Gambling Today

It only cost him $80.

Darus Suharto qualified on PokerStars for the World Series Main Event. His $80 win got him into a bigger qualifier and there he won his prize package to Las Vegas.

Now, Suharto is one of the November Nine, the final table players of the 2008 World Series Main Event.

Here’s what he had to say in the moments after he made the final table.

Watch WSOP 08: Darus Suharto Finalist on PokerStars.tv

See the other interviews with The PokerStars Six:

Dennis Phillips interview
Ylon Schwartz interview
Peter Eastgate interview
David Chino Rheem interview
Ivan Demidov interview

Dennis Phillips told us ini the last few days of the World Series that the ESPN crews were calling him “red hat.” His autographed St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap was not hard to spot in the crowd. Otherwise, the accountant from Missouri is humble enough to blend into any poker tournament.

That all changed this week when Phillips emerged as the chip leader in the 2008 World Series. Now, plans to go back to work for four months and plan for what will be one of the biggest days of his life.

Here’s what he told our video blog team as he got ready to go home.

Watch WSOP 08: Dennis Philips WSOP Finalist on PokerStars.tv

Perhaps better known online as TenthPlanet, Ylon Schwartz is no stranger to live poker. A regular on the East Coast live scene, Schwartz has been around long enough to have paid his dues. Now the chess expert, lover of all games, and PokerStars is looking to get away for a while.

In his own words, he was “bugging out” when he finally made the final table. He took a few minutes to talk to us before escaping to places unknown in preparation for the November final table.

Here’s what he had to say.

Watch WSOP 08: Ylon Schwartz on PokerStars.tv

It’s one thing to be one of the top five cash game players from your home country. It’s another thing to be at the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker. PokerStars player Peter Eastgate happens to be both of those things.

In the blur that followed the minutes after making the final table, a stunned Eastgate talked to our video blog team. Here’s what he had to say.

Watch WSOP 08: Peter Eastgate WSOP Finalist on PokerStars.tv

David “Chino” Rheem is a young up-and-comer in the poker world. The PokerStars player had a big contingent of famous players on the rail cheering him on as he made the final table of the 2008 World Series.

The player from California talked to the PokerStars video blog team as he stepped away from the World Series for a 117-day break. Here’s what he had to say.

Watch WSOP 08: David Rheem Finalist on PokerStars.tv

In minutes that followed PokerStars player Ivan Demodov’s making it to the 2008 World Series final table, he was still in shock. After coming all the way from Moscow to compete in his first major live tournament, Demidov could barely find the words to explain what had just happened to him.

Now, Demidov is set to become a superstar in Russia and around the poker world. Here is what he had to say in the moments after making the final table.

Watch WSOP 08: Ivan Demidov Finalist on PokerStars.tv

In the Rio Amazon Room, there is no Monday. There is no July. Time and date are irrelevant. There is no news from around the world, lamentations about the economy, or even the usual banal discussion of the weather. It took rain in the desert to get anyone to notice the sky. In the thunderdome that is the World Series of Poker, all that matters is life and death at the World Series of Poker table. Once the fallen are carried out and given their due seconds of respect, all that remains is hope for the living.

This has been the case during the days that are defined by number instead of name. Through four day ones, two day twos, and the subsequent days three, four, five and six, even numerologists were stymied. Here, the calendar read Day 7 and that meant only 27 people remained with their life-blood chips. Everyone knew that two-thirds of that number would walk away with at least a quarter million bucks, but a lifetime of what-ifs about what could’ve been. Nobody could predict or control who would be here at the end of the night. All we knew is that nine people would be able to walk out of this room tonight with their chins up and their eyes set on a $9 million prize.

From here on out, they will be known as the November Nine–the final nine of 6,844 runners who started the 2008 World Series Main Event and emerged tonight with the right to come back in four months and fight for the championship bracelet. Among those players are the PokerStars Six, a tough combination of PokerStars players and qualifiers who will be part of history in November.

In all, PokerStars players have already cashed for more than $9 million combined in the Main Event. The PokerStars Six will have their chance at a total of another $32.6 million that’s up for grabs in November.

Here is a look at the PokerStars players who will return to compete for poker’s biggest prize.

Dennis Peters (2,620,000)–Dennis Peters is an accountant from St. Louis, Missouri who has done his home town proud. His has not yet been seen without an autographed St. Louis Cardinals cap and speaks fondly of his Show-Me State roots. Peters is a regular at Harrahs St. Louis and plays live there as often as he can. It cost him $200 to get into this Main Event. He plans to leave Vegas and go back to his job for the four months between now and the final table in November. That, and he said, “play a lot of poker.” Not a bad plan for the World Series chip leader.

