By
Dan
Monday night marked the final day of the 2008 World Series of Poker, for 117 days at least. In order to pump up television ratings and once again get the world talking about poker, Harrah’s has pushed the final table of the $10,000 buy-in event back until November. That leaves the final nine (dubbed the “November Nine” by the casino goliath) to wait patiently for four months to get their crack at the $9.1 million first place payday. Among those still in contention is PocketFiver Scott r_a_y Montgomery, who will head into November with the third largest chip stack at the table. The entire 2008 WSOP was tracked on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for online poker players in the biggest live tournaments. For the last six weeks, it’s been WSOP coverage central.
Scott r_a_y Montgomery was the talk of the Rio on Monday night. He started the day 16th in chips and, throughout the course of play, battled his way to third. He wound up with 19,690,000, not far behind Dennis Phillips’ first place stack of 26,295,000. Montgomery also took 16th place in the $10,000 buy-in heads up no limit tournament at this year’s WSOP, cashing for $36,096. It wasn’t Montgomery’s first rodeo in live play. He took fifth in the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic in Season VI for $$296,860. Ironically enough, that tournament premiered last night on GSN, just as he was busy making waves in the Amazon Room. He’ll head back on November 9th, when final table play will resume with 21:50 remaining in Level 33. Here’s a look at who Montgomery will be facing:
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 Schawrtz: 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
It took seven hours on Day 7 for a PocketFiver to be ousted from the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. In an outstanding showing, Owen ocrowe Crowe took home 15th place, cashing for $463,201. Seven days of play for Crowe came down to a coin flip, holding pocket nines against Ivan Demidov’s A-Q. The turn was a queen, putting Demidov in the lead for good. Crowe now has four WSOP cashes to his name. He finished eighth in Event #36 for $81,833. He had two cashes in the 2005 WSOP, combining for $15,000. In tournaments that are tracked for the PocketFives.com Worldwide Rankings, he’s pocketed $130,000 in the past four months. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington commented, “Owen has been around the tournament circuit for a while. He doesn't play every event, but when he shows up, it seems like he is always a contender late. He was able to do so again on the biggest of stages and was very close to achieving the dream making a WSOP Main Event final table.”
Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki was knocked out in 12th place, taking home a healthy payday of $591,869. He was sent to the rails by Montgomery after Klodnicki got all of his chips in with J-10 of diamonds on a board of A-Q-Q with two diamonds. Montgomery held Q-J. The turn was a jack, giving Klodnicki just one out, which didn’t hit on the river. He’s ranked 43rd on PocketFives.com on the strength of a win in the Full Tilt $1K Monday for $84,000 and a second place in the same tournament in June for $58,000. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman noted, “Klodnicki caps off an amazing WSOP with his 12th place finish in the Main Event. Earlier this summer he took second in the $1,500 buy-in Razz event, netting $97,389 in the process. Throughout the Main Event, Chris found himself somewhat short-stacked, but buckled down in order to find a way to build his chips back up. Watching Klodnicki, I was impressed by his ability to sense where he was at in a hand, most notably when he put his tournament life on the line with pocket jacks versus James McManus, who was trying to bully him with Q-10.”
Team Ladbrokes pro Peter Eastgate is fourth in chips headed into November. He’s appeared twice on Poker Million’s televised heats. Other representatives from Ladbrokes who landed in the money included Jeff Kimber, who finished 120th, and Steve Davis, who finished 379th.
That’s a wrap from the 2008 Main Event. The tournament now pauses for 117 days, resuming on November 9th. The final table will be played on November 9th and 10th, airing on ESPN on Tuesday, November 11th. In the meantime, PocketFivesLive.com will head to each stop on the World Poker Tour, focusing on online players. Next on the docket is the Legends of Poker tournament from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. The event kicks off on August 23rd. Visit PocketFivesLive.com for more information.