But I happen to be in front of the computer right now, and the Chicago-Columbus MLS Cup playoff game is plenty exciting with just the video, little sound. (Currently 1-0 Chicago in the 40th minute; great uniform match-up, too — bright red vs. bright yellow.)
If you are seeing this after the fact, you’ll be able to find the full episode for your podcast pleasure here a couple days from now.
UPDATE: Chicago 1 - 2 Columbus in stoppage time. Great game — so many beautiful shots and tackles — but doh!
The 2008 WSOP has come to an end, and with crews tearing down the set … Pauly and I give our after-the-fact analysis of heads-up play and The November Nine Experiment.
Book 4: WSOP Final Table
Episode 4.14: That’s a Wrap 3:49
A comment from the USAToday.com sports editor regarding commentors complaints about the “spoiler” of the WSOP Main Event winner in the headline:
To our readers:
We regret offending the handful of commenters who believe we should either not be reporting on the outcome of a news event like the World Series of Poker, or should have dumbed-down the headline so as to not give away the outcome on the Sports front page. However, we believe you are in the minority.
The traffic to the site today — in which the coverage of the World Series of Poker has received more page views than any other story in Sports — suggests the majority of readers are interested in knowing the outcome now. We confront a similar issue every two years with the Olympics, in which some users suggest we are ruining their evening by covering the outcome of news as it happens instead of letting them learn who won by watching television’s tape-delayed coverage. In both cases we feel we are serving the greater good with immediate coverage.
In this day and age, in which information is available everywhere and much of it instantaneously, it is almost impossible for a news organization to NOT report news when it knows it — because someone else will. Indeed, USA TODAY is not the only news organization reporting the outcome of the final table. Fox, CBS, Yahoo, every Website that subscribes to the Associated Press, radio, TV… even ESPN itself has coverage of who won. Unless you get your sports news from www.headinthesand.com, and only that site, how were you planning to make it through the day consuming news and information without stumbling upon the final table outcome? If USA TODAY does not tell you who won, we know that most users will just go elsewhere to find out. Not every user wants to wait, and not every user plans to watch it on tape-delayed television.
Similarly, we would be at a competitive disadvantage to tell users in our headline that the event is over without revealing who won. While some users may have entered our site at our homepage or Sports front and discovered the news, almost half of our traffic these days comes from search engines — people who increasingly start at Google or Yahoo and type in search terms. The more specifics we get into our headlines, including the name of the winner, the more likely we can attract the audience that is searching for that news.
It’s not the same as revealing the outcome of a book or a movie. That’s pure entertainment. This is entertainment too, but it’s also news.
As to the issue of whether poker coverage belongs in Sports or not — we can debate all night long whether poker should be considered a sport. We take no position on that. By placing it here, we are merely indicating that people who follow sports, moreso than other sections of USA TODAY, are most likely to be interested in the World Series of Poker.
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.
I wasn’t the biggest supporter of the WSOP delayed final table. I had many reasons to be against it, but in the end, I assumed it wouldn’t be popular with the fans. I was about as right-on there as I have been with most of my prop bets.
The Penn & Teller Theater is packed tonight. Sure, there are a handful of friends and family members of the Demidov and Eastgate in the building, along with a smattering of poker pros like Chris Ferguson, Jamie Gold, Jeff Madsen, Chris Moneymaker, “Miami” John Cernuto, Cyndy Violette, and Erick Lindgren, but the vast majority of this crowd filling the place to (or dang close to) capacity are simply fans of the game. They’ve come here to see history on giant plasma screens, and despite not being able to actually see the table with their own eyes, they seem happy enough to simply be here.
Even Erick Lindgren, upon accepting his Player of the Year award before play began, noted that he was happy to see the theater filled with fans, though he sarcastically wondered aloud why they all came to see poker.
I’m going to go out on a short limb here and say that this delayed WSOP final table is a success. Consider this eating my words for being so quick to dismiss the idea many months ago.
