News Topic - Phil Hellmuth
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"Real Deal!" offers audience shot at pros
Well, not quite, but if the Venetian has anything to say about it, these poker stars and a few others might just be part of the next big thing in the Las Vegas show scene. "The Real Deal!" is the first-ever interactive poker-themed stage show to appear in Vegas. Organizers are calling the show, which is set to debut this fall, a "new paradigm in entertainment." Whatever that means, it sounds like the show should be pretty cool. Using wireless handheld technology and audience participation, "The Real Deal!" is part theatre, part stand-up comedy and part game show. It will provide the audience the opportunity to play with and against some of the best poker players in the game for cash and prizes. "The Venetian sets the standard for entertainment in Las Vegas and we are excited to add 'The Real Deal!' to our existing line-up of world-class shows," says Jason Gastwirth, vice president of entertainment for Las Vegas Sands Corp, the company which owns the Venetian. "When looking for a new concept to add to our entertainment line-up, we searched for an entirely new experience that would promote audience participation while incorporating well-known personalities that shine beyond the bright lights of the Strip - we found that in 'The Real Deal!'" The concept allows audience members to earn points to vie for prizes ranging from show merchandise to home electronics to a $1 million grand prize. These prizes are awarded to audience members based on their game performance using the handheld devices. There are also random winning moments for everybody throughout the show. For example, audience members will be able to wager on simple instances that occur during play on stage. This includes such things as the suit of cards dealt on the flop. The entire cast of poker pros signed on to do the show includes Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, and Todd Brunson. Between them they have eight World Poker Tour Championships (WPT) and 35 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and have raked in over $48 million in poker tournament prize money. "Never before has poker been so integrated with entertainment," said Merv Adelson, the creator of the show, cofounder of Lorimar Telepictures and former vice chairman of Time Warner Inc. "The popularity of poker is unquestioned, as is the viability of live game show experiences in Las Vegas. 'The Real Deal!' will keep guests laughing and give them the unique chance to get into the heads of the world's best pros as they share tips and strategy throughout the fast-paced game. We know it will quickly become a hot ticket." An elimination process will result in the chip-leading pro, the final surviving amateur and the point leader from the play-along audience ending up on stage for a three-handed finale. "Poker fans have been able to view and enjoy professional poker action for years on television," said Doyle Brunson. "This is different. Everyone in the audience can be in the game and compete with the pros and other guests. It is a one-of-a-kind-poker experience." The production runs six days a week at The Venetian Showroom, with shows at 4 p.m. and prime-time performances on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A limited number of VIP packages are available for each performance that include the opportunity to meet the pros after the show.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 23, 2008 11:06 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Well, not quite, but if the Venetian has anything to say about it, these poker stars and a few others might just be part of the next big thing in the Las Vegas show scene. "The Real Deal!" is the first-ever interactive poker-themed stage show to appear in Vegas. Organizers are calling the show, which is set to debut this fall, a "new paradigm in entertainment." Whatever that means, it sounds like the show should be pretty cool. Using wireless handheld technology and audience participation, "The Real Deal!" is part theatre, part stand-up comedy and part game show. It will provide the audience the opportunity to play with and against some of the best poker players in the game for cash and prizes. "The Venetian sets the standard for entertainment in Las Vegas and we are excited to add 'The Real Deal!' to our existing line-up of world-class shows," says Jason Gastwirth, vice president of entertainment for Las Vegas Sands Corp, the company which owns the Venetian. "When looking for a new concept to add to our entertainment line-up, we searched for an entirely new experience that would promote audience participation while incorporating well-known personalities that shine beyond the bright lights of the Strip - we found that in 'The Real Deal!'" The concept allows audience members to earn points to vie for prizes ranging from show merchandise to home electronics to a $1 million grand prize. These prizes are awarded to audience members based on their game performance using the handheld devices. There are also random winning moments for everybody throughout the show. For example, audience members will be able to wager on simple instances that occur during play on stage. This includes such things as the suit of cards dealt on the flop. The entire cast of poker pros signed on to do the show includes Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, and Todd Brunson. Between them they have eight World Poker Tour Championships (WPT) and 35 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and have raked in over $48 million in poker tournament prize money. "Never before has poker been so integrated with entertainment," said Merv Adelson, the creator of the show, cofounder of Lorimar Telepictures and former vice chairman of Time Warner Inc. "The popularity of poker is unquestioned, as is the viability of live game show experiences in Las Vegas. 