NOVEMBER NINE DOWN TO THE FINAL TWO

photos by the flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

A packed house at the Penn & Teller Theater
The November Nine was finally upon us! After a 117 day layoff, the final able of the 2008 WSOP Main Event resumed play. The location was shifted to the Penn & Teller Theatre at the Rio where the final table set up was reconstructed on the main stage. The audience was packed with media reps from all over the world and plenty of spectators that included friends and family of the November Nine.Dennis Phillips had the largest contingency. He had over 350 people fly in from St. Louis. They all dressed just like Phillips and sported a white oxford shirt (with plenty of logos) and a red St. Louis Cardinals baseball hat.

Some of the biggest names in poker where in attendance including Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Phil Gordon, Barry Greenstien, The Grinder, Johnny Bax, and Chris Moneymaker.

Action was scheduled to start at 10:23am and there was a short delay. The 2007 WSOP champion Jerry Yang kicked off the festivities by saying, “Shuffle up and deal.”

Short stack Kelly Kim moved all in on the first hand… and no one called. He won the pot and managed to avoid going out in 9th place. That dubious honor went to Craig Marquis. He was all in with pocket sevens against Scott Montgomery’s A-Q. Marquis flopped a set and was a tremendous favorite to win the hand. Unfortunately, Montgomery caught a runner-runner gutshot to send him to the rail in 9th place. Marquis was paid out $900,000 in July and did not get a cent for his time in Las Vegas.

Kelly Kim went out on the next hand in a three-way pot. He won $1,288,217 for 8th place and managed to last much longer than everyone had anticipated.

Dennis Phillips took a couple of hits early on and lost the chip lead. He slipped to 8th in chips at one point before he rallied back into contention. Ivan Demidov held it for a while until Ylon Schwartz won a massive hand against him to take the lead. Demidov would get it back after Phillips survived an all in against Ylon. Holding A-Q, Phillips cracked Ylon’s Queens and sprung back to life.

Chino Rheem was the next player to bust out. He finished in 7th place and won $1,772,650. He was shortstack and shoved with Big Slick. Peter Eastgate called with A-Q and flopped a Queen. Chino could not improve his hand and he went out in 7th place. When asked how he felt about finishing in 7th, the always honest Chino said, “Are you being fuckin’ serious? What the fuck kind of question is that? I feel like shit. You can quote me.”

The remaining six players went on a dinner break with Ivan Demidov as the chipleader and Darus Suharto as the shortstack. Before action resumed, there was brief Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Dewey Tomko and Henry Orenstein were both given the nod as the two newest members. Doyle Brunson spoke for a few minutes about his good friend Dewey, who’s regarded as one of the best poker players and golf hustlers in the history of Las Vegas.

Henry Orenstien was unable to make the trip to Vegas. The Holocaust survivor and successful toy maker (who was the mastermind behind The Transformers) eventually branched out into poker. He helped create the lipstick cameras which revolutionized the game and made televised poker much more compelling to watch.

In the first level after the dinner break, Peter Eastgate took the chiplead.

Darus Suharto was eliminated in 6th place. His A-8 lost to Scott Montgomery’s A-Q. Suharto was busted by his fellow countryman from Canada. Suharto won $2,418,562 for his efforts.

Just when Scott Montgomery appeared to make a run, he got caught speeding and ran into Ivan Demidov’s pocket Kings. Montgomery was in trouble with Ad-9d. He flopped a flush draw but blanked out and doubled Demidov up to 50m. Montgomery slipped to 7m.

A couple of hands later, Scott Montgomery was all in with A-3 against Peter Eastgate’s pocket sixes. Montgomery had been a luckbox for most of the Main Event and he promptly flopped an Ace and turned and Ace to take the lead with trips. Eastgate was down to one out since Phillips mentioned that he folded a six. The river was the case six and Eastgate won the hand with a one outer. Montgomery busted out in brutal fashion. The Danes started singing as Montgomery headed to the rail in 5th place. The last Canadian in the WSOP won $3,096,768. Down to four players.

After a slow down in the action, Ylon Schwartz busted out when he picked the wrong time to bluff Peter Eastgate. Eastgate raised 1.5m preflop and Ylon called. The flop was Kh-8h-2s and both players checked. The turn was the Kd. Ylon checked. Eastgate bet 1.75m and Ylon called. The river was the 5d. Ylon checked. Eastagte fired out 4.6m. Ylon check-raised all in for 12.4m more. Eastgate called with 5s-5c for a full house. Ylon tabled Ah-10c for nothing but air. Ylon will take $3,774,974 back home to Brooklyn.

With three players to go, Peter Eastgate was way ahead with 64.925M. Ivan Demidov was second in chips with 50.575M while Dennis Phillips was the shortstack with 20.725M.

It didn’t take long before the final two were set after Dennis Phillips busted out in third place. The flop was Jc-4d-3s. The aggressive Peter Eastgate bet1.5m. Phillips moved all in. Eastgate quickly called. Eastgate flopped a set with 3d-3c, while Phillips was way behind with 10c-9h. The turn was As and Phillips was drawing dead. He won $4,517,773 for third place.

With Phillips elimination, action was suspended. The final two players, Peter Eastgate and Ivan the Russian, will return tomorrow to play out the heads up match.

Final Two Chip Counts:
Peter Eastgate (Denmark) – 79,500,000
Ivan Demidov (Russia) – 57,725,000

The final two will play heads up starting at 10pm Vegas time at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio. First place pays $9,152,416 and the runner up will collect. $5,809,595. If Eastgate wins, he’ll make history and become the youngest player to ever win the WSOP main event and smash Phil Hellmuth’s record.