Darus Suharto qualified on PokerStars for the World Series Main Event. His $80 win got him into a bigger qualifier and there he won his prize package to Las Vegas.
Now, Suharto is one of the November Nine, the final table players of the 2008 World Series Main Event.
Here's what he had to say in the moments after he made the final table.
Dennis Phillips told us ini the last few days of the World Series that the ESPN crews were calling him "red hat." His autographed St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap was not hard to spot in the crowd. Otherwise, the accountant from Missouri is humble enough to blend into any poker tournament.
That all changed this week when Phillips emerged as the chip leader in the 2008 World Series. Now, plans to go back to work for four months and plan for what will be one of the biggest days of his life.
Here's what he told our video blog team as he got ready to go home.
Perhaps better known online as TenthPlanet, Ylon Schwartz is no stranger to live poker. A regular on the East Coast live scene, Schwartz has been around long enough to have paid his dues. Now the chess expert, lover of all games, and PokerStars is looking to get away for a while.
In his own words, he was "bugging out" when he finally made the final table. He took a few minutes to talk to us before escaping to places unknown in preparation for the November final table.
It's one thing to be one of the top five cash game players from your home country. It's another thing to be at the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker. PokerStars player Peter Eastgate happens to be both of those things.
In the blur that followed the minutes after making the final table, a stunned Eastgate talked to our video blog team. Here's what he had to say.
David "Chino" Rheem is a young up-and-comer in the poker world. The PokerStars player had a big contingent of famous players on the rail cheering him on as he made the final table of the 2008 World Series.
The player from California talked to the PokerStars video blog team as he stepped away from the World Series for a 117-day break. Here's what he had to say.
In minutes that followed PokerStars player Ivan Demodov's making it to the 2008 World Series final table, he was still in shock. After coming all the way from Moscow to compete in his first major live tournament, Demidov could barely find the words to explain what had just happened to him.
Now, Demidov is set to become a superstar in Russia and around the poker world. Here is what he had to say in the moments after making the final table.
The cream of the crop in poker tournaments has a tendency of rising to the top, sinking, rising, curdling, rising and sinking again, in no particular order. With so many exceptionally skillful players in every major tournament (especially towards the business end) it takes a spectacular talent to stick around near the summit of a leaderboard for any length of time.
Lucky then that PokerStars player Brandon Cantu is a spectacular talent. All the day end chip leaders have now departed from the main event -- Mark Garner (Day 1A); Ben Sarnoff (1B); Henning Granstad (1C); Steve Austin (1D); Brian Schaedlich (2A); Peter Biebel (2B); Jeremy Joseph (3&4) and Mark Ketteringham (5) -- but Cantu, who has been there or there abouts throughout these past two days, battles on. He was one of the first players past 10 million in chips earlier this afternoon, and now he has the right side of 11 million. That, folks, is the chip lead.
Chip leader Brandon Cantu
Cantu has been on and off the secondary feature table during his hours of dominance, and is presently ruling that particular area of the Amazon Room. His table also includes the PokerStars players David Rheem, Jamal Kunbuz and Ylon Schwartz, as well as a guy who calls himself The Mouth, but Cantu is uncowed by anything that has come his way, including the chip lead that seems to have been the kiss of death on other players.
Hardly surprising. Cantu has previously earned a World Series bracelet and a WPT title so is wholly accustomed to this kind of atmosphere. It may be the "secondary" feature table, but it's really where all the best work is going on.
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Also still well chipped up as the field thins to 34 is PokerStars qualifier Darus Suharto, our accountant friend from Toronto, Canada. He spoke to our video blog team earlier on day six, when he was looking forward to the monster payday that is now just round the corner.
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PokerStars qualifier and Supernova Greg Byard went out shortly after the dinner break, pushing his final 470,000 all in pre-flop from the button but finding his J-6 dominated by K-J. He takes $193,000 for 34th place, another huge PokerStars winner.
The post dinner break sprint to the end of Level 19 sees us with just fewer than 200 players remaining in the 2008 World Series Main Event.
PokerStars players can still be found all over the Amazon Room. None are shining brighter at this moment the following four people.
Darus Suharto (PokerStars qualifier)
Few players reach the top of the chip lists in the main event without spending a spell on the sidelines, comfortably shrouded by anonymity before their star begins to shine. PokerStars qualifier Darus Suharto would be one of those guys.
PokerStars qualifier Darus Suharto
He’s a small guy and his colossal stack of chips reaches past the half way point to his chin, 1.5 million strong. He took down another pot as I stopped by and was still stacking chips as the two next hands were dealt.
Suharto qualified on PokerStars for his main event seat this year and is already doing better than his finish from 206 when he placed 448th for a little more than $26,000. Now, he's guaranteed more than $30,000 and is among the chip leaders in this year's main event
The associate director of York University in Toronto Canada has more than one million chips.
The PokerStars video blog team spoke to him this morning on his way in.
It’s a similar situation for 22-year-old student and PokerStars qualifier Felix Osterland from Germany. Felix sits on the second feature table tonight, his chips stacked in ever ascending racks for a kind of half-coliseum effect, like some psychedelic ruin dug up by archaeologists, complete with slightly demolished edges.
PokerStars qualifier Felix Osterland
His head of curly hair rests on his hand. It may not be that late but it feels