WSOP 2008 Final Table

This year, for the first year ever, the final table at WSOP has been delayed to allow us all to get to know the lucky final 9 who will be battling it out in Las Vegas for the $9.1 million first prize and of course the priceless WSOP Champions Bracelet.

As expected online players played strongly throughout the main event and all 9 players at the final table play at the 2 largest online poker sites on earth - 6 for Pokerstars and the 3 remaining at Full Tilt Poker. Aptly dubbed the November 9, surely they will all become extremely well known in the poker world before the year is out. Pokerstars are already capitalising on the interest in their players by running promotions where we all get the chance to play their "Million Dollar Men" or even win a share in their eventual winnings.

Here are some links to some of the best WSOP 2008 final table promotions:-

Win a Share of the Million Dollar Men
Pokerstars Million Dollar Men Freerolls
Outlast the Million Dollar Men Tournament

Who’s Who at the WSOP Main Event Final Table

Dennis Phillips
Age: 53
Hometown: St Louis, USA
Chip Count: $26,295,000
Seat Number: 1
Plays online at Pokerstars.com as 'fordman1954'

Dennis Philips was raised on a farm and works as an account manager for a commercial trucking company. He has vowed to ‘keep his feet on the ground’ whatever the outcome of the tournament and has confirmed he will be donating some of his winnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. He has reached the final table of a couple of WSOP circuit events before and reached this WSOP main event after winning a $200 buy-in at Harrah’s St Louis Casino and Hotel. He has been wearing a red cap throughout the tournament bearing the name of his favourite baseball team, St. Louis Cardinals. 

Ivan Demidov
Age: 27
Hometown: Moscow, Russia
Chip Count: $24,400,000
Seat Number: 7
Plays online at Pokerstars.com as 'hasuling'

Ivan Demidov left Moscow State University in 2004, having earned a maths degree. He came a respectable 11th in this years $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event and has finished in the money in Russian and European tournaments. He is a semi-professional player supplementing his earnings playing online and his visit to this year’s WSOP was partly funded by a friend. Away from poker, he enjoys skiing, scuba diving and white water rafting.

Scott Montgomery
Age: 26
Hometown: Perth, Canada
Chip Count: $19,690,000
Seat Number: 4
Plays online at Fulltiltpoker.com

Scott Montgomery is from Ontario in Canada but learnt to play poker in Japan whilst he was working there as an English teacher. He has had a lot of success this year having won almost $300,000 in the L.A. Poker Classic in February and getting in the money in three WSOP events prior to the main event. He even spent his day off between day one and two of the main event to enter the Bellagio Cup IV and came fourth. He plans to play as many tournaments as possible before the WSOP main event final table and describes his playing style as ‘ insanely psychotically aggressive.’

Peter Eastgate
Age: 22
Hometown: Odense, Denmark
Chip Count: $18,375,000
Seat Number: 9
Plays online at Pokerstars.com as 'Isser'

Peter Eastgate began playing poker online at Pokerstars after graduating from high school. He dropped out of his economics degree a year later to become a professional player and has been building his bankroll ever since. In 2007, he reached his first live tournament final table in the Irish Open. He intends to invest any prize money he makes and should he finish first will become the youngest main event winner ever.

Ylon Schwartz
Age: 38
Hometown: New York, USA
Chip Count: $12,525,000
Seat Number: 3
Plays at Pokerstars.com as 'tenthplanet'

Ylon Schwartz is the most experienced live tournament player at the WSOP final table and gained his first money finish in a tournament ten years ago. Before poker he was a professional chess player, plying his trade at Manhatton’s Washington Square Park. This year was his fourth at the WSOP and he already has eleven WSOP cashes to his name. His Brooklyn home is his base for some prolific online play and also where he practices yoga. He says he would consider retiring to a beach in South America if he won the main event.

Darus Suharto
Age: 39
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Chip Count: $12,520,000
Seat Number: 5
Plays at Pokerstars.com as Dennis_TO

Darus Suharto was born in Indonesia but now lives in Ontario, Canada where he works as an accountant. He won his seat by paying $80 and qualifying through two rounds of satellites on Pokerstars. He plays around fifteen hours of online poker a week and considers himself an amateur who saw poker as a way to pay off his mortgage. He managed his only other live cash finish at the 2006 WSOP main event when he finished 448th.

David Chino Rheem
Age: 28
Hometown: Los Angeles, USA
Chip Count: $10,230,000
Seat Number: 6
Plays at Pokerstars.com as'Chino23'

David Rheem is the best known face at the main event table and almost took a WSOP bracelet in 2006 when he came second in $1000 buy-in Hold’em event. He started playing in Florida, aged eighteen, where the US gambling laws were less strict. A brief stint in prison for several felonies was an enforced break from poker for Rheem but afterward he left Florida for Los Angeles where his game improved. In 2005, he cashed in the grand final of a major tournament and hasn’t looked back since, his game going from strength to strength. 

Craig Marquis
Age: 23
Hometown: Arlington, Texas
Chip Count: $10,210,000
Seat Number: 2
Plays at Fulltiltpoker.com

Should Craig Marquis be able to win at the final table, not only would he be the youngest winner but ironically, the first Texan to take the Texas Hold’em WSOP main event bracelet. He has been to the WSOP before and cashed twice but generally he concentrates on online cash games. He has been playing poker for less than two years but already he is an internet professional.

Kelly Kim
Age: 31
Hometown: Whittier, USA
Chip Count: $2,620,000
Seat Number: 8
Plays at Fulltiltpoker.com

Korean born Kelly Kim, comes to the table severely short-stacked but the former business analyst is not counting himself out yet. This is his sixth consecutive year in the WSOP main event, his previous best being a cash finish in 398th place in 2005. He is experienced in tournaments and has had final table finishes in the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the LA Poker Classic and since qualifying for the main event final table, a fourth place finish in the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker tournament. He enters fewer tournaments nowadays but the WSOP is special for him. His tight playing style will also mean he doesn’t give away his remaining chips too easily.