Before things got underway here ate the final table, I was listening to an old podcast appearance I did with Andrew Feldman on ESPN’s The Poker Edge. We were talking about the action at the end of Day 2B, and discussing what kinda impact a weird blip in scheduling might have in outcome: There was a Day off between Day 1D and Day 2A, but not between Day 2B and Day 3. That was a little strange, because had the day off been between the former, then everyone woulda gotten a day off … however, because they took that break when they did … players who survived on 2B had to less than a half a day of rest before the fields converged.
Anyhow, I decided to take a look at the starting days for all of the November Nine, and while this is hardly enough data for a scientific sample, there was a noticeable difference between players who started early (Days 1A and 1B) and late (Days 1C and 1D). Here’s the breakdown:
Craig Marquis — 1A, 2A
Chino Rheem — 1A, 2A
Scott Montgomery — 1A, 2A
Ivan Demidov — 1B, 2A
Ylon Schwartz — 1B, 2A
Darus Suharto — 1B, 2A
Dennis Phillips — 1C, 2B
Peter Eastgate — 1C, 2B
Kelly Kim — 1D, 2B
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.
It’s over … at least in the minds of various online poker execs. With Scott Montgomery’s elimination in 5th place, there are now more Full Tilt players alive. It’s all PokerStars, and now, I guess, they’ll be having their primary … which is a little odd, seeing it after the general election.
Wow! It was an all-in moment, good instinct moment, and big whoop-tee-doo all in one.
Eastgate made the initial raise, and short-stacked Montgomery pushed all-in from the small blind. Eastgate called with pocket sixes, and Montgomery showed A-3 of diamonds.
Flop: Ac-Qs-4d
Ace for Montgomery gives him the advantage.
Turn: As
Trips are even better for Montgomery. And according to Jack Effel, Phillips folded a six, so there was only one out for the Scandi…
River: 6d
Oh yeah, the case six. The miracle six. The one-outer. Bam!
Montgomery left in fifth place with a little over $3 millie, and Eastgate jumps into a tight second position on the leaderboard. And Eastgate kept all of us in the media from falling asleep in our after-dinner comas. Thanks, Peter!
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.
David “Chino” Rheem hasn’t had the best of days. After starting his trip to Vegas with some questionable logo decisions and seeming uncertainty about to follow through on a deal, it seemed that karma wasn’t on Chino’s side, and he knew it.
After going through the motions at the final table and holding back any emotions that may have indicated enjoyment, his A-K was busted by the A-Q of Peter Eastgate when a queen fell on the flop. Chino was escorted to the media portion of the evening where the first question aimed at the 7th place finisher was something like, “How are you feeling right now?” And reportedly, his response was, “Are you f**king serious?” A tirade ensued, and though he calmed down to answer some reasonable follow-up questions, Chino and his backers poker pro-filled entourage soon exited the Penn & Teller Theater.
Our Great Dallas Hope has been eliminated. He got it all in with 77 against AQ. He flopped a set to Scott Montgomery’s flopped pair of aces … but 777 is no good against runner-runner broadway.
I’m pretty sure Dallas dealer Linda didn’t throw down that river.
He goes home with … er, he’s already been paid is $900k, so … nothing! Thanks for your trouble over the last four months, dude.
A quick glimpse of what everyone walked into today … and keep scrolling down for what I think, in my unconfirmed opinion, is a serious tell about which two WSOP champions are the most problematic for anyone who gives a shee-ot about poker. (Hint: Russ Hamilton is one of them.)
There’s good happy poker stuff, too. After all, this $32 Million Sit-n-Go is a celebration:
This doesn’t look too different from the Amazon Room.
But on the other side, with the Showgirls and the hottie DJ, you can tell something’s a little different here.
Kelly Kim’s cheering section: “Double Up! Double Up!”
Ivan Demidov’s fans.
Arguably the largest poker crowd in history?
Peter Eastgate’s cheering section. I think “isser ships” means win, or something like that.
Darus Suharto’s peeps.
A long line to get in outside.
It extends quite a ways, as people line up past the gallery of WSOP champions.
