Home / Poker News November 2008 / WSOP Main Event headsup preview
WSOP Main Event headsup preview
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2008-11-10 18:56
I don’t know whether it’s just me or we are indeed witnessing an evolution in the top echelon of the world of professional live poker. A few years back, it was the old school players (their skills acquired at the green felt of the tables in Vegas, Atlantic City or some other live gambling hotspot) dominating the final tables and top ranks of
WSOP Main Events. Dominance on the part of Asian players had been felt in recent years, but those guys too were mostly talent produced by the live poker scene.
This year however, things are different. For quite a while now there has been a steady increase in the number of players qualifying to Main Events through online poker rooms, therefore the number of online poker players has been steadily increasing at the Big Dance’s tables. Sure, we’ve had online players finish high and even win Main Events before, but this time it looks like the moment has come for the online poker generation to take over for good.
Both players who shall go to battle tomorrow for the first-place prize money and the most coveted piece of jewelry in poker, are part of a new wave. They’re both under 30, they both have ties with online poker and they’re both European. These facts carry special significance from several perspectives. Demidov represents an ever expanding Russian poker market, with huge growth potential and almost immeasurable limits.
Born in 1981, the 27 year old Demidov hails from Moscow and acts under the banner of PokerStars. Although prior to the WSOP Main Event he had been a virtual stranger in poker circles, he already has 3 WSOP Money finishes and has become the only player in history to have reached the final tables of both the WSOPE Main Event and that of the WSOP.
Peter Eastgate on the other hand, is a pure-bred online player having won his Main Event seat through Ladbrokes Poker.
He only has 1 WSOP money finish so far, but he’s only 22 years old, and his future is basically secured in the poker world. He also had a money finish in a 2008 EPT event as well as in the 2007 Irish Open.