'The Real Deal!' will keep guests laughing and give them the unique chance to get into the heads of the world's best pros as they share tips and strategy throughout the fast-paced game. We know it will quickly become a hot ticket." An elimination process will result in the chip-leading pro, the final surviving amateur and the point leader from the play-along audience ending up on stage for a three-handed finale. "Poker fans have been able to view and enjoy professional poker action for years on television," said Doyle Brunson. "This is different. Everyone in the audience can be in the game and compete with the pros and other guests. It is a one-of-a-kind-poker experience." The production runs six days a week at The Venetian Showroom, with shows at 4 p.m. and prime-time performances on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A limited number of VIP packages are available for each performance that include the opportunity to meet the pros after the show.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 23, 2008 11:06 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Team Ladbrokes player makes final table
"It's great to see a Ladbrokes Poker player make it through to the final table," said Edward Ihre, Ladbrokes Poker MD. "He's done brilliantly and definitely is a pro in the making. We're proud to call him a Ladbrokes regular - he's qualified through to the televised stages of Poker Million twice (2006 and 2007), so he's no stranger to high-stakes poker." Team Ladbrokes was led by Jon "skalie" Kalmar this year, who came in fifth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. He has the best placing for a Ladbrokes Player so far in the Main Event, and he was also joined on the team by newly sponsored pro Jonas Danielsson. Neither of them made the money this year, but sponsored pro Jeff Kimber busted in 120th place to earn a $41,000 cash. According to Ladbrokes Poker, his tournament was ended when his pocket kings couldn't survive the full house of his opponent. In total, 81 of the 120 Team Ladbrokes players made it through the first day of play and into Day 2, but Eastgate is the last man standing from the team, and is sitting in good position to also best Kalmar's fifth-place finish. When play resumes in November, Eastgate will have more than $18.3 million in chips, good enough to put him fourth in the chip count. The Odense, Denmark, native is a professional poker player who also has a shot at taking over Phil Hellmuth's record for youngest Main Event winner if he can take the event down. At 22, he would best Hellmuth's record by about two years. Along with his experience playing in the Poker Million, Eastgate has a ninth-place finish in the 2007 Irish Open and a cash in the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open. Ihre said that the Ladbrokes Poker players lounge has been credited as an invaluable asset to the Ladbrokes players. It is a refuge from the frenetic and exhausting pace of the WSOP, which could be why players have done so well. "We'll continue to improve on the lounge and the overall player experience in readiness for next year's Ladbrokes Poker qualifiers to the WSOP." For more information about the poker site and what it has to offer its players, visit Ladbrokes Poker. Related Article: Introducing the November NineVisit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 17, 2008 7:07 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
"It's great to see a Ladbrokes Poker player make it through to the final table," said Edward Ihre, Ladbrokes Poker MD. "He's done brilliantly and definitely is a pro in the making. We're proud to call him a Ladbrokes regular - he's qualified through to the televised stages of Poker Million twice (2006 and 2007), so he's no stranger to high-stakes poker." Team Ladbrokes was led by Jon "skalie" Kalmar this year, who came in fifth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. He has the best placing for a Ladbrokes Player so far in the Main Event, and he was also joined on the team by newly sponsored pro Jonas Danielsson. Neither of them made the money this year, but sponsored pro Jeff Kimber busted in 120th place to earn a $41,000 cash. According to Ladbrokes Poker, his tournament was ended when his pocket kings couldn't survive the full house of his opponent. In total, 81 of the 120 Team Ladbrokes players made it through the first day of play and into Day 2, but Eastgate is the last man standing from the team, and is sitting in good position to also best Kalmar's fifth-place finish. When play resumes in November, Eastgate will have more than $18.3 million in chips, good enough to put him fourth in the chip count. The Odense, Denmark, native is a professional poker player who also has a shot at taking over Phil Hellmuth's record for youngest Main Event winner if he can take the event down. At 22, he would best Hellmuth's record by about two years. Along with his experience playing in the Poker Million, Eastgate has a ninth-place finish in the 2007 Irish Open and a cash in the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open. Ihre said that the Ladbrokes Poker players lounge has been credited as an invaluable asset to the Ladbrokes players. It is a refuge from the frenetic and exhausting pace of the WSOP, which could be why players have done so well. "We'll continue to improve on the lounge and the overall player experience in readiness for next year's Ladbrokes Poker qualifiers to the WSOP." For more information about the poker site and what it has to offer its players, visit Ladbrokes Poker. Related Article: Introducing the November NineVisit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 17, 2008 7:07 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Break-out WSOP success fuels Michelle's career