Still going … as mentioned, at least one fan with a special player’s guest ticket was trying to scalp it.
More lineage.
More WSOP main event winners.
At first I thought Russ Hamilton’s banner was missing. But then I found it … they put it out of the way, behind the stairs. Duly noted: allegedly steal $15 million from other poker players via the company you run, and your banner will be semi-banished.
But do you recognize who else is hidden behind the stairwell? That’s 1990 champ Mansour Matloubi.
And interestingly enough, not only is he placed out of view and next to Russ Hamilton, but also his year is out of chronological order. I think it’s a tell. Very interesting. He looks really stressed, too. I wonder if anyone else is putting 2+2 together here?
[CORRECTION: Hamilton was the only one blatantly out of order. So maybe not so damning on Matloubi. Still, I'm suspicious.]
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.
The hallways surrounding the Penn & Teller Theater at the Riohave been bustling since just after 8am this morning. From media anxious to find their seats and set up for a long day to poker fans, including multitudes of friends and family members of the November Nine, it was a gratifying site for all of the Harrah’s, ESPN, and WSOP folks who made this into a big production.
The theater itself is set up beautifully, with the media set up in two different sections. Pokerati happens to be in the orchestra section, which is directly in front of the stage. Sounds great, except that there is a big Milwaukee’s Best Light barrier set up around the final table, making it impossible for us to see any of the action that doesn’t appear on the big-screen televisions. Would be nice to see it live and catch some of the table talk, but I’m not complaining about my velvet couch and the company of my fellow media reps.
Excitement in the halls, though, began to turn to frustration when long lines of people were being told that the theater was sold out. Granted, it was first-come, first-serve for seating, but I’m not sure if the November Nine relayed that message to their friends. Those inside the theater, however, did not lack for energy, despite the numerous delays that put the start of the final table at approximately 45 minutes after originally scheduled. The media and players were probably more restless than the fans, likely because the fans were already dippin’ at the bar and not considering the fact that this could be a v-e-r-y long day/night.
All of this to say that I’ve got a few intro pics to share:
Pauly and I are back … watching the biggest sit-n-go in the history of poker, very live-ish from the Penn & Teller Theater in the Rio. As fans were filing in, chips were being unbagged, and 4 months of semi-hyped anticipation was getting underway, we are nice guys looking to share our observations with you.
Episode 4.1: WSOPenn & Teller 2:04
So action is about to get underway. Players are unbagging their chips now. A few thoughts on what we are seeing/hearing:
Go Craig Marquis! (Even though I think you’re probably too young to pull off the victory. Prove me wrong!)
The day that the poker community has been waiting for has finally arrived, as the November Nine reunite to determine this year’s “World Champion”.
Has the 100+ day delay been a success? ESPN says ratings are the highest they’ve been in two years, but that was when Hellmuth and Matusow were heavily featured in the coverage. The hoped for mainstream coverage talked about when this all began never really came through, as Lou Krieger mentions.
Play is scheduled to start today at 10am PT at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas. For those that want to listen to the coverage, http://www.bluffmagazine.com/blufftvBluff Magazine and worldseriesofpoker.com will provide an audio stream along with constantly updated chip counts, using their Poker Tracker software. Nick Geber, Lacey Jones and a bunch of other guests will be in on the action. Jeffrey Pollack even writes a rare blog about tonight’s Hall of Fame ceremony, which will take place at about 7:15, just before play resumes from the dinner break. When heads-up play resumes Monday at 10pm PT, Erick Lindgren will receive his WSOP Player of the Year award (and whatever comes with that).
It was decided earlier last week that they will NOT redraw for seats, so here’s how they’ll be situated when cards go in the air (in case you forgot):
More…
The delay of the WSOP main event final table allowed Harrah’s to invest the final table prize money, with the exception of $900,670 paid to each player in July, in a money market account to accumulate interest in the months leading up to the final table action. That was an excellent idea…until the market tanked. Minor detail.
