Las Vegas, NV
Well, we're down to the final two players. One of them will be poker's next superstar. Which one will it be?
The Final Two:And without further ado, here's the skinny on the final two...
Peter Eastgate (Denmark) - 79.5M
Ivan Demidov (Russia) - 57.725M
1st Place - $9,152,416
2nd Place - $5,809,595
8:30pm... Action with OtisI should actually sub-title this Otis Money Is the Sweetest Money. During dinner, Otis and I decided upon
1. Time on tournament clock (last digit) when action stops?
Otis: Even
Pauly: Odd
2. Who has the button on the last hand?
Otis: Peter Eastgate
Pauly: Ivan Demidov
3. Winning hand (at the time when money goes all in)... suckout or best hand holds?
Otis: Hold
Pauly: Suckout
4. Time of the first all in? Over/Under at 12:25am.
Otis: Over 12:25am
Pauly: Under 12:25am
5. Will Aces or Kings get cracked?
Otis: No
Pauly: Yes
6. Will the first pocket pair at showdown be 9-9 and higher or 8-8 and lower?
Otis: 8-8 and under
Pauly: 9-9 and over
7. Total hands of heads up play? Over/Under at 72.5.
Otis: Over 72.5 hands
Pauly: Under 72.5 hands
8. Final hand number (according to PokerNews.com)?
Otis: Even
Pauly: Odd
9. Overall winner?
Otis: Peter Eastgate +20
Pauly: Ivan Demidov +25
10. When will the Danes sing the "Ooooompa" song (after cards go in the air)? Over/Under at 10:53pm?
Otis: Over 10:53pm
Pauly: Under 10:53pm
11. Winning hand? Better than Q-7 or worse than Q-7?
Otis: Worse than Q-7
Pauly: Better than Q-7
12. Player to get the first walk in the big blind?
Otis: Ivan Demidov
Pauly: Peter Eastagte
13. What will be the winning hand?
Straight flush: Otis
Quads: Pauly
Full house: Otis
Flush: Pauly
Straight: Pauly
Set: Otis
Trips: Pauly
Two pair: Pauly
Pair: Otis
High Card: Otis
14. Which female dealer will deal the final hand?
Otis: Linda
Pauly: Jenna
9:30pm... The Calm Before the Storm and Why Otis Has a Chubby
The hot DJ is back. She's a tall leggy femme fatale with a black cowboy hat resting on top of her streaky blonde hair. She wore red lingerie yesterday and today it's a black Milwaukee's Beast tank top and exposing her midriff and hugging her supple breasts. She has been bopping up and down while spinning on the 1s and 2s. A small pool of saliva has collected near Otis' laptop in media row. We had to get him a bib to keep his shirt clean.
The room is buzzing, much like yesterday with the exception of the several hundred Dennis Phillips clones. Many of them are still around wandering through the casino at odd hours. You can't miss them, sort of like that scene in Being John Malkovich.
The media row in the orchestra pit has filled up. I'm sitting next to Flipchip and Matt from PokerListings. Michalski actually showed up on time. We recorded one episode of Tao of Pokerati. F Train and Change100 are up on the stage and getting ready to do provide hand-for-hand coverage of the heads up battle.
Me? I'm comfortably numb. This will be my fourth consecutive final table of the WSOP. I caught the last ever one at Benny's Bullpen at Binion's in 2005 when Joe Hachem won. I was hanging out in the peanut gallery when Jamie Gold beat Paul Wasicka in 2006. Last year, I was ringside with BJ as we did hand-for-hand for PokerNews. This year? Well it's special because it's the November Nine and inside the Penn & Teller theatre.
Oh, and before I forget... thanks to the gang at Cluster Stock for the shout out! They mentioned the Tao of Poker in a post titled... So, Who's Psyched About The WSOP Final Table?. Thanks guys.
10:00pm... Erick Lindgren - Player of the Year
Jeffrey Pollack took the stage at 10:15pm to present Erick Lindgren the Player of the Year award and a custom-made Harley Davidson motorcycle. F Train mentioned that the engraving was wrong. Ooooops. Someone's getting whacked for that.
"This is awesome. I can't believe all of you are here to watch poker!" joked Lindgren. "One of my best friends, Daniel Negreanu, have won this award. It's truly an honor. You'll get to watch a really great heads up match. Oh, and Doyle Brunson said to tell you guys, 'There is a cash game when they are done tonight.'"
Jack Effel introduced the final two players as they unbagged their chips.
"This is gonna take twenty minutes for them to stack their chips," said Jeremy Firth.
Jack Effel is helping them out. He's hustling for a fat tip. But as we know, Europeans don't tip very well since it's not really in their culture.
10:32pm... Let's Get Ready to Rumble
Michael Buffer did the "Let's get ready to... shuffle up and deal" honors. Yawn. He was huge like in 1998 when it was cool to actually wear Doc Maartens. I'm just giving him shit. He did a good job. He tried to give it a boxing spin. He called Ivan the Russian..."From Russia with Love Ivan Demidov."
I wonder how much it cost to get him to do that? $50K? $100K and an 8-ball and three Hooker Bar hookers?
