Peter Eastgate 2008 WSOP ME Champion courtesy of FlipChip (lasvegaslasvegas.com)
The Final Table of the World Series of Poker 2008 finally played out after 4 months of hype delay. So, was the decision to delay the table for 4 months a success and should we expect this to be the norm from here on out? Of course Harrah’s and the Player’s Advisory Council will get together and discuss what can be done to improve the WSOP 2009. We can expect that the consensus will be the delay was a hit and we should see improvements for next year.
- Was it Good for you on WSOP ME final table
- Give it Up to ESPN and Harrah’s
- Tao of Poker: Pauly’s WSOP live blog of the WSOP 2008 ME
- FlipChip’s WSOP 2008 Bracelete winner photos
- World Series of Poker Main Event Errata
- Pokerati - So lets talk poker TV
- Poker News Live reporting of the WSOP 2008 ME by Change 100
I thought that the delay was overall good but come on the 4 months of “hype” was just bullshit. I really thought they dropped the ball on promoting the players and the preview show just blew. I do think that ESPN did a great job with so little time in putting together the final table. I also like the fact that the stack to blind ratio was reasonablf and there was room for the players to play. It’s amazing that many people showed up to watch a live poker event!
I listened to the live audio broadcast on bluff tv. This was great and I thought Lacey Jones did a great job. It was pretty easy to follow Poker News and Bluff to see which hands were going to make the TV cut. I really liked listening to the full audio because it gave you a feel of how the game was flowing and the history between the players. Probably the most talked about hand is hand #18 between Dennis Phillips and Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov has the button in Seat 7. Dennis Phillips limps in from under the gun. All fold to Demidov, who raises to 1,025,000. Both blinds get out of the way, allowing Phillips to quickly reraise to 3.525 million. Phillips keeps his gaze firmly planted on Demidov as the young Russian tries to figure out what his next move should be. He seems to be talking to himself. His lips are moving but we can’t make out what’s being said.
Whatever it is, he decides to put out a big raise of his own, making the price to see the flop a staggering 8.225 million. These are two big stacks going to war, each daring the other one to blink first. Demidov now is sitting silently behind his towers of chips, eyes cast down at the rail in front of him. Phillips is riffling chips with his right hand. After thirty seconds, he makes the call!
Each player has committed over a third of his stack to see a flop of {8-Diamonds} {10-Clubs} {j-Spades}. With the blinds and antes, more than 17 million chips are up for grabs. Demidov has position and his Phillips covered.
Phillips is now the one whose lips are moving soundlessly. Demidov remains a statue, staring at the rail. Phillips leads out with a relatively small bet of 4.5 million. Demidov takes a deep breath and then announces, “I’m all in.” Half of the players get up and walk away from the table while Demidov’s stack is counted down. It’s 9.395 million more back to Phillips, which is more than he has. Demidov has Phillips covered by about 800,000. It would seem Phillips can’t call without anything but a monster.
Phillips seems to reach the same conclusion. He folds! Demidov is now the far-and-away chip leader with 35,875,000. It’s a huge blow for Phillips, who now has less than 9 million chips.
Phillips had been raised off a couple hands early and as he put it “wasn’t getting any respect” for his raises. He was typically raising to about 2.5x the blind or initial raise. After the airing we see that Phillips had AK and Demidov had AQ who was able to bluff Phillips off his hand. This hand really showcased what a great player Demidov is as I’m sure he knew exactly what Phillips had. Phillips weak bet on the flop basically shows that he wasn’t ready to go bust with the hand and Demidov abused Phillips all day. Makes no sense that Phillips just gave up and bluffed off his chips when they reached 3 handed play. This to me, was the best and most interesting hand of the tournament.
Well, as you can probably see, I’m losing steam here. I decided to get up at 5:30 this morning and get back in the grove of posting here on the site. A lot of things have been going on but that’s a post for another day and another time.
Best of luck to you!
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4 Comments
Nice review. Thanks for the update. I only watched the televised coverage. Was disappointed in the heads up finale. Those two were amazing to watch! I hear us TV folks missed out.
Alex, Thanks for stopping by. The final table battle was actually pretty good, but it only came down to two major hands and those are what made the TV cut. I hope ESPN brings back the pay-per-view final table and does more to get these guys main stream exposure.
they should’ve included the very 1st HU hand (K-K-T-T-K) board. Demidov made a pot sized river bet and took it down. He claims he had the case K but i would’ve like to see it.
@smokkee Agreed, also wonder why they didn’t show that Phillips had the case 6 when Marquis went out? He obv had it since he dug it out of the muck