The WSOP Final Table Is Set

Very early Tuesday morning Dean Hamrick was eliminated as the 10th placed player to exit the Main Event at the semi-final table and now the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event has been put on hold until this November; when the final will take place. The remaining nine players will now have to wait until the end of the year to return to the Rio in Las Vegas to duke it out for the World Championship and the first place prize of $9.1 million.

The November Nine are a diverse group of players that include no fewer than four countries including a Russian, a Dane, two Canadians and five Americans. There’s also a chess player, a salesmen, a college student as well the usual collection of professional poker players.

Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments for the 2008 November Nine:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000
Seat 2: Craig Marquis - 10,210,000
Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000
Seat 4: Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000
Seat 5: Darus Suharto - 12,520,000
Seat 6: Chino Rheem - 10,230,000
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000
Seat 8: Kelly Kim - 2,620,000
Seat 9: Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000

While it took almost three hours of play for Dean Hamrick to be eliminated, the Final Table Nine were almost created on the first hand of 10-handed play. Marquis first in raised for 525,000 and Schwartz, who is a chess player from Brooklyn, NY, re-raised to 1,625,000. After thinking about it for a while Marquis put in a three-bet to 4,500,000 which forced Schwartz to move all-in.  Marquis tanked for a whilke then folded allowing Schwartz to show pocket rockets.

Marquis would then get involved in another big pot and found himself on the edge for his tournament life on the 19th hand of 10-handed play. After Hamrick raised to 750,000, Marquis re-raised to 2,100,000 and Hamrick shoved for 3,339,000 more. Once again Marquis went into the tank before deciding to call; he showed As Qh while Hamrick showed pocket queens. Hamrick dodged the aces on flop, but the board went runner-runner flush for Marquis.

Then two hours later those two would get involved in a pot again, this time leading to the elimination of Hamrick and the birth of the November Nine. Hamrick moved all-in for his last 3,420,000, Marquis then moved all-in over the top to isolate. Hamrick showed As Jc while Marquis held pocket queens. This time the queens held up and the 25-year-old Dean Hamrick was the Unfortunate bubble boy.

Stay posted with Somethingaboutpoker.com, and we will keep you up to date with player profiles and the final table in November 2008