The WSOP Main Event Final Table Thoughts

I had the opportunity to cover the World Series of Poker Main Event final table here for theWSOPblog.com over the weekend and I must admit that the final table actually was one of the best finals that I had witnessed for a No Limit tournament in a very long time. Almost every player at the table impressed me in some way.

Craig Marquis probably impressed me more after his elimination than he did during his play. While he is a fantastic poker player, he is an equally effective commentator. I listened to him on Bluff Magazines audio coverage and was very impressed with what I heard. He was very articulate and could explain concepts and action to listeners in such a way that would be interesting even to the non-poker player.

Kelly Kim impressed me with his ability to hand on with the short stack. It was perfectly clear that Kim’s only goal was 8th place or better money. He could care less about winning the event. Of course, I do not blame him. Many people have criticized him for the way he played the final table. In my opinion, Kim has the right to play the table in any way that he wishes. If he wanted to blind down time and again until he was forced to push, that would have been fine with me. I also think that Kim was waiting to only move in with big hands. His pocket kings win was not the only time he moved in. One of the other times, he ran into a chop with Chino Rheem.

Chino tried the best he could but he just didn’t really get the cards to cooperate with him. He did complain a bit about all the noise etc in regards to the crowd, but I don’t really begrudge him on that point. There is a big difference in playing in the Amazon Room and in the Penn & Teller theatre. I would have liked to see Chino get more cards in this event.

Darus Suharto was by far the tightest player at the table. Unfortunately for him, he picked a bad time to push all his chips in the middle and he got snapped off. His tight play could have cost him a legitimate shot at winning it all, but then again, with the structure of the event, I can’t fault him for playing tight.

Scott Montgomery played fairly decent but his tendency towards hyper aggressive play bit him in the end. I was thinking that the way he was going to go out was to have someone wake up with a huge hand against him, and that’s exactly what happened.

Ylon Schwartz played an excellent, if not unconventional game. His prowess as a chess champion showed as he was able to navigate his way through the field. Unfortunately, he made a shove bluff against a made hand and he went home. Phil Hellmuth actually said he did not want to see Schwartz win as Schwartz had said he would leave poker if he won. I don’t think that was fair. If someone wins the Main Event and wants to go into the sunset, let them. It’s their money. People think that just because someone wins the Main Event that it is their obligation to give some of the money back to the poker world. I don’t hold that belief. If he wants to play, great. If not, let the man go off into the sunset.

Dennis Phillips showed a lot with his play at the final table. Early on, he showed that he is truly inexperience with some of his moves. It almost became a train wreck for him early, but then he showed us that he can play a little bit. He came back from being 2nd short stack with 9 left to finishing in 3rd place. While he didn’t win the event, Phillips should be proud of his finish. He is truly a nice guy and I hope to see this player do well in the future.

I must admit that I wanted to see Ivan Demidov win this title. It would have been great to have him finish 3rd at the WSOP Europe and then win the WSOP Main Event in Vegas. Of course, it was not meant to be. Early on, his aggression got him somewhat short. He was able to battle back some, but I don’t really think he could find the “slow down” gear in his play. Aggressive poker is indeed winning poker, but the adverse is also true. “Speed kills.” With that said, I think Demidov played a fantastic final table overall. If you put him in the same situation 10 times, I think that he would come out on top 6 to 7 times due to his ability alone. He was by my estimates the best player at the table. The cards just didn’t cooperate with him.

Peter Eastgate was about as aggressive at times as Demidov, but the main difference between him and Demidov was that he was able to slow down and counter Demidov’s style. I honestly think that Eastgate and Demidov are very similar in styles with Demidov being better overall. However, I do think that Eastgate is better at countering his own style than Demidov, and that is what I think won him the bracelet. After he got the big chip lead over Demidov, he let Ivan be the aggressor and make back some chips. After the way things went down, I believe that Eastgate was waiting for a big hand to strike back with or for Demidov to make a mistake. Of course, when Demidov got really short, he then pounced and put on the pressure. While Eastgate wasn’t the better overall player in my opinion, his ability to counter Demidov’s style was enough to put him in the driver’s seat and eventually win him the bracelet.

I’m eagerly waiting to see what Harrah’s has to say about next year’s WSOP Main Event final table. While I do not agree with the delay, the result of it was good for TV. Whether it’s good for “poker in general” remains to be seen in my opinion. I still think they should go back to having the final played in July as normal. However, after watching this final table, I can see why Harrah’s would choose to delay the table again if they choose to.

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