2008 Event 54 World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em Final Table

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2008 WSOP Event 54
World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em
Final Table

Individual Event Reports

Event 54 -- World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em Final Table

  • Number of players Day 1A: 1,297, Remaining 636
  • Number of players Day 1B: 1,158, Remaining 615
  • Number of players Day 1C: 1,928, Remaining 1,026
  • Number of players Day 1D: 2,461, Remaining 1,652
  • Number of players Day 2A: 1,251, Remaining 466
  • Number of players Day 2B: 2,379, Remaining 842
  • Number of players Day 3: 1,308, Remaining 474
  • Number of players Day 4: 474, Remaining 189
  • Number of players Day 5: 189, Remaining 79
  • Number of players Day 6: 79, Remaining 27
  • Number of players Day 7: 27, Remaining 9

7:12 am
With lots of chips and lots of money on the line, this may be a long day so keep the coffee close by. As information comes to us, we will post it here for you. Here are the names and massive chip counts of the final 9:

  1. Dennis Phillips -- 26,295,000
  2. Ivan Demidov -- 24,400,000
  3. Scott Montgomery -- 19,690,000
  4. Peter Eastgate -- 18,375,000
  5. Ylon Schwartz -- 12,525,000
  6. Darus Suharto -- 12,520,000
  7. David "Chino" Rheem -- 10,230,000
  8. Craig Marquis -- 10,210,000
  9. Kelly Kim -- 2,620,000
Final Table Payout Schedule
  1. $9,152,416
  2. $5,809,595
  3. $4,517,773
  4. $3,774,974
  5. $3,096,768
  6. $2,418,562
  7. $1,772,650
  8. $1,288,217
  9. $900,670
10:00 am
The WSOP has stated that cards will be in the air by 10:23 am. Players, fans and lots of cameras will be in the Penn and Teller Theater at the RIO in Las Vegas.

11:31 am
Jerry Yang who won the Main Event in 2007 gave the order to shuffle up and deal around 11:10 am. Blinds will continue at 120,000/240,000 with antes at 30,000 at level 33. Players will move up to level 34 in about 15 minutes. Beginning hands are being played big as there are 350,000 to 650,000 raises.

12:11 pm
Everyone is being very cautious in their play as there has not be a flop in the first 15 hands. But the action is not that dry as beautiful girls from Milwaukee's Best are throwing T-shirts to the crowd. Blinds are now up to $150,000/$300,000 and a $40,000 ante at level 34.

12:45 pm
Still mostly players taking pots with not a flop in sight. The one who is being hurt the most by this type of action is Kelly Kim who began the day with 2,620,000 chips. As of now he has 1,810,000 in his stack. Ivan Demidov is now the chip leader with 35,875,000 chips from the 24,400,000 he began the day with. Dennis Phillips who began as chip leader is now down to 8th position with only 8,880,000 chips left.

CORRECTION -- We have been informed that Demidov won a big hand earlier against Dennis Phillips to reach the 35+ million in his stack.

1:41 pm
Ylon Schwartz is now the big dog with 40,100,000 chips and Kelly Kim is under 1 million chips at 840,000. Kelly will have to make a move soon or become blinded out in 9th place. Dennis Phillips is at 5,360,000 chips.

Schwartz got the big jump in chips after winning a hand with two pair (K's and 10's) against Ivan Demidov who managed to turn his A K of diamonds into a pair of Kings.

2:01 pm
Kelly Kim just doubled up after making an all-in move with pocket K's, winning with two pair (K's and 7's) against Ivan Demidov who held K 10. Kelly now has 1,720,000 chips and Ivan is down to 26,500,000.

3:32 pm -- Craig Marquis Eliminated in 9th Place
On the 52nd hand, Craig Marquis moved his 4.9 million chips to the middle preflop with pocket 7's and was called by Scott Montegormery with A Q. When the dealer began to put the cards on the table a 10 came up first, followed by a A and a 7. But the turn and river cards were a J and K which gave the victory to Scott. So the first to leave is Marquis to pick up over $900K for his efforts.

Latest chip counts are as follows:
  1. Ylon Schwartz -- 36,625,000
  2. Ivan Demidov -- 32,000,000
  3. Peter Eastgate -- 23,575,000
  4. Scott Montgomery -- 17,500,000
  5. Darus Suharto -- 11,475,000
  6. Dennis Phillips -- 9,550,000
  7. David "Chino" Rheem -- 4,900,000
  8. Kelly Kim -- 600,000
Play is at level 35 with blinds at 200,000/400,000 and ante of 50,000.