Regardless, there is now an extra $98,179 added to the payouts. Harrah’s invested the $24,527,416 into a Fidelity Institutional Money Market Fund - Treasury Only Portfolio on July 14th and withdrew it on November 5th. With a variable rate returning .9%, there is now a little extra spending money in the pool for the top eight finishers. The guy who finishes in ninth place gets nothing more - nada, zippo, not even a few bucks for the valet - than the $900,670 he already won. The new payouts for the final table are as follows:
1st place: $9,152,416 ($32,899 added)
2nd place: $5,809,595 ($19,571 added)
3rd place: $4,517,773 ($14,421 added)
4th place: $3,774,974 ($11,459 added)
5th place: $3,096,768 ($8,756 added)
6th place: $2,418,562 ($6,052 added)
7th place: $1,772,650 ($3,476 added)
8th place: $1,288,217 ($1,545 added)
9th place: $900,670
This brings the updated total main event prize pool to $64,431,779.
My bet is Sarah Palin knows 0. Barack Obama … less clear — he plays poker, sure, but he’s been pretty busy since July, so I think the good money for him would also be 0 … maybe 1 accidentally, so let’s set the over/under for him at 1/2. (I’ll take the under.)
How many do I know — as someone who reads tons about poker, spends my whole day somehow connected to it, thinking about it, playing it, yadda yadda, with tons of emails clogging my inbox with profiles of each of these guys?
6.
OK, maybe 6.5 … I was working on something else, looking up some data on each of the remaining WSOP main event players, and I had to write down each of their names. Six came easy … and one other I was pretty sure of, but I had no clue if I was pronouncing and spelling it right. (Turns out I was off by only one letter.)
So really, try it. Don’t cheat — the info is out there everywhere if you look, but do you know it off the top of your head? It’s been four months.
Next Quiz: How many 3rd place finishers can you name (again, WSOP main event, off the top of your head) since 2003? I got a solid 1 on that one.
For all those negatively noting that the delayed final table isn’t bringing the hype it promised … patience, patience … it’s coming: The New York Times just took note of their hometown favorite, Ylon Schwartz. He’s an interesting character — basically quasi-degenerate meets chess wizard with a soft spot in his heart for kids. His dad left when he was age 2, and his mom died five years ago. He got his start in the New York underground, going 2-for-2 in his first tournaments to win $12,000, giving him the bankroll with which, perhaps unknowingly, he would embark on a new career.
Since Schwartz’s making the WSOP final table, his father has been in touch to be his best friend, and he has basically told him to fuck off.
These are the kind of compelling stories that will come out, regardless of what we in the poker media do or do not have to say about it. And this is why, prediction here: the Live-ish broadcast of the WSOP main event final table on ESPN will be a huge ratings hit.
Remember, the Olympics spends four years and billions of dollars generating, at best, a few months of hype around a few weeks of activity. By scale, it’s only realistic to expect a few months of work (and a few million dollars?) to generate just a few days of hype around an event that takes place over a day-and-a-half.
Hot on the heels of the heels of the Ylon Schwartz auction (currently at 0 bids), the current chip leader at the final table, Dennis Phillips, had his own auction go live earlier this morning on Ebay. All of the proceeds will be going to one of Dennis’ favorite charities, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Gateway Area Chapter in St. Louis, Missouri. If you care to know every detail of his other activities, you can check him out on the Interwebs at his own website.
The final table of the World Series of Poker is less than a month away, and the pressure is on to find sponsors to make a little more money than the $900K and the potential of more than $9 million. Yeah, life is hard.
Since the big name sponsors that they were hoping for aren’t beating down the doors of the members of the November Nine, it’s time to kick the efforts into high gear. Ylon Schwartz has proactively hired RecordWeb Communications to help with the marketing, and they issued a press release stating that sponsorship opportunities are available through eBay.
