“The November Nine”
“The November Nine”, are the 9 remaining participants out of 6,844 in the 39th annual World Series of Poker. On July 15th after 12 intense days of Main Event competition the 9 remained and on November 9th 2008 they will battle for the top prize of $9.1 million.
The event will take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which is literally poker’s largest stage – the Rio’s state-of-the-art, 1,500-seat Penn & Teller Theater.
The Nine are as follows by order of chip count:
• 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
By November 10th the final two players will remain; the competition will most likely go on through the night and a winner will be crowned sometime early morning on November 11th.
The 39th annual World Series of Poker increased 8% in participating competitors over the 2007 established record. The World Series of Poker total prize pool for this year was $180,676,248, an increase of $20,880,030 over last year.
ESPN high-definition coverage of the Main Event begins Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 9 p.m. EST. They will also air a one-hour special on the final nine participants Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. EST.