Actually, it's Tiffany Michelle's career. It's in the process of blowing up. Big-time. Michelle is best known as the bombshell reporter for Poker News. She's also an aspiring actress, who has guest-starred in television shows like ER and made appearances in movies such as Semi-Pro. Now, after being bought into the world's biggest poker event by pros Tony G and Jeff Lisandro, this poker babe is among the most successful female players in WSOP Main Event history. However, despite the attention that's kept Michelle's phone ringing nearly 24 hours a day for the last 10 days, she doesn't appear to be letting the 17th place, $334,534 finish go to her head. "I have never minded talking on the phone, but I feel like I just want to put it on vibrate and not answer for a very, very long time," said a hoarse Michelle from the home she is staying at in Las Vegas. "I get what I did was a big deal, but I also know I am going to need a few really good years to prove I am anywhere near the kind of female poker players I respect." Those women include Jennifer Harman, who gave her some greatly appreciated support after one particularly bad beat during the tournament, and Annie Duke, who Michelle says she gets plenty of her playing style from. "I've gotten a lot of [Duke's] teachings kind of by default after traveling with 'Hollywood' Dave Stann over the last year and a half," said Michelle. "Dave and her kind of exchanged secrets. Dave teaching her his blackjack secrets, and Annie teaching him her poker secrets. Lots of the stuff that she's relayed to him has kind of come down to me. She is so smart. She has such a brilliant mind when it comes to poker. When it comes to her and Jennifer, I just really respect their games." Facts are facts, however, and these ones say only three women have ever gone further in the WSOP Main Event than Michelle did this year. Duke finished 10th in 2000, Susie Isaacs finished in 10th in 1998 and Barbara Enright finished fifth in 1996. Enright was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame along with Phil Hellmuth in 2007. Duke and Isaacs are probably headed that direction, and Michelle might just have the characteristics and game to get there one day herself. In all the excitement of such a deep run at the WSOP, all the backroom business dealings, the contract offers, the media coverage, the phone calls and party plans, Michelle kept her cool. She kept her mind on the game and fought her way into the second-to-last day third in chips. However, after wading through more than 6,800 players, after six full days at the tables with some of the best poker players in the world, Michelle was beat before she took her seat among the last 27 players remaining. #img: tiffany-michelle_23350.jpg: left: The grueling game of the Main Event.# "I was exhausted from all the business stuff going into Day 7," said Michelle. "With all that's going on, it's hard to keep playing the game you've been playing all along. After that, I got into some pots I shouldn't have gotten into, didn't have to be in." Eventually, after taking a couple of significant hits, Michelle found herself in a big pot holding A-J. When an ace came on the flop she pushed in all her chips. Unfortunately for her, not to mention for the ESPN final-table ratings in November, Peter Eastman was holding pocket aces. Just like that, one of the most compelling stories in the 2008 WSOP was sent to the rail. Although she busted just a few good hands from the final table, Michelle doesn't sound at all disappointed. In fact, she sounds like she won the whole damn thing. And you know what? She just may have. Nobody, not even the eventual WSOP Main Event winner, is likely to fetch more interest in the poker, not to mention acting, world than Michelle. "I am going to announce that I'm signing with a poker site as a player within the next week," said Michelle. "That means I am going to get to play more poker, which is something I've always wanted the opportunity to do. "On an acting front, there is already such a buzz in Hollywood. I have three auditions when I get home. I have a feeling it is really going to be advantageous for both Tiffany as a poker player and Tiffany as an actress. There are just a lot of opportunities right now." But that doesn't mean Michelle will be dropping one career for the other any time soon. "In a perfect world, I would really like to back up what I've just done [in the WSOP] with some good results. If I could be on the poker tour and do a TV show or something at the same time, that would be incredible," Michelle said. "Fortunately, now I don't have to pick one. I can just continue to go back and forth." It might surprise some people to hear that Michelle has always felt like she belonged among the players on the biggest stages in poker. Not just as an interviewer, but with her elbows on the felt, her eyes reading opponents across the table. "It just feels like it's a role I am born to play," said Michelle. "I feel like for the last three or four years, I've seen myself at the table and I've known I was supposed to be there. I've walked on to the ESPN stage and thought, 'Man, one of those seats belongs to me.'" According to Michelle, her career as an actress really paved the way to her success on the felt. "There are so many parallels between acting and poker and how they have morphed into this one beast that has allowed me to ride this rush and come to where I am," said Michelle. "I think it's a big advantage to be an actress. With all the media attention in poker, there are certain players and personalities that don't know how to handle that. When the ESPN