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Final
nine meet in Las Vegas again for US$9.12M poker
crown - 9th Nov 2008
LAS
VEGAS — The wait is over for nine men to
settle a US$9.12 million bet.
The
final players at the World Series of Poker resumed
play Sunday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
in Las Vegas to determine the champion at this
year's no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event.
Seven
players were to be eliminated Sunday, with the
last two scheduled to play heads-up Monday night
for the title and top payday. The nine players
will split $32.6 million - the lion's share of
a pool built on the $10,000 entry fees of 6,844
players who began play in July.
The
last nine players return to the table Sunday after
a break to build up interest in the event with
vastly different sized chip stacks. Chips don't
have monetary value, but they tell players where
they stand compared with their opponents and significantly
affect how they can manoeuvre in the game. A player
who loses all his chips is eliminated.
Dennis
Phillips, 53, a trucking account manager from
suburban St. Louis, leads the way with 26.3 million
chips. Phillips won his $10,000 buy-in and trip
for the main event in a $200 satellite tournament
at Harrah's St. Louis Hotel & Casino.
"I
think I have these guys pegged pretty well,"
Phillips told The Associated Press. Phillips hired
a professional poker coach but did not quit his
job at Broadway Truck Centers in St. Louis.
He
did say he spent weekends and other spare time
studying his opponents and poker.
"You're
always learning, you're always perfecting, you're
always trying to improve," he said.
Ivan
Demidov, a 27-year old semi-professional poker
player from Moscow, trails Phillips with 24.4
million in chips.
Next
in line are poker professional Scott Montgomery,
26, of Perth, Ont., with about 19.7 million chips,
and Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old professional
poker player from Odense, Denmark, who holds 18.4
million chips. Eastgate, the youngest player at
the poker table, could become the youngest main
event champion ever.
Ylon
Schwartz, 38, of New York, is next with 12.5 million
chips. The Brooklyn native has been hustling games
since age 13 and said the only difference between
the World Series of Poker final table and other
poker games is the "public spectacle."
Schwartz
said he would try to not let the pressure of the
money stand in the way of winning.
"It
is $9 million, but I have no understanding of
what that means," Schwartz said.
Schwartz
is slightly ahead of Toronto accountant Darus
Suharto, who won his main event entry through
a $650 online satellite tournament on gambling
site PokerStars.
"I'm
an online donkey," Suharto said, billing
himself as the least skilled player left in the
tournament. Suharto won $26,389 for finishing
448th in the 2006 main event.
David
"Chino" Rheem, a 28-year-old pro from
Los Angeles, is in seventh place with 10.2 million
chips, just 20,000 chips ahead of Craig Marquis,
23, of Arlington, Texas. Marquis also is trying
to become the tournament's youngest champion.
In
last place is Kelly Kim, a 31-year-old professional
from Whittier, Calif., who believes serious play
won't start until he doubles his stack or busts
out. With 2.6 million chips, Kim holds about two
per cent of the chips in play.
Kim
said he was looking to get lucky after a bad day
nearly eliminated him before the final table was
set in July. He held on as the last players busted
out, and said afterward that just making the final
nine was of paramount importance.
"After
getting there, now you're free-rolling into placing
farther," he said.
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