2008 WSOP - The Best is Yet to Come!
The
wsop 2008 is almost over, but
the most exciting part is yet to
come – the final table of the
$10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main
Event! The so called “November
Nine” will return to the Rio Casino
in Las Vegas to fight for the World
Champion title and the $9 million
first prize. Every poker magazine
and
online poker guide will be
there to cover the conclusion of
the biggest poker tournament in the
world, and people who used to ask “What
is WSOP?” will be talking about
chip counts, big bluffs and bad
beats.
We’ll get back to that, but let’s
first have a quick look-back at
what happened at the World Series
of Poker during the summer:
Scotty Nguyen became HORSE
champion. The $50,000 HORSE event
is the most prestigious of all WSOP
tournaments, perhaps with exception
of the Main Event. All the big pros
come to play, and just as usual one
of them won, this time it was
Scotty Nguyen, also known as “The
Prince of Poker.” Scotty’s
behaviour at the final table might
have been questionable, but he
definitely earned the title and the
$1,989,120 in prize money thanks to
his superior poker skills.
John Phan won two bracelets. “The
Razor” was the only player to score
twice at the 2008 WSOP – first he
took home Event 29, $3,000 No-Limit
Hold'em, and a couple of weeks
later he triumphed in Event 40,
$2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
(Limit).
Phan didn’t win the 2008 WSOP
Player of the Year race, however.
That prestigious title went to
Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren instead.
E-Dog won his first ever WSOP
bracelet in Event 4 $5,000 Mixed
Hold’em, and finished in the top 20
four more time, including two final
tables.
A lot of other famous pros won
bracelets as well: Nenad Medic,
David Singer, Mike Matusow, Daniel
Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Dario
Minieri, Layne Flack, David
Benyamine and J.C. Tran, just to
name a few.
In November another player will
become a legend. These are the nine
who have the chance to write poker
history:
Dennis “Fordman” Phillips (St.
Louis, MO)
Chips: 26,295,000
Age 53
Account manager for a commercial
trucking company
Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia)
Chips: 24,400,000
Age: 27
Professional Poker Player
Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario –
Canada)
Chips: 19,690,000
Age 26
Professional Poker Player
Peter Eastgate (Odense, Denmark)
Chips: 18,375,000
Age 22
Professional Poker Player
Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, NY)
Chips: 12,525,000
Age 38
Professional Poker Player
Darus Suharto (Toronto, Ontario –
Canada)
Chips: 12,520,000
Age 39
Accountant
David "Chino" Rheem (Los Angeles,
CA)
Chips: 10,230,000
Age 28
Professional Poker Player
Craig Marquis (Arlington, TX)
Chips: 10,210,000
Age: 23
College Student
Kelly Kim (Whittier, CA)
Chips: 2,620,000
Age 31
Professional Poker Player