cameras come around I see so many players make moves for the camera. And they completely lose their game. It's really amazing how badly some people handle it. As an actress, I'm just like 'Whatever. It's a camera. Who even cares?' It's just such a comfortable scenario for me." She continued, "Also, as an actress, when I play a role I have to put myself in other people's shoes and take on their characteristics. It helps because I can kind of zone in on somebody and say 'OK, why and what is that they are doing?' It's very beneficial for reading people and picking up tells. At the same time, if I want to talk somebody into a bluff I can be a little showboat and be whatever character I want somebody to believe I am in order to send whatever information I want to send. As a whole I think it's very beneficial." After all was said and done and Michelle finally busted out of the tournament, she exited the Amazon Room quietly. Then she lay down on the carpet in one of the hotel's grand hallways and laughed for a very long time. Something tells us it's a laugh we'll be hearing again very soon.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 17, 2008 6:36 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Actually, it's Tiffany Michelle's career. It's in the process of blowing up. Big-time. Michelle is best known as the bombshell reporter for Poker News. She's also an aspiring actress, who has guest-starred in television shows like ER and made appearances in movies such as Semi-Pro. Now, after being bought into the world's biggest poker event by pros Tony G and Jeff Lisandro, this poker babe is among the most successful female players in WSOP Main Event history. However, despite the attention that's kept Michelle's phone ringing nearly 24 hours a day for the last 10 days, she doesn't appear to be letting the 17th place, $334,534 finish go to her head. "I have never minded talking on the phone, but I feel like I just want to put it on vibrate and not answer for a very, very long time," said a hoarse Michelle from the home she is staying at in Las Vegas. "I get what I did was a big deal, but I also know I am going to need a few really good years to prove I am anywhere near the kind of female poker players I respect." Those women include Jennifer Harman, who gave her some greatly appreciated support after one particularly bad beat during the tournament, and Annie Duke, who Michelle says she gets plenty of her playing style from. "I've gotten a lot of [Duke's] teachings kind of by default after traveling with 'Hollywood' Dave Stann over the last year and a half," said Michelle. "Dave and her kind of exchanged secrets. Dave teaching her his blackjack secrets, and Annie teaching him her poker secrets. Lots of the stuff that she's relayed to him has kind of come down to me. She is so smart. She has such a brilliant mind when it comes to poker. When it comes to her and Jennifer, I just really respect their games." Facts are facts, however, and these ones say only three women have ever gone further in the WSOP Main Event than Michelle did this year. Duke finished 10th in 2000, Susie Isaacs finished in 10th in 1998 and Barbara Enright finished fifth in 1996. Enright was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame along with Phil Hellmuth in 2007. Duke and Isaacs are probably headed that direction, and Michelle might just have the characteristics and game to get there one day herself. In all the excitement of such a deep run at the WSOP, all the backroom business dealings, the contract offers, the media coverage, the phone calls and party plans, Michelle kept her cool. She kept her mind on the game and fought her way into the second-to-last day third in chips. However, after wading through more than 6,800 players, after six full days at the tables with some of the best poker players in the world, Michelle was beat before she took her seat among the last 27 players remaining. #img: tiffany-michelle_23350.jpg: left: The grueling game of the Main Event.# "I was exhausted from all the business stuff going into Day 7," said Michelle. "With all that's going on, it's hard to keep playing the game you've been playing all along. After that, I got into some pots I shouldn't have gotten into, didn't have to be in." Eventually, after taking a couple of significant hits, Michelle found herself in a big pot holding A-J. When an ace came on the flop she pushed in all her chips. Unfortunately for her, not to mention for the ESPN final-table ratings in November, Peter Eastman was holding pocket aces. Just like that, one of the most compelling stories in the 2008 WSOP was sent to the rail. Although she busted just a few good hands from the final table, Michelle doesn't sound at all disappointed. In fact, she sounds like she won the whole damn thing. And you know what? She just may have. Nobody, not even the eventual WSOP Main Event winner, is likely to fetch more interest in the poker, not to mention acting, world than Michelle. "I am going to announce that I'm signing with a poker site as a player within the next week," said Michelle. "That means I am going to get to play more poker, which is something I've always wanted the opportunity to do. "On an acting front, there is already such a buzz in Hollywood. I have three auditions when I get home. I have a feeling it is really going to be advantageous for both Tiffany as a poker player and Tiffany as an actress. There are just a lot of opportunities right now." But that doesn't mean Michelle will be dropping one career for the other any time soon. "In a perfect world, I would really like to back up what I've just done [in the WSOP] with some good results. If I could be on the poker tour and do a TV show or something at the same time, that would be incredible," Michelle said. "Fortunately, now