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#595 – World Series Final Table #8 – Kelly Kim Fought Like a Bloody Tick
It’s about 4:30 PM and we’re on break. Play is seven-handed, though if you’re tracking by web site, it’s Pokerstars 6, Full Tilt 1. Scott Montgomery has 16.4 million chips, and it seems the only hand that’s gone right is the one where he busted Craig Marquis. Ivan Demidov has the lead with over 40 million. Ylon Schwartz has 32 million. Peter Eastgate has 21 million. Dennis Phillips and Darus Suharto, thanks to a double up by Darus on the last hand before break, have 10.6 and 8.6 million respectively. Chino Rheem is the shortest stack with 5.8 million.
It’s actually been about an hour since Kelly Kim busted.
As I mentioned in his profile and earlier today, Kim’s options were very limited and he chose flawlessly among them. On the first hand, he made a small raise and everybody folded, even the chip-leader/big-blind Dennis Phillips.
Turns out Phillips got it just right. Kelly had pocket aces. He told me a little while ago, “I thought a lot about the scenario of getting aces on the first hand but then I was sick when it went fold, fold, fold … all along.” He tried to interest Phillips in the pot but to no avail.
He waited for cards or someone to bust and, for an incredibly long time, got neither. The only close situation came when he had 3-3 in late position. (I’m waiting for an audio recording of the interview, so forgive me for having the facts vague or wrong.) I think someone else bet and Kelly thought for a long time before folding. The problem was that he was so short that he was worried about getting called by the original raiser and both blinds, and then all three checking it down. Facing six overcards in that situation, he didn’t want to stake his tournament on that.
Then fate intervened and locked Marquis and Montgomery in a showdown that knocked out Marquis in ninth and made Kelly Kim another $388,000. He actually sounded more disappointed than Marquis. Mind you, he was thrilled to move up when all expectation was for him to bust in ninth, and he felt the whole table was playing a waiting game for him to go out. But, he told me, “You don’t come here thinking about finishing in eighth place.” He felt he needed one “true double up” – where he doubled from 2 million or more chips to a point where his options opened beyond all-in-or-fold.
But he made the best of what fate gave him, and he couldn’t do more than that. He picks up another $388,000, reasonable compensation for being smart and cool-headed.
I’m living and dying for these Full Tilt guys, but let me emphasize that it’s not an us v. them situation. I got to know Full Tilt’s three pros pretty well and I didn’t get to know the other six players at all, beyond what I read. So it’s not a knock on the other six players when I tell you Full Tilt’s final table trio were/are skilled players and nice guys who I honestly wanted to see seize their moment.
Full Tilt doesn’t have a monopoly on skilled players or nice guys. But they did have three of them at the final table, and now they have just one.
Another note: Harrah’s seems thrilled with how it’s going, and they should. The big hands have been phenomenally exciting and should make excellent television. I told Jeffrey Pollack the die-hard poker aficionados would want to see more flat-calling, more flops, more small pots, more moves up and down the leader board through the type of hands that don’t show up on TV – but for ESPN, TV, and the excitement almost everyone else will get out of watching, the final table thus far is offering exactly what viewers will want to see.
And the best may be yet to come.
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