Ivan Demidov (24,400,000) – Ivan Demidov is from Moscow Russia. “We’re having a good year,” he says of himself and his countrymen. This year, he placed 11th in the $1,000 rebuy event. Both a tournament and cash game player, Demidov is a 27-year-old online semi-pro. A friend and backer helped him raise the $10,000 to get into the event. The 2008 World Series is his first major live tournament. Demidov has a degree in math and is looking to bring home he big numbers for mother Russia.

Peter Eastgate — (18,375,000) — Peter Eastgate is a 22-year-old PokerStars player. He is known as a fearless but volatile player, among the top five online pros in Denmark. He mainly plays high-stakes cash games - $200-400 short-handed or heads-up. Jacob Rasmussen, who came 5th at EPT4 Dortmund, was asked if Peter Eastgate was the next Gus Hansen. He said, “Not really. It’s more like Gus Hansen is the first Peter Eastgate.”

Ylon Schwartz — (12,525,000) – A native New Yorker — born in Manhattan and now living in Brooklyn — Ylon Schwartz is a chess whizz and a poker player with 11 previous cashes in World Series events dating back to 2005. He’s equally at home playing chess in the super-competitive games in New York’s Washington Square Park, idling the time in Golden Nugget low limit ring games or tearing up the major poker tournaments in the east coast casinos of Atlantic City and Foxwoods. You can find him playing as TenthPlanet on PokerStars.

Darus Suharto — (12,520,000) — Darus Suharto is from Toronto, Canada. He is an accountant who loves his job so much, he would find it hard to quit, even if he won the World Series Main Event. He would like to find more time to play poker, but because he spends so much time working, most of his tournament poker experience comes from playing online. He qualified for his seat on PokerStars and has already forgotten about his modest cash from the World Series in 2006.

David “Chino” Rheem — (10,230,000)– David “Chino” Rheem has had a great year, taking 5th place in the $5k NL tournament in June for $93,624. The 28-year-old from Miami, Florida has enjoyed a string of tournament successes recently including five WSOP cashes in the last three years. This includes $327,981 in the 2006 $1,000 NLHE event. In the main event David was among the chip leaders each day, and rallied superbly when a series of bad hands almost eliminated him in the latter stages but bounced back to make the November Nine. David admits the money will change his life, that’s unavoidable, but he hopes it won’t change the person he is or the friends he has.

More than a thousand PokerStars qualifiers competed in this year’s 39th World Series Main Event, including 45 who had paid nothing at all to get to Vegas after winning their seats in PokerStars Frequent Player Point (FPP) tournaments. The highest FPP finisher was American Doug Ashmore who turned his 4,000 FPPs into $41,816 with a 124th place finish. Other notable qualifiers included Tim Loecke, from Illinois, who made it to 24th place for $257,334. He won his seat in a $63 satellite and was playing in his first-ever live poker tournament. Online pros Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki came 12th for $591,869 and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, made it to 15th place and a $463,201 payout. Both spent just $215 to win their WSOP seats via PokerStars satellite tournaments.

Team PokerStars Pros were also out in force at this year’s WSOP, including former world champions Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, as well as poker legends Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein. Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin lasted longest with a 64th place finish for $96,500. Three other Team PokerStars Pros also cashed - Hevad Khan (240th) for $35,383; Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (370th) for $28,950 and Vanessa Rousso (625th) for $21,230.

Kara Scott, presenter of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour, was sponsored into the main event by PokerStars and was thrilled - in her first ever WSOP - to make 104th place for $41,816. Kirill Gerasimov from Russia and Jan Heitmann from Germany, also both backed by PokerStars, both cashed in 439th and 585th place respectively. PokerStars also sponsored celebrities such as Jason Alexander from “Seinfeld”, Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon, “ER” actor Mekhi Phifer, MMA fighter Chuck Liddell, MLB greats David Wells and Orel Hershiser and Indy stock car racer Gualter Salles.

As well as their $10,000 buy-in to the main event, spending money and luxury hotel accommodation at the Palms hotel, PokerStars qualifiers also enjoyed the spectacular PokerStars WSOP party at Rain nightclub, featuring scores of celebrities, star poker players and the burlesque artist Dita Von Teese.