4:09 pm -- Kelly Kim is Eliminated in 8th Place
We have to give Kim credit for staying alive, as many thought he would be the first one to go. But his 8th place finish did leave him an instant millionaire with $1,288,217 to soothe his soul. What happened was on hand #53, Kim went all-in from the big blind in a 4 way pot with Schwartz, Suharto and Demidov. Suharto won the hand with a pair of 9's and a 10 kicker. What did Kim have? Only he and God knows as he mucked his hand after seeing what everyone else had.

5:02 pm
Current Chip Counts:
  1. Ivan Demidov -- 40,075,000
  2. Peter Eastgate -- 23,775,000
  3. Dennis Phillips -- 21,450,000
  4. Ylon Schwartz -- 20,925,000
  5. Scott Montgomery -- 17,150,000
  6. Darus Suharto -- 8,350,000
  7. David "Chino" Rheem -- 4,500,000
5:39 pm -- David Rheem Eliminated in 7th Place
David pushed his 3.5 million chips to the middle preflop and was called by Peter Eastgate. David had A K and Peter had A Q. But on the flop came Q 5 7 9 4, and David left in 7th place, an instant millionaire.

5:58 pm
Dennis Phillips has been on a roller coaster ride today, starting at over 26 million chips in his stack, he fell to as low as 8.8 million but has recovered to a present 27 million chips. Dinner break will take place until 7:15 pm. Play will resume at level 36 with blinds at 250,000/500,000 with an ante of 50,000.

8:41 pm
At the end of the dinner break, the WSOP had two players placed into the Hall Of Fame. They were Duane "Dewey" Tomko and Henry Orenstein. Doyle Brunson introduced Tomko, who came and gave an acceptance speech. Henry Orenstein could not attend, so Mori Eskandari accepted on his behalf.

Then before play continued, an OMG moment took place as Harrah's security guards brought several silver suitcases to the table and dumped the contents of each. It was all the money that the 6 remaining players are currently competing for. There are commercial banks in America lined up, hoping to get that much money from the Federal Government for a bailout!

9:44 pm -- Darus Suharto Eliminated in 6th Place
After a 1.5 million raise by Scott Montgomery, Suharto moved allin preflop with 8,550,000. Scott thought about it for a while and then called. Suharto showed Ah 8c and Montgomery revealed As Qd. The flop showed Ks Js 2s, turn card was a 4s giving Montgomery the Ace high flush and the river card was meaningless. With his departure to lots of applause, Montgomery is the only Canadian left at the final table. Suharto will receive $2,418,562 for his efforts.

Play is now at level 37 with blinds at $300,000/$600,000 with a $75,000 ante.

10:13 pm
Current chip counts:
  1. Ivan Demidov -- 50,100,000
  2. Peter Eastgate -- 39,850,000
  3. Ylon Schwartz -- 20,975,000
  4. Dennis Phillips -- 18,375,000
  5. Scott Montgomery -- 7,075,000
10:06 pm -- Scott Montgomery Eliminated in 5th Place
On the last hand for this gladiator, Scott moved all in from the small blind and was called by Peter Eastgate. Scott had pocket 6's to the Ad 3d of Peter. The flop was A Q 4, turn card another A and the river a 6, which gave Peter a larger set than Scott. Scott Montgomery was honored with instant millionaire status and a payout of $3,096,768.

NOTE: On 11/10, Michael & Alison in an email pointed out that the report was incorrect in that if Scott had pocket 6's he would have had a full house and survived. The 2nd sentence should read "Peter had pocket 6's to the Ad 3d of Scott." This would have given Peter a full house (6's/A's) to the set of Aces held by Scott. Thanks Michael & Alison!

Current chip counts:
  1. Ivan Demidov -- 49,100,000
  2. Peter Eastgate -- 47,625,000
  3. Ylon Schwartz -- 22,175,000
  4. Dennis Phillips -- 17,325,000
11:38 pm
Ylon Schwartz has lost and raised his chip count between 15 and 22 million, but he is the short stack at the table right now. With antes of $75,000 and a $600,000 big blind, that amount can be run down faster than you think. When the next level comes (38) in 10 minutes, the blinds will rise to $400,000/$800,000 with antes of $100,000 and the $25,000 chips will be removed.

