2008 WSOP Final Table Nine Guide
Sunday, November 9th, is the day all of us poker freaks have been waiting to arrive for the past 137 days. The longest break in WSOP Main Event history will finally end at 10 AM Sunday morning in the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas. The nine remaining poker players from the 6844 that started the event back in July will take their seats and do battle for the $32 million at stake.
We have compiled a list of the players including seat assignment, chip count, bio, and a morning line for each. Our pick for all the marbles is Dennis Phillips, the chip leader. Who will be playing heads-up? Dennis Phillips and David "Chino" Rheems are our picks to square off for the $9.2 million first place money and bracelet.
Meet the November Nine after the jump.
Betting lines for the 2008 WSOP Main Event final table are courtesy of bodog.com.
Dennis "Fordman" Phillips is the "old man" of the November Nine, he is also the chip leader and one of the co-favorite to win it all. The account manager for a trucking firm began playing poker as a hobby four years ago and won his way into the 2008 WSOP Main Event through a satellite at a local Harrah's casino. Fordman has only cashed in two live tournaments with combined earnings of less than $5,000. His most memorable hands during Main Event play was twice mucking Aces. He plans to give a portion of his winnings to charities including Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that afflicts his brother.
Morning Line: 4/1
Seat: #1
Starting Chip Count: 26,295,000
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Age: 53
Young Craig Marquis has been playing serious poker for less than two years and finds himself in one of the most sort after seats in all of poker. Although he primarily plays online poker he has racked up three live tournament cashes, all from WSOP events. He cashed in two events in the 2007 WSOP and collected in Event #17 at this year's WSOP for $35,759 in total winnings. Marquis has been preparing himself by playing online and discussing poker strategy with his friends. He plans to use some of his winnings for his family and to assist his sisters with their educational pursuits.
Morning Line: 13/2
Seat: #2
Starting Chip Count: 10,210,000
Hometown: Arlington, Texas
Age: 23
Ylon Schwartz is best known as a professional chess player having mastered the game to become a chess master at age 23. He soon realized that he could make more money playing poker so he master the cards. Schwartz has cashed in 30 live tournaments including 11 WSOP events for a combined total of just over a quarter of a million dollars in winnings. If he wins the Main Event event his plans are to just disappear and enjoy life from a comfortable hammock in a tropical setting with plenty of good tequila. His play strategy is based on waiting for his opponents to make mistakes which he can exploit to his advantage.
Morning Line 15/2:
Seat: #3
Starting Chip Count: 12,525,000
Hometown:Brooklyn, New York
Age: 38
Scott Montgomery comes to the final table in the 3 spot on the leader board. He has been playing poker for 4 years and has earned $406,585 in prize money including three cashes in the 2008 WSOP. The University of Waterloo graduate is a mathmetician and fondly recalls having won three consecutive online poker tournaments. His favorite professional pkoer player is fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu.
Morning Line: 4/1
Seat: #4
Starting Chip Count: 19,690,000
Hometown: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Age: 26
Accountant Darius Suharto was born in Indonesia and now lives in Toronto, Canada where he often volunteers his time to not-for-profit organizations. His live poker tournament experience has produced one cash from the 2006 WSOP Main Event where he finished in 448th place and collected $26,389. Suharto won his 2008 WSOP Main Event entry through a satellite. His favorite professional poker player is fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu.
Morning Line: 13/2
Seat: #5
Starting Chip Count: 12,520,000
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Age: 39
David "Chino" Rheems is a professional poker player from Los Angeles, California. He has been playing poker as a profession for 10 years and has amassed a lifetime winnings of $634,657 with 15 cashes in the last 3 years. Five of those paydays came from WSOP events. This will be David's first seat at a Main Event final table. He plans to use his prize money helping his friends and family.
Morning Line: 9/2
Seat: #6
Starting Chip Count: 10,230,000
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Age: 28
Professional poker player Ivan "Soul" Demidov comes to the final table in second place on the chip leader board. The tough Russian player is spending his extended break playing live poker exclusively and studying the game. Although this year was his first participation in WSOP events he quickly established himself as a contender when he nailed the 11th spot in Event #44, just missing the final table. He is considered to be one of the top online players and he also excels at computer games, Starcraft and Warcraft.
Morning Line: 4/1
Seat: #7
Starting Chip Count: 24,400,000
Hometown: Moscow, Russia
Age: 27
Kelly Kim hails from Whittier, California. He earned a B.A. in economics from UC-San Diego and never played in a live poker tournament until his sophomore year of college. His first ever live tournament cash came in 2001when he took down $798, but since he has cashed 37 times for $351,744. This is his first trip to a Main Event final table and he comes as the short stack among the nine players. Kim will use his winnings to benefit his friends and family.
Morning Line: 15/1
Seat: #8
Starting Chip Count: 2,620,000
Hometown: Whittier, California
Age: 31
Peter "Esser" Eastgate has been playing professional poker for three years and has two live tournament cashes during the past two years for $76,084. When asked what final table players he believed offered the biggest threat to his winning he replied, "All of them." Eastgate then explained that all of the other players have a game that carry them to victory, but then added there was no one in particular he feared. His favorite big name professional is Patrik Antonius because of his skill and class.
Morning Line: 5/1
Seat: #9
Starting Chip Count: 18,375,000
Hometown: Odense, Denmark
Age: 22
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