I don't have to pick one. I can just continue to go back and forth." It might surprise some people to hear that Michelle has always felt like she belonged among the players on the biggest stages in poker. Not just as an interviewer, but with her elbows on the felt, her eyes reading opponents across the table. "It just feels like it's a role I am born to play," said Michelle. "I feel like for the last three or four years, I've seen myself at the table and I've known I was supposed to be there. I've walked on to the ESPN stage and thought, 'Man, one of those seats belongs to me.'" According to Michelle, her career as an actress really paved the way to her success on the felt. "There are so many parallels between acting and poker and how they have morphed into this one beast that has allowed me to ride this rush and come to where I am," said Michelle. "I think it's a big advantage to be an actress. With all the media attention in poker, there are certain players and personalities that don't know how to handle that. When the ESPN cameras come around I see so many players make moves for the camera. And they completely lose their game. It's really amazing how badly some people handle it. As an actress, I'm just like 'Whatever. It's a camera. Who even cares?' It's just such a comfortable scenario for me." She continued, "Also, as an actress, when I play a role I have to put myself in other people's shoes and take on their characteristics. It helps because I can kind of zone in on somebody and say 'OK, why and what is that they are doing?' It's very beneficial for reading people and picking up tells. At the same time, if I want to talk somebody into a bluff I can be a little showboat and be whatever character I want somebody to believe I am in order to send whatever information I want to send. As a whole I think it's very beneficial." After all was said and done and Michelle finally busted out of the tournament, she exited the Amazon Room quietly. Then she lay down on the carpet in one of the hotel's grand hallways and laughed for a very long time. Something tells us it's a laugh we'll be hearing again very soon.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 17, 2008 6:36 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
2008 WSOP: Introducing the November Nine
The final nine, dubbed the November Nine, battled their way through a field of 6,844 entrants, and on Monday they rose to the top of the final 27 players to take their positions at the final table. The cream of the crop this year and their chip counts are: Dennis Phillips - $26,295,000Ivan Demidov - $24,400,000Scott Montgomery - $19,690,000Peter Eastgate - $18,375,000Ylon Schwartz - $12,525,000Darus Suharto - $12,520,000David Rheem - $10,230,000Craig Marquis - $10,210,000Kelly Kim - $2,620,000 Hailing from St. Louis, Mo., Dennis Phillips is the oldest of the remaining players and also the chip leader. The 53-year old is an amateur poker player who is a full-time account manager for a commercial trucking company. Phillips also has some poker success on his resume already. He came in ninth place in the 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Tunica $500 No-Limit Hold'em event. His $2,386 cash there will be massively overshadowed by any money he walks away with from the Main Event final table in November. He also won his way into the Main Event through a satellite at Harrah's Casino in St. Louis. Ivan Demidov is only a couple million behind Phillips in the chip count, but away from the poker table the two are worlds apart. The 27-year-old Demidov hails from Moscow, Russia, and is a professional poker player. Demidov cashed deep in a WSOP event already this year, coming in 11th place in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. He also has a final table finish in a 2006 Russian Poker Championship event as a third place finish in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em evening event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2007. Scott Montgomery is another professional poker player at the final table. His poker resume looks pretty blank prior to 2008, but this has been a good year for the Canadian. In February he made the final table of the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, and he has already cashed in three other WSOP events as well. When he wasn't busy at the Rio with the WSOP, he also headed over to the Bellagio where he made the final table of the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em event of the Bellagio Cup IV. Montgomery put up cash to get into the Main Event, and it looks like his investment is going to pay off since he'll walk away with at least $900,670. The youngest player at the table will be Peter Eastgate, who is the only other player aside from Demidov who had to travel from outside North America to be at the final table. He comes from Odense, Denmark, where he is a professional poker player. He too paid into the Main Event with cash and will be seeing some hefty return on his investment. His prior experience includes playing the Party Poker Poker Million V and Poker Million VI, a ninth place finish in the 2007 Paddy Power Irish Open, and cashing in the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open. Should Eastgate win the Main Event, he would take over Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest ever Main Event winner in Las Vegas. Ylon Schwartz, from Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of the five Americans at the final table this year. The 38-year-old is a former professional chess player who discovered that he could make more money playing poker than he was making hustling chess games in New York City's public parks. He has been playing poker professionally for several years now and has 12 prior