Final table set for World Series
Now the experiment begins at the World Series of Poker: The final table is set. They'll play it off in November and ESPN will air it on the same day.
The final nine of 6,844 competitors in the $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship will return to the Rio Nov. 9 to begin the battle for the Main Event title and the top prize of $9.1 million.
Players left, and their chip stack, are:
· DENNIS PHILLIPS, 53, St. Louis, Missouri, 26,295,000
· IVAN DEMIDOV, 27, Moscow, Russia, 24,400,000
· SCOTT MONTGOMERY, 26, Perth, Ontario, Canada, 19,690,000
· PETER EASTGATE, 22, Odense, Denmark, 18,375,000
· YLON SCHWARTZ, 38, Brooklyn, New York, 12,525,000
· DARUS SUHARTO, 39, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 12,520,000
· DAVID RHEEM, 28, Los Angeles, California, 10,230,000
· CRAIG MARQUIS, 23, Arlington, Texas, 10,210,000
· KELLY KIM, 31, Whittier, California, 2,620,000
The nine will play down to two on Nov. 9; the final two competitors will then go heads up beginning at 10 p.m. PDT on Nov. 10, with the winner expected to be crowned in the early morning hours of Nov. 11. ESPN will carry same-day coverage of the victory beginning at 9 p.m. EST on Nov. 11.
The World Series release is on the jump:
“The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event has always become an instant celebrity,” said World Series of Poker 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.”ESPN will air a one-hour special on the final nine participants Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. EST. The network’s high-definition coverage of the Main Event begins Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 9 p.m. EST; two-hour episodes will run each Tuesday until the Nov. 11 finale.
The 39th annual World Series of Poker was the largest and richest in history, attracting 58,720 competitors in its 55 events – an increase of 4,432, or 8 percent, over the previous record established in 2007. The total prize pool at this year’s World Series of Poker was $180,676,248, an increase of $20,880,030 over the previous record, also established last year. Players from a record 118 countries participated in this year’s tournaments, more than in the most recent Winter Olympics. That number is up 36 percent from the previous record of 87 countries set in 2007.
The 39th annual World Series of Poker, a compilation of 55 tournaments covering all of the game’s major variations, began May 30 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The Main Event, with four start dates to accommodate its large playing field, began on July 3.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
