WSOP Nov. 9 sexual experience questioned

I found this quite humorous. Today in Bill Simmons' mailbag article, a reader questioned the combined sexual experience of the WSOP final nine players.

Q: Did you watch the WSOP final table? My roommates and I were arguing about the combined number of lifetime sexual partners between the last nine guys. The consensus was that it's in the mid-30s, but only because the [Danish] guy (the dude who won) skewed the final number like Jordan skewed all the scoring stats for the '98 Bulls. Do you have an opinion on this?
-- Louis, Richmond, Va.

Simmons: I watched the final table, loved it and couldn't believe ESPN turned the telecast around that fast. My favorite guy was the twitchy kid (Scott Montgomery) who got knocked out on a full house on the river. In the 90 minutes he appeared on this show, he made poker about 32 percent less cool, and there's no going back. He was straight out of a Judd Apatow movie. I loved the thought of everyone in the ESPN truck rooting for him to get bounced because he made for such phenomenally bad TV. But to answer your question, that combined number has to be much higher for three reasons: the Russian guy (that country is crazy); the Danish kid who won (seemed relatively normal); and because all bets are off for any veteran poker player in the categories of "total cigarettes smoked," "number of paid times with a hooker" and "number of trips to a strip joint by himself" (and we had two or three in there). It's an inherently lonely and antisocial sport -- either you sit there and say nothing, or you have awkward interactions with people who you'd normally never glance at twice -- and if you don't believe me, consider the fact that the actively loathsome Phil Hellmuth is considered to be semi-amusing in this weird little world. Anyway, I would put that number in the 70s for the final nine. Maybe 73.5.

(I just want to know when ESPN is going to create the WSOP for sports figures so we can see MJ, LeBron, Mickelson and everyone else battling it out. Why do it in the secrecy of a hotel suite, fellas? Why not for a national TV audience? Couldn't this happen after the ESPYS every July? Twenty-five entrants, $50,000 per person, a penthouse suite at the Mondrian that's covered in cameras, unlimited open bar, Texas Hold 'Em, winner takes $700,000, second place gets $200,000, the Jimmy V Foundation gets the rest. And this wouldn't work ... why?)

I personally have to give Montgomery some credit. I went to the WPT final table at the L.A. poker classic to root on Phil Ivey with one of Phil's best friends. It was quite clear while we watched the first part of the final table that Montgomery was very inexperienced and uncomfortable. We all thought he was a lucky donkey who made the final table.

Ten months later and he's at another final table... at the WSOP main event. The kid is definitely doing something right.

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Winner winner chicken dinner

Last night Peter Eastgate of Denmark took down Ivan Demidov of Russia around 2:30 a.m. to capture the 2008 World Series of Poker main event bracelet and a meager cash prize of $9,152,416.

Eastgate's winning hand was A-5 that made a straight on the turn to take out Demidov's 4-2 two pair and all-in river bet.

Congratulations to Eastgate, who became the youngest WSOP main event winner at the age of 22. Phil Hellmuth held the previous record of 24.

For more info and details on the hand play, visit cardplayer.

WSOP Main Event Finalist has warrants out for his arrest

David "Chino" Rheem, who played poker in South Florida in the early 2000s, beat out 6,835 players to make the final table in the World Series of Poker's main event.
Eight years ago in Broward County, Rheem was convicted of dealing in stolen property and burglary, both felonies, as well as larceny and possession of marijuana, court records show. He was sentenced to four months jail time and 30 months probation.

He also failed to appear in court on a 2003 misdemeanor trespassing charge in Hollywood, according to state criminal records, leading to a court order for his arrest. The warrant for his arrest remains active.

Rheem could not be reached for comment. Neither Rheem's main sponsor, PokerStars.net, nor World Series officials said they knew of Rheem's background.

From Sun-Sentinel.com

WSOP Main Event Final Table set

This won't be played out until November, for television purposes. The winner gets over $9 million. Here's the lineup. The only person I know anything about is Craig Marquis, who is a well-respected online pro.

The 2008 WSOP $10,000 NLHE World Championship Final Table:

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

WSOP Update

From Pokernews.com:

When Day 3 came to a close, 474 players remained with two former WSOP Champions among them: Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan. Along with the chip leaders, listed below, Day 3 survivors included Matt Matros, Mike Matusow, Hoyt Corkins, Jon Friedberg, Chip Jett, Gus Hansen, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu, Evelyn Ng, Allen Cunningham, Carmel Petresco, Bertrand Grospellier, Hevad Khan, Frankie O'Dell, Magnus Petersson, Robert Mizrachi, Jon Turner, Devon Porter, Matt Lessinger, David Colclough, Hasan Habib, Shawn Sheikhan, Maya Geller-Antonius, Victor Ramdin and Mark Vos.

The top ten players following Day 3 action:

Jeremy Joseph -- 1,458,000
Jeremiah Smith -- 1,079,500
Mark Ketteringham -- 950,000
Kyle Carlston -- 932,500
Dag Martin Mikkelsen -- 931,000
Alan Jaffray -- 908,500
Owen Crowe -- 900,000
Alexander Kostritsyn -- 887,000
James McManus -- 875,000
Chris Barrile -- 873,500

And for some video footage, here's poker star Vanessa Rousso and her sisters and mom, you be the judge.

WSOP Main Event - Victor Ramdin - On to Day 3

Here's an interview with Victor Ramdin, who took a huge stack into Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event (today).

Official WSOP Main Event Numbers

Official numbers for the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event are in. A total of 6,844 entrants ponied up a cool ten grand to generate a prize pool of $64,333,600.

The number of entrants surpassed last year's pool of 6,358 players indicating once again that the "poker boom" is not over quite yet.

Out of the 6,844 contestants, 666 (ha!) will make the money .

Here's the payout structure:

1st place-$9,119,338
2nd place-$5,790,024
3rd place-$4,503,352
4th place-$3,763,516
5th place-$3,088,013
6th place-$2,412,510
7th place-$1,769,177
8th place-$1,286,672
9th place-$900,670
10 - 12th place-$591,869
13 - 15th place-463,202
16 - 18th place-$334,535
19 - 27th place-$257,334
28 - 36th place-$193,001
37 - 45th place-$154,401
46 - 54th place-$135,101
55 - 63rd place-$115,800
64 - 72nd place-$96,500
73 - 81st place-$77,200
82 - 90th place-$64,334
91 - 99th place-$51,467
100 - 162nd place-$41,817
163 - 225th place-$38,600
226 - 288th place$35,383
289 - 351th place-$32,107
352 - 414th place-$28,950
415 - 477th place-$27,020
478 - 540th place-$25,090
541 - 603th place-$23,160
604 - 666th place-$21,230

Remember that the final table will not be played until sometime in November.

Negreanu busts out of the WSOP Main Event early

JC Tran captures first WSOP bracelet

Congratulations to JC Tran, who I believe is one of the best tournament players on the circuit. Half the time I check a final table it seems like his name is there.

He already has one WPT title, five WPT final tables, a second place in a WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event, and a PokerStars WCOOP Main Event title.

Tran started from behind when play got to head's-up but came out the victor and earned $631,170 for his first-place finish in the $1,500 no-Limit hold'em tourney, Event #49 on the 2008 WSOP scehdule.