Then There Were Nine!

For 6,835 players who entered the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, it was, "Wait until next year." On the other hand, for the nine remaining players who will return to Las Vegas in November to clash at the final table, it was, "Can't wait for November."



The final nine competitors, the "November Nine," include: Dennis Phillips (St. Louis, Missouri), Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia), Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario, Canada), Peter Eastgate (Odense, Denmark), Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, New York), Darus Suharto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), David Rheem (Los Angeles, California), Craig Marquis (Arlington, Texas), and Kelly Kim (Whittier, California).



None of these players own a WSOP gold bracelet, so victory will indeed be sweet for this year's champion, as winning that first bracelet is always so special, particularly when it's for the main-event championship.



Combined, these nine players have $1,799,421 in lifetime tournament winnings, with four players – Montgomery ($406,584), Schwartz ($302,950), Rheem ($616,403), and Kim ($305,966) – accounting for $1,631,903 (90.7 percent) of that total. So, the final payday for all of these players is going to be unlike anything they've ever seen, with the ninth-place finisher receiving almost $901,000 and the winner banking more than $9.1 million.



That's life-changing money, for sure, but on top of the cash and gold bracelet lies a legacy that's unmatched in the poker world – being a World Series of Poker champion.



This year's champion also will rack up 4,200 Card Player 2008 Player of the Year (POY) points for his victory, which will catapult him to near the top of the POY standings – if not to the top, depending on who wins and how the current POY leaders perform in the plethora of tournaments that are on the schedule between now and November.



Read all about the November Nine and how they acquired that status beginning on Page 64.



Also in this issue, beginning on Page 74, we present our top 10 moments from this year's WSOP. It was certainly a daunting task, as there were so many great stories to be told. We think you'll enjoy reading about all of these great moments – from Scotty Nguyen winning the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship to Blair and Grant Hinkle becoming the first brothers ever to win bracelets in the same WSOP.



This year's WSOP main event is truly "A Story Waiting for an Ending," and when November arrives, the final chapter will be written.