Will a professional poker player win the main event at the 2008 World Series of Poker?

Bad suspend date....finals in a few months.....

This question has been reopened

"Unsuspended due to requests and the fact that the final 9 players will not play until November 9th"

Yes, unsuspended per request. I was trying to verify which of the remaining 9 players would be considered "professional" however as I didn't recognize any of the remaining names.

It looked like there were at least a couple of players who were "ranked," although pretty low.

Actually, 5 of them are acknowledged pros....
http://poker.about.com/od/worldseriesofpokerinfo/a/wsopnovember9.htm


Meet the November Nine:


Ivan Demidov is from Moscow, Russia and is 27 years old. He's a professional poker player, but 2008 was his first time playing at the World Series, where he also finished in 11th place in Event #44, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em with rebuys event. He's single and enjoys skiing and scuba diving.

Peter Eastgate is from Odense, Denmark and is 22 years old, making him the youngest player at the final table. If this poker pro wins, he'll be the youngest WSOP champ ever. He's a high school grad and paid his entry fee in cash.

Kelly Kim was born in Korea but now lives in Whittier, California. He's a professional poker player and is 31 years old. He cashed three times in the 2007 World Series of Poker and paid cash for his entry to this year's main event. Before he turned pro, he was a business analyst and has a degree of UC San Diego. He comes into the final table as the short stack, with only 2,620,000 in chips.

Scott Montgomery is from Perth, Ontario in Canada and is 26 years old. He is a poker pro who's been playing for about four years and paid cash to enter this year's main event.

Craig Marquis is a Texan from Arlington and is 23 years old, and could also become the youngest WSOP main event champ ever. He's a college student who's pretty new to poker -- he's been playing about a year and a half. If he wins, he plans on buying his family a swimming pool.

Dennis Phillips comes into the final table as the chip leader with 26,295,000 in chips . He's from St. Louis, Missourri and is the oldest player at the final table at 53. He's an account manager for a commercial trucking company whose nickname is “Fordman.” He won his way into the main event through a WSOP satellite held at Harrahs Casino in St. Louis.

David “Chino” Rheem lives in Los Angeles, California and is 28. He's a poker pro who's been playing for 10 years and paid cash to enter the main event.

Ylon Schwartz is a New Yorker who lives in Brooklyn and is 38 years old. He used to be a professional chess player who hustled games in New York City’s public parks for money, until he discovered he could make a far better living playing poker, which he's been doing for the last several years. This is his 12th time to cash at the WSOP, more than any other final table player. He came in 15th in the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event at the 2008 WSOP.

Darus Suharto was born in Indonesia but now lives in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. He's 39, has an MBA from Indiana University and works as an accountant. He won his way into the main event through a satellite.

@theonecalledmichael - I was just trying to sort all of this out myself, as "professional" hadn't been clearly defined up to this point. Thanks for your background.

To save a headache later, I think it would make sense to make sure we are clear. You said that 5 of the 9 were pros. Demidov, Eastgate, Kim, Montgomery, and Rheem are described as Pros, while Schwartz (who's not listed as a pro here competed in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 events)...making the count 6 (if you include Schwartz). That leaves Marquis (who did compete in the 2007 WSOP - but not considered a pro?), Phillips, and Suharto as the amateurs.

Seems like Schwartz and Marquis are the players who could fall somewhere in between.

@theonecalledmichael - also, since you already did the background information on the players, any interest in creating a question along the lines of "who will win WSOP?"

I will let someone else do that, and please have them send me an invite to wager.....

Ah, I think to be considered a poker pro, you should not have a full time occupation other than pro.....but then again, a lot of the pros have "occupations" surrounding the poker world, but not really playing poker..... I would be happy with the orgiginal 5 pros and 4 non-pros..... I didn't write the above information, I just pasted it.... the link is at the top of the comment...

http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/novembernine/?KEY=292999-292721&EDID=REYWZN-4009P-9M9LZO-GL2K5-1V761-v1

Just an update...