Jack Effel tried to speak to the players in their native tongues. Both players smirked.
Cards went in the air at 10:34pm. We're on Level 27. Blinds are 300k/600k with a 75k ante. There is 8:31 left in this level.
A couple of former champs are in the crowd including... Jamie Gold and Jesus.
The final table has several dozens bricks of cash. Fake money? Real money? Who cares. It looks cool. The effect on TV will be tremendous. Both players are deep stacked which means they both have mountains of chips on the table in three denominations... 25,000; 100,000; and 250,000.
Peter Eastgate is a backwards hat kinda guy. He's the good guy if you consider that he has the white PokerStars hat. And Ivan the Russian? He's sporting a black PokerStars hat.
The wife and daughter of Stuey Ungar are here tonight... Madeline and Stephanie Ungar. They got a warm round of applause.
There are now 14 prop bets between Otis and myself. #14 has been added above.
In case you were wondering, there are five different dealers in rotation for the final table. Michalski and I each took two dealers and bet on which one will deal the knock out hand. Michalksi has Linda and the old white guy. I have Jenna and Kevin.
10:54pm... Otis 1, Pauly 1
I won the first prop bet of the night.... 12. Player to get the first walk in the big blind? I picked Peter Eastgate and I won. As soon as Jack Effel announced the result, everything got quiet in the theatre. The cliche fits... it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Actually, it was so quiet you could hear Otis go on prop bet tilt. He involuntarily unleashed a loud, "Noooooooo!" So loud that everyone in the theatre heard him. Otis' face flushed with blood. He was beet red as he got pretty embarrassed. Yes, it's not even Midnight and I tilted Otis.
I lost the second bet.... 10. When will the Danes sing the "Ooooompa" song (after cards go in the air)? Over/Under at 10:53pm? I had the under. I figured that when Eastgate won the first hand, his boys would start screaming and singing. No such luck.
Oh and there's a Chris Moneymaker sighting.
And we have a brand spanking new episode of Tao of Pokerati. The first of tonight...
Book 4: WSOP Final Table.... Episode 4.11: Deal or No Deal? (5:33)
Michalski says: When the security guys came out with the money — 9 million semi-real American dollars for the money — a few of us in media row joked about telling the story that the guys left at the final table had decided to chop up the remaining prize pool and play for it Deal or Ne Deal style. (Ha ha, we are so damn funny.) But on this episode of Tao of Pokerati, Pauly and I take the issue a bit more seriously, and break down what’s really at stake for Ivan and Peter — who became friends recently playing on the EPT on PokerStars’ dime — beyond just the $3.34 million in prize differential between 1st and 2nd.
11:24pm... Where's Gus Hansen?
Jesper Hougaard is in the house. The Copenhagen, Denmark native won two WSOP bracelets this year. He won one of the $1,500 slaughterfests this summer and he took down the £1,500 NL event at the WSOPE in London. He's been in the crowd the last two days supporting his fellow countryman Peter Eastgate. But where's Gus Hansen? Probably out banging groupies instead of rooting on one of his own.
FYI... if Eastgate wins the Main Event tonight, he will become the third Danish player to win a bracelet this year. Theo Jorgensen won one at the WSOPE in London.
Some stats (through the first 25 hands):There have been only 6 flops through the first 25 hands of heads up. Appears that both players are feeling each other out. Eastgate picked up less than 2m in chips even though Demidov won one more hand than him.
Eastgate - 12 hands won
Demidov - 13 hands won
12:24am... No Nerves of Steel
I thought Scandis and Russians had ice water flowing through their veins. It appears that both are super nervous. This is coming directly from Lou the dealer. Michalski and I bumped into him on the first break. Lou just came off from dealing to both guys.
"Yesterday, nobody was nervous. But today, they are both very nervous. You can see it in their hands. They are both shaking."
He mentioned that Eastgate was more nervous that Ivan the Russian.
That made sense because Ivan made the final table in London for the WSOPE and played under the hot TV lights.
"You can see it in his face," the dealer explained about Eastgate's early jitters.
Despite his early bout with the nerves, Eastgate increased his lead.
Updated Chip Counts as 12:24am:Well, if I was coring this as a boxing match (through the first 35 hands) the first round went to Peter Eastgate.
Peter Eastgate - 86.325M
Ivan Demidov - 50.575M
12:44am.... 100 Million Man
First monsterpotten of the night goes to Peter Eastgate. Here's what happened.... Eastgate limped from the button. Ivan the Russian raised to almost 2m. Eastgate called. The flop was 9h-7s-6d. Ivan the Russian fired out 3.6m. Eastgate called. The turn was the Jh. Both players checked. The river was the Qs. Ivan the Russian bet 7m. Eastgate insta-called Js-8s. His pair of Jacks were good against Ivan's A-10. Yeah, Ace-high is no good.
That hand thrusted Eastgate over the 100m barrier while Ivan the Russian slipped to 35m.
Some stats (thru hands 26-50):Eastgate pulled away over the last batch of 25 hands. Although he only has three more wins over Demidov overall, he has picked up the larger pots thus far. That's the main reason why he's leading 3 to 1 in chips.