The eBay item already has one bid of $37,500 from f***2. (Would love to see what that proposed ad is…) Here is part of the page that lists what is being offered:
Ylon Schwartz is offering one lucky and smart bidder, the chance to place a 10 Square Inch patch on his arm, chest, hat or other mutually agreed upon location or a branded item to be placed on his chips or cards. Your brand will benefit from proven Nascar-style advertising as this patch or branded items will be seen by TENS OF MILLIONS of ESPN viewers…
As you can see the photos of Ylon at the poker table, his torso, head, arms, chips and cards are clearly visible to the viewer. Any time Ylon plays a hand in this event; your patch or branded item will be seen by millions of fans. Ylon is currently 5th in chips and will be in this event for a long time. The event will probably play for 15 hours more and then will be shown to a prime time viewing audience on ESPN on November 11th, 2008.
On to entities that are still functioning, as the EPT London Main Event concluded earlier today with American Michael Martin pulled off a miraculous comeback to take down the title along with £1,000,000. Down to 100,000 4-handed (and in the big blind for 80,000), Martin tripled up, then doubled up twice in 3 consecutive hands to move to a more manageable 1.45m in chips. Martin then continued his heater, eliminating the other 3 players to take down the title with his mother and girlfriend cheering him on from the rail. Here’s how the rest of the final table finished:
1 £ 1,000,000 Michael Martin
2 £ 525,314 Michael Tureniec
3 £ 303,439 Marcin Horecki
4 £ 234,920 Eric Liu
5 £ 195,766 Philippe D’Auteuil
6 £ 153,351 Alan Smurfit
7 £ 120,723 Johannes Strassmann
8 £ 81,569 Antony Lellouche
The £20,000 EPT High Rollers Million Pound Showdown is now underway as a field of 85 is playing down to a final table, which will be air live stream at www.pokerstars.tv Monday morning. 14 players remain, but only 9 players will be in the money (1st takes home £516,000) as play finishes for the evening. Among the remaining: David Benyamine, WSOP Europe ME winner John Juanda, and Scotty Nguyen. Of the November Nine who participated, only WSOP Vegas chip leader Dennis Phillips came close to the money, as he finished in 10th to be the bubble boy. Here’s the final table as play resumes at 11am ET:
Seat 1 - Peter Jetten - 347,000
Seat 2 - Michael Watson - 104,000
Seat 3 - Isaac Haxton - 293,000
Seat 4 - Isabelle Mercier - 86,000
Seat 5 - David Benyamine - 175,000
Seat 6 - Scotty Nguyen - 68,000
Seat 7 - Jason Mercier - 204,000
Seat 8 - Masaaki Kagawa - 142,000
Seat 9 - John Juanda - 302,000
Final update at the jump:
More…
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:
While the poker community focuses a great deal of attention on the Kentucky governor’s attempt at censorship and the potential for Rep. Barney Frank to do something with H.R. 6870 after it recently passed in the House Financial Services Committee, there are a few other poker news nuggets to pass on.
~Without so much as a press release to announce it, it seems that UltimateBet has signed Michael Binger as one of its newest team members. Oh, Michael, you too? Adam Levy has also joined the team, again with no official notice from the UB staff. The news came via Mean Gene’s UB Aruba blog and a picture posted from the welcome party.
~Short-Stacked Shamus gave his take on the recent issue of CardPlayer magazine in which Jeff Shulman said that CP was unaware of Scotty Nguyen’s unsportsmanlike behavior at the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE event because of restricted media access at the final table. Disingenuous was the word over at Hard-Boiled Poker.
~It seems that the Eastern Europeans love them some internet gambling, and no recession will get in their way. A researcher with Global Betting and Gaming Consultants shows that a steady increase will continue because of favorable broadband and law changes, not to mention the Eastern Europeans’ “propensity to gamble.”
~Evidently, Senator John McCain likes him some gambling, specifically high-limit craps. How negative EV… The New York Times has looked into McCain’s ties to Indian gaming, and the gaming industry in general, and dug up some interesting info about lobbyists and McCain’s connections to them.