This feels at the same time a conclusion and delayed satisfaction. We will all leave this giant convention center tonight with a feeling that we are finished. Yet, we all know that in four short months the real contest will begin with the biggest money and fame on the line.

So, at this hour we cannnot say goodbye. We can only say goodnight and see you later. It’s been yet another astounding World Series for PokerStars and the PokerStars Blog. Over the course of the next several months you can expect to see a lot more on the PokerStars Six. Until then, thanks for reading and congratulations to all the PokerStars players for their performance here at the 2008 World Series.

Long stretches of boredom with moment of sheer terror. It’s an expression that’s been used so many times to describe all sorts of scenarios, but if the long stretches between the action have been the ‘boredom’, the last half an hour has provided the terror – at least for some of the players involved.

First PokerStars player Darus Suharto doubled up with kings over Joe Bishop’s ace-queen. It was a make or break shuffle for Darus who leapt from being the short stack to the relative safety of the main pack. Joe Bishop was then involved again, with Kelly Kim this time who held pocket eights to Joe’s 7-8. Another bad hand for Joe, culminating with a hand against PokerStars player David Rheem, which would seal Bishop’s demise.

Darus Suharto

Bishop had moved all-in with Ac3h for 2.4m which Chino called with pocket deuces. The flop was rose tinted for Bishop, making two pairs on the Ah3c5s flop. But also lurking was the straight draw for Rheem which his vocal supporters knew all too well. The Qc on the turn made Bishop walk away unable to look. He had good reason or the incredible was about to happen, a 4h on the river, making Rheem his straight and busting Bishop in 11th place.

David ‘Chino’ Rheem

The hand was followed by cheering and a general scrum for places on the main feature table stage where right now the remaining ten players prepare to play on into the night until one more of them is eliminated.

No more ‘boredom’, a touch of terror for sure, but mainly excitement here as the main event closes in on its finale.

There are numerous ways to measure the progression of a poker tournament, from the basic count of players eliminated, to the angle of the slouch of the average reporter on media row. The blue screens displaying time, level, blinds and payouts have kept us updated with the key stats throughout the past couple of weeks, and for the last level (level 31), the players have been ante-ing 20,000 chips.

That, in case you forgot, is the equivalent of one player’s starting stack.

Yes, each compulsory ante being posted by these 11 players before every single hand is even dealt has previously represented $10,000 in cold hard cash or, in another currency, one player’s broken dreams. A couple of orbits of the table without winning a pot equates to nothing short of a massacre of idealism, and yet here it barely registers a wince.

The day is now getting long and the stakes, tension and anticipation are ratcheting up by the minute. Level 32, which we have just entered, now means blinds of 80,000-160,000 and an ante of one-and-a-half splintered fantasies.

Chip leader Dennis Phillips

Eight PokerStars players are keeping their dreams alive. Their names and chip counts are:

Dennis Phillips — USA — PokerStars player — 23,100,000
David Rheem — USA — PokerStars player — 13,800,000
Peter Eastgate — Denmark — PokerStars player — 13,540,000
Ylon Schwartz — USA — PokerStars player — 13,160,000
Ivan Demidov — Russia — PokerStars player — 9,800,000
Darus Suharto — Canada — Qualifier — 8,700,000

The pressure compounds by the day at the World Series. There’s no questioning that immutable fact.

But it’s different this year. Of course, making the final table in years past has meant something special, but for the most part, second through ninth places are rarely recognized with even a fraction of the spotlight as the winner. While the money has always been good, the historical significance is usually reduced into the also-ran category.

This year, it’s different. The four-month final table delay virtually guarantees the final nine players celebrity like few other poker players have enjoyed. One hundred sixteen days of TV coverage, newspaper articles, and marketing will turn these guys into some of the biggest stars of the year.

Chris Klodnicki nearly got there. The poker pro and PokerStars qualifier from Vorhees, NJ has just busted out in 12th place.

Klodnicki and a wild group of friends spent the day planning for the good life. It looked as if he might enjoy it. Instead, over the course of the last several hours, his stack deteriorated to the point that he had little choice but to get his money in. It happened when he held JdTd on a AdQdQx flop. His opponent held QJ and filled up on the turn. By the turn he was drawing to one out for the gutshot Royal Flush, missed, and now is out of the 2008 World Series just a couple spots short of the final table.

Congratulations, Chris, on your $591,869 finish.

Earlier today, Klodnicki and his crew spoke to the PokerStars video blog team…

Watch WSOP: Chris Klodnicki Goes Deep on PokerStars.tv