12:22 am -- Ylon Schwartz Has Been Eliminated in 4th
With a board showing K 8 2 K 5, Schwartz moves all-in on the river and was insta-called by Peter Eastgate. Schwartz turned over A 10 while Peter produced pocket 5's, giving Peter the full house and Ylon the boot. Why did Schwartz make such a call? Maybe he was tired and said just gimme the money. Anyway, he will be rewarded with $3,774,974 for his efforts.

1:15 am -- Dennis Phillips Gone in 3rd Place
On hand 169 after a flop of J 4 3, Phillips decided to move all-in and was immediately called by Peter Eastgate. Phillips shows 9 10 to the pocket 3's of Eastgate. Turn card was A and the river a 9, which meant Dennis Phillips lost to a set of 3's but found his way to happiness by earning a huge $4,517,773 just for playing No Limit Texas Hold'Em.

And with that the play will be halted with the remaining two going heads up at 10:00 pm tomorrow night. Come back and stay with us as we see who ends up the Main Event Champion!

November 10th Heads Up

10:00 pm
The heads up should begin shortly. One interesting factor is that Peter Eastgate is only 22 years old. If he does win he will eclipse Phil Hellmuth Jr. as the youngest player to win the Main Event. Ivan Demidov is from Russia and is only 27 years old. Russia has been putting out a lot of top notch players and if Ivan wins, the victory will be a crown jewel for Russian players to talk about for some time to come.

How long this will go? No one really knows. Both players have youth on their side, and as long as they didn't go out drinking in Las Vegas, they will be ready for anything.

10:35 pm
The tournament still has a few things to take care of before things get started. Erick Lindgren who won Player of the Year at the WSOP will be presented with an engraved Harley Davidson. ESPN cameras are lined up and ready, the money and the showgirls are in place. So let the action begin!

Official chip count of the WSOP is Ivan Demidov 56,600,000 and Peter Eastgate 80,300,000.

11:15 pm
Demidov just took a huge chunk of chips from Eastgate after winning a hand with two pair (K's and 3's). Chip count now stands at Demidov 73,450,000 and Eastgate 63,450,000.

11:25 pm
Blinds are at $400,000/$800,000 with antes of $100,000. Play has been moving quickly with hands taking place at least every 4 minutes. Demidov has been continually ripping into Eastgate's stack, with Eastgate betting and losing 1 to 2 million a hand. The poker goddess has not been giving Eastgate great cards as he mucks one pair after another while building Demidov's stack.

11:37 pm
Things have begun to swing back towards Eastgate at the chip count is currently at Eastgate 68,000,000 and Demidov at 68,900,000. Demidov's fans aren't happy about that but they watch on cheering their man. One fan has a Soviet flag caped around himself.

12:10 am
Chip count Demidov 55,875,000 and Eastgate 81,025,000.

12:47 am
A huge win for Peter Eastgate with a pair of Jacks pushes him over the 100,000,000 chip mark! Current chip count Eastgate 100,300,000 and Demidov 36,600,000.

2:05 am
Chip count right now is Peter Eastgate 109,000,000 and Ivan Demidov 27,900,000. Blinds have been raised to $500,000/$1,000,000 and antes of $150,000. Tournament is being played at level 39. Tournament director Jack Effel says this level has never been used in Main Event play in the history of the WSOP.

2:17 am
Eastgate has just won two pots that have him over the 120 million mark. The official count has Eastgate at 120,550,000 and Demidov at 16,350,000. On the last hand, Eastgate moved all-in against Demidov winning a 2,000,000 chip pot as Demidov folded. Is Eastgate smelling victory around the corner?

2:24 am -- Ivan Demidov Eliminated in 2nd, Peter Eastgate Wins!
After continually raising bets as cards are dealt, Ivan Demidov saw 2 K 3 4 7 before he committed the rest of his chips of which Eastgate instantly calls. Demidov shows 2 4 for two pair and Eastgate reveals A 5 for a straight which makes him the winner. Demidov receives $5,809,595 for a 2nd place finish and Eastgate will need to get a truck to haul away the $9,152,416 he'll take home!

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