~The more I hear about WSOP “November Nine” chipleader Dennis Phillips, the more he seems like a great guy whose inner philanthropist has been able to shine with his $900K take-home money and potential for the $9.1 million first prize. In this episode of PokerRoad Radio released during the Borgata Poker Classic earlier this month, the guys sat down with Phillips and coach Roy Winston (huh?) where he explains that decision and his future plans.
Wow friggin’ wow … sorry, trying to reign in the visceral reaction, but that’s all I can say the more I learn about what’s going on in Kentucky, and Gov. Steve Beshear’s intent on taking unprecedented legal action against online poker (and other online gambling) companies. Don’t think he’s serious — that this is an effort on which he’s willing to stake his political career? The state is already claiming to have seized legal control over FullTiltPoker.com and 140 other sites … and we all remember what happened to Bodog.com the last time American courts got into it with ICANN over issues of not-so-eminent domain.
Have a listen to Beshear’s declaration of war against an industry near and dear to so many of our hearts, and decide for yourself if you think he’s bluffing:
Steve Beshear vs. Online Poker (right-click to save/download)
Kentucky governor on the need for hostile domain takeover
Sep 22, 2008
(5 min 29 sec)
Prediction: If this case makes it into court in any non-frivolous way, it will end up in the Supreme Court. With or without online poker as a defendant, Kentucky is challenging what government can and can’t do in terms of policing/taxing the internet, issues of states rights vs. federal law, and matters of international treaty and internet jurisdiction to boot.
Players are just starting to return from break … you know, it’s more than halfway over … and RawVegas has a fun piece speaking with some Las Vegas poker pros (at the Hard Rock launch tourney) about whom they’re picking to win the WSOP main event:
Earl Burton has an interesting post up wondering why the sponsorship dollars for the WSOP main event final tableists haven’t been rolling in. While he leaves room for the possibility that it’s just a matter of time — I agree, as the kinda deals we’re talking about here don’t take place over a matter of days or even weeks — he also highlights an example that has me simply shaking my head:
A recent blog [sic.] on CardPlayer by a former guest on my “The Tournament Trail” show at Hold ‘Em Radio (http://www.holdemradio.com/), WPT champion Roy Winston, indicated that no one has contacted him regarding his offer of coaching for the Main Event.
Sorry, Roy, but I’m laughing. Because no one has contacted me, either, about my offer to put a Pokerati patch on them in exchange for guaranteed internet coverage! No offense, but whothefugk are you? A WPT champion? Big deal! The final nine — whether by luck or skill or some combination thereof — have outlasted 6,400 players to get to where they are. Have you ever done that? I didn’t think so.* Why would someone want to potentially mess their game up by receiving “coaching” from someone other than Phil Hellmuth (who clearly knows how to win WSOP final tables with any starting chip ratio) or maybe Erik Seidel? If I were one of the Nueve de Noviembre, I gotta say, I’d be feeling pretty good about my poker skills in general … and would be having many talks with the poker friends who helped get me there (The Arizona Posse, Batfaces, et al.) and probably just about any other poker player I ran into between July and November. But hire an outside coach? That would be like an athlete qualifying for the Olympics and hiring someone in the interim who happened to win a similar event in the Pan-Am games.
The story here isn’t on whether or not the final table delay was a right idea for the sake of marketing … it’s about how the remaining WSOP main event players are somehow smart enough not to fall for sales pitches from interlopers trying to get in on their action.
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.
BJ’s had a hearty welcome to the Pokerati team, and I haven’t done any posts in a while, so here’s a few recent stories making news, while I’m wondering what Darus Suharto’s doing right now…
The last woman standing at this year’s WSOP Main Event, Tiffany Michelle, officially becomes part of Team UB.
For those of you waiting for checks from Bodog, you may be waiting even longer for that money now that the Fed has taken $24 million of the site’s money.
Speaking of the government, four pro-UIGEA Representatives ask the Federal Reserve and US Treasury for clarification as to what is”illegal Internet gambling”
The FSN/WPT alliance gets a bit stronger in September, with a TV series tied into the WPT’s subscription based site ClubWPT.com