WSOP cashes to his name already, including a 15th-place finish in this year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. When asked how he made it this far in the tournament, Schwartz told PokerLIstings.com in an interview: "Pretty much just picking up small pots. I think I had one huge pot and basically just waited for people to make mistakes. And you know, at the World Series you've got a lot of novices, so they're bound to overvalue what they have. That happened a lot for me, so I was able to exploit that." The second Canadian at the Main Event final table is Darus Suharto, from Toronto, Ontario. The 39-year-old accountant is an amateur poker player who won his entry into the Main Event through a satellite. After coming in 448th place during the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Suharto has definitely topped his previous best cash in major poker tournament. No doubt he'll be happy to put his MBA from Indiana University to use figuring out how best to invest his money when the final table is played out. David "Chino" Rheem is probably the most well-known of the players at the final table this year. The 28-year-old professional player is from Los Angeles and has five prior cashes at the World Series. One of those is a final table in the 2008 $5,000 Limit/No-Limit Hold'em event where he came in fifth place. He too paid cash to get into the Main Event rather than winning his way in through the satellites at the Rio or through an online poker site. Another contender for youngest Main Event winner on record is Craig Marquis, 23, from Arlington, Texas. Marquis is a college student who's only been playing poker for about 18 months. Marquis had two cashes in the WSOP last year and cashed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout this year, but nothing compares to the money he'll take home after making the final table of the Main Event. Up until the Main Event, Marquis had been having a pretty rough series. In his interview with PokerListings after Day 6, he said he'd joked with his roommates that he was just saving it all up for the Main Event, and then it ended up working out well for him. The short stack at the final table will be Kelly Kim from Whittier, Calif. Kim is a former business analyst who converted to becoming a professional poker player. Kim has a long list of cashes in events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, but he has yet to post a major event win on his record. He'll now have four months to study-up and practice ways to play his short stack to victory as the players take their break before play begins again Nov. 9. The November Nine will play down to the final two on Nov. 9, and then the heads-up battle will take place starting at 10 p.m. PT on Nov. 10. The winner is expected to be crowned in the early morning hours of Nov. 11, with ESPN broadcasting the final that evening. "The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event has always become an instant celebrity," said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "This year, all nine players who make the final table will become household names - and are guaranteed life-changing prize money to go with their fame and place in poker history." The final nine will play for a total of $32,633,446, with first place earning more than nine million and all but the ninth place finisher walking away at least a millionaire. ESPN will air a one-hour special on the final nine players Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. ET. Coverage of the Main event begins Sept. 2 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN with two-hour episodes running each Tuesday until the Nov. 11 finale. For more information about how the players made it to the final table through the 11 days of the Main Event, visit the 2008 WSOP Live Tournaments section.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 15, 2008 8:08 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
The final nine, dubbed the November Nine, battled their way through a field of 6,844 entrants, and on Monday they rose to the top of the final 27 players to take their positions at the final table. The cream of the crop this year and their chip counts are: Dennis Phillips - $26,295,000Ivan Demidov - $24,400,000Scott Montgomery - $19,690,000Peter Eastgate - $18,375,000Ylon Schwartz - $12,525,000Darus Suharto - $12,520,000David Rheem - $10,230,000Craig Marquis - $10,210,000Kelly Kim - $2,620,000 Hailing from St. Louis, Mo., Dennis Phillips is the oldest of the remaining players and also the chip leader. The 53-year old is an amateur poker player who is a full-time account manager for a commercial trucking company. Phillips also has some poker success on his resume already. He came in ninth place in the 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Tunica $500 No-Limit Hold'em event. His $2,386 cash there will be massively overshadowed by any money he walks away with from the Main Event final table in November. He also won his way into the Main Event through a satellite at Harrah's Casino in St. Louis. Ivan Demidov is only a couple million behind Phillips in the chip count, but away from the poker table the two are worlds apart. The 27-year-old Demidov hails from Moscow, Russia, and is a professional poker player. Demidov cashed deep in a WSOP event already this year, coming in 11th place in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. He also has a final table finish in a 2006 Russian Poker Championship event as a third place finish in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em evening event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2007. Scott Montgomery is another professional poker player at the final table. His poker resume looks pretty blank prior to 2008, but this has been