Eastgate - 14 hands won, 1 chop
Demidov - 10 hands won, 1 chop
Overall stats (thru 50 hands):
Eastgate - 26 hands won, 1 chop
Demidov - 23 hands won, 1 chop
12:55am... Longest Final Table.... Ever!
Jack Effel made an announcement that this final table is now the longest final table in history of the WSOP. The 2005 main event that Joe Hachem won lasted 14 hours and 2 minutes. This one has surpassed that mark.
Oh and I forgot that I saw Jamie Gold in the hallway during the break. He was mobbed by fans and posed for several pictures.
Lacey Jones stopped by the media row in the orchestra pit to say hello. Shes doing the commentary over at Bluff TV.
1:23am... Otis 3, Pauly 1
I two more prop bets.... 4. Time of the first all in? Over/Under at 12:25am.. Yeah, I had the under. Almost one hour later, neither of them have been all in yet.
And the other loser? 7. Total hands of heads up play? Over/Under at 72.5. Another whiff from me. They just completed Hand #73.
There are more Peter Eastgate fans in the house. Jack Effel took a poll. Ivan the Russian got a smattering of applause, while Eastgate received a much louder response from the crowd. Plenty of Dennis Phillips clones wandering around the theatre. They showed up to check out the action.
Some stats (thru hands 51-75):The last round goes to Ivan the Russian. He managed to pick up 4m or so over the last dozen hands. He still trails like 95m to 41m but at least he stopped the bleeding... for now.
Eastgate - 10 hands won
Demidov - 15 hands won
Overall stats (thru 75 hands):
Eastgate - 36 hands won, 1 chop
Demidov - 38 hands won, 1 chop
2:01am...Eastgate Stops Russian Counter-Offensive
Finally, just when everyone started to doze off, there was some action. Ivan the Russian had mounted a minor comeback. He bottomed out at 30m and ran his stack back up to 53m until he lost a decisive pot....
Ivan raised 2m and Eastgate called. The flop was Kd-10d-7c and everyone checked. The turn was the Jd and Eastgate fired out 2.5m. Ivan the Russian popped him for 8m. Eastgate called. The river was the 3s. Eastgate checked. Ivan the Russian pulled out 12m. Eastgate called. He tabled 7d-4d for a flush while Demidov showed Ac-9s for a busted straight and only Ace high. Eastgate won the pot and his posse unleashed their Oooooopa song for the first time in the evening.
After the dust settled, Eastgate increased his stack to 108m, while Ivan the Russian slipped to 28m. Eastgate stopped the Russian counter-offensive.
Some stats (thru hands 76-100):Once again, it's quality that matters, not quantity. Demidov won more pots over the last 25 hands, but Eastgate picked up the largest pot in that span as he increased his lead to over 80m.
Eastgate - 11 hands won
Demidov - 14 hands won
Overall stats (thru 100 hands):
Eastgate - 47 hands won, 1 chop
Demidov - 52 hands won, 1 chop
Players are on a 20-minute break. Here's the chip count....
Peter Eastgate - 120.55M2:34am... Ivan Demidov Eliminated in 2nd Place; Peter Eastgate Wins 2008 WSOP!
Ivan Demidov - 16.35M
On the first hand after the break, on the 105th hand of heads up play and Hand #274 of the final table, Peter Eastgate knocked out Ivan Demidov.
Here's the final hand... Both players limped. The flop was Ks-3h-2d. Demidov checked. Eastgate bet 1.25m and Demidov called. The turn was the 4c. Demidov checked. Eastgate bet 2m. Demidov check-raised to 6m. Eastgate called. The river was the 7s. Demidov moved all in for the rest of his stack. Eastgate insta-called.
Demidov: 4h-2h
Eastgate: Ad-5s
Demidov's two-pair was not good enough because Eastgate turned the Wheel. He won the hand and Demidov was eliminated in second place. The Russian won $5,809,595. Eastgate collected $9,152,416 and became the youngest ever WSOP champion (and broke Phil Hellmuth's 19 year record in the process).
"This was a good final table, obviously, because I won it," joked Eastgate. "There was a lot of competent players at the final table. It's was tough. I'm really tired. I'm exhausted."
2008 November Nine Final Table Results:Yep, that's it. Peter Eastgate from Denmark is officially the biggest swinging dick in Las Vegas after winning the 2008 WSOP. That kid is definitely gonna get laid tonight.
1. Peter Eastgate - $9,152,416
2. Ivan Demidov - $5,809,595
3. Dennis Phillips - $4,517,773
4. Ylon Schwartz - $3,774,974
5. Scott Montgomery - $3,096,768
6. Darus Suharto - $2,418,562
7. David "Chino" Rheem - $1,772,650
8. Kelly Kim - $1,288,217
9. Craig Marquis - $900,670
With that being said, thanks to everyone for tuning in to the Tao of Poker. It's been a wild, indulgent, poignant, insane, and epic 2008 WSOP and the November Nine is officially over. Time to tilt Otis at the Hooker Bar and make some money back lime tossing. I'll post our prop bet results soon.
Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
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