a good year for the Canadian. In February he made the final table of the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, and he has already cashed in three other WSOP events as well. When he wasn't busy at the Rio with the WSOP, he also headed over to the Bellagio where he made the final table of the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em event of the Bellagio Cup IV. Montgomery put up cash to get into the Main Event, and it looks like his investment is going to pay off since he'll walk away with at least $900,670. The youngest player at the table will be Peter Eastgate, who is the only other player aside from Demidov who had to travel from outside North America to be at the final table. He comes from Odense, Denmark, where he is a professional poker player. He too paid into the Main Event with cash and will be seeing some hefty return on his investment. His prior experience includes playing the Party Poker Poker Million V and Poker Million VI, a ninth place finish in the 2007 Paddy Power Irish Open, and cashing in the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open. Should Eastgate win the Main Event, he would take over Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest ever Main Event winner in Las Vegas. Ylon Schwartz, from Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of the five Americans at the final table this year. The 38-year-old is a former professional chess player who discovered that he could make more money playing poker than he was making hustling chess games in New York City's public parks. He has been playing poker professionally for several years now and has 12 prior WSOP cashes to his name already, including a 15th-place finish in this year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. When asked how he made it this far in the tournament, Schwartz told PokerLIstings.com in an interview: "Pretty much just picking up small pots. I think I had one huge pot and basically just waited for people to make mistakes. And you know, at the World Series you've got a lot of novices, so they're bound to overvalue what they have. That happened a lot for me, so I was able to exploit that." The second Canadian at the Main Event final table is Darus Suharto, from Toronto, Ontario. The 39-year-old accountant is an amateur poker player who won his entry into the Main Event through a satellite. After coming in 448th place during the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Suharto has definitely topped his previous best cash in major poker tournament. No doubt he'll be happy to put his MBA from Indiana University to use figuring out how best to invest his money when the final table is played out. David "Chino" Rheem is probably the most well-known of the players at the final table this year. The 28-year-old professional player is from Los Angeles and has five prior cashes at the World Series. One of those is a final table in the 2008 $5,000 Limit/No-Limit Hold'em event where he came in fifth place. He too paid cash to get into the Main Event rather than winning his way in through the satellites at the Rio or through an online poker site. Another contender for youngest Main Event winner on record is Craig Marquis, 23, from Arlington, Texas. Marquis is a college student who's only been playing poker for about 18 months. Marquis had two cashes in the WSOP last year and cashed in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout this year, but nothing compares to the money he'll take home after making the final table of the Main Event. Up until the Main Event, Marquis had been having a pretty rough series. In his interview with PokerListings after Day 6, he said he'd joked with his roommates that he was just saving it all up for the Main Event, and then it ended up working out well for him. The short stack at the final table will be Kelly Kim from Whittier, Calif. Kim is a former business analyst who converted to becoming a professional poker player. Kim has a long list of cashes in events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, but he has yet to post a major event win on his record. He'll now have four months to study-up and practice ways to play his short stack to victory as the players take their break before play begins again Nov. 9. The November Nine will play down to the final two on Nov. 9, and then the heads-up battle will take place starting at 10 p.m. PT on Nov. 10. The winner is expected to be crowned in the early morning hours of Nov. 11, with ESPN broadcasting the final that evening. "The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event has always become an instant celebrity," said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "This year, all nine players who make the final table will become household names - and are guaranteed life-changing prize money to go with their fame and place in poker history." The final nine will play for a total of $32,633,446, with first place earning more than nine million and all but the ninth place finisher walking away at least a millionaire. ESPN will air a one-hour special on the final nine players Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. ET. Coverage of the Main event begins Sept. 2 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN with two-hour episodes running each Tuesday until the Nov. 11 finale. For more information about how the players made it to the final table through the 11 days of the Main Event, visit the 2008 WSOP Live Tournaments section.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Jul 15, 2008 8:08 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
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Last former champ, Hellmuth, eliminated at WSOP
Phil Hellmuth, the last remaining WSOP main event winner, was eliminated on Sunday.
ESPN – Jul 14, 2008 12:13 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Phil Hellmuth, the last remaining WSOP main event winner, was eliminated on Sunday.
ESPN – Jul 14, 2008 12:13 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
WSOP Blog: Hellmuth eliminated
Although it would've been a dream scenario , poker fans around the world will not see Phil Hellmuth at the final table of the main event. In a dramatic final hand, Hellmuth moved all-in from under the...
ESPN – Jul 13, 2008 11:45 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Although it would've been a dream scenario , poker fans around the world will not see Phil Hellmuth at the final table of the main event. In a dramatic final hand, Hellmuth moved all-in from under the...
ESPN – Jul 13, 2008 11:45 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Wise: The dream falls short
Although Phil Hellmuth was eliminated during the second level of Day 6, the possiblity of a Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow making the final table would've been a dream scenario.
ESPN – Jul 13, 2008 9:35 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Although Phil Hellmuth was eliminated during the second level of Day 6, the possiblity of a Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow making the final table would've been a dream scenario.
ESPN – Jul 13, 2008 9:35 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
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WSOP Blog: Great structure benefits pros
Editor's note: Don't forget that you can watch Day 4 on ESPN on Sept. 30. New episodes of the WSOP air each Tuesday starting July 22. Full schedule Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen and Allen Cu...
ESPN – Jul 11, 2008 10:09 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Editor's note: Don't forget that you can watch Day 4 on ESPN on Sept. 30. New episodes of the WSOP air each Tuesday starting July 22. Full schedule Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen and Allen Cu...
ESPN – Jul 11, 2008 10:09 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Sports: Poker
Next Bodog.com cover boy/girl: You
Three-page interviews and flattering cover photos on news stands around the globe are usually the domain of the rich and famous: the world's best athletes; the world's most beautiful celebrities; Phil Hellmuth. Thanks to Bodog Poker, however, you're not even going to have to be a famous poker player to get a chance to grace the cover of an international magazine. You don't even have to be particularly photogenic. All you have to be: An excellent online poker player. And in the top 10 on Bodog.com's yearly Tournament Leaderboard On May 15, Bodog.com will pick one player from the top 10 to be featured in the July edition of the popular U.K.-based magazine, Online Poker Pro. And as one of "Bodog's best" online players, he or she will be featured both on the cover and in a three-page interview.You have until May 13 to make your way in to the top 10, with Bodog.com offering over $3.5 million in tournament prize money guaranteed each month and a wide variety of tournaments to choose from. Visit Bodog.com for a full schedule. Related Articles Home Videos Accepted for Bodog TV Series Wild Card Poker II Qualifiers on Bodog.comVisit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Apr 22, 2007 8:26 PM [GMT] ¦ 2 comments
found in Sports: Poker
Three-page interviews and flattering cover photos on news stands around the globe are usually the domain of the rich and famous: the world's best athletes; the world's most beautiful celebrities; Phil Hellmuth. Thanks to Bodog Poker, however, you're not even going to have to be a famous poker player to get a chance to grace the cover of an international magazine. You don't even have to be particularly photogenic. All you have to be: An excellent online poker player. And in the top 10 on Bodog.com's yearly Tournament Leaderboard On May 15, Bodog.com will pick one player from the top 10 to be featured in the July edition of the popular U.K.-based magazine, Online Poker Pro. And as one of "Bodog's best" online players, he or she will be featured both on the cover and in a three-page interview.You have until May 13 to make your way in to the top 10, with Bodog.com offering over $3.5 million in tournament prize money guaranteed each month and a wide variety of tournaments to choose from. Visit Bodog.com for a full schedule. Related Articles Home Videos Accepted for Bodog TV Series Wild Card Poker II Qualifiers on Bodog.comVisit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com – Apr 22, 2007 8:26 PM [GMT] ¦ 2 comments
found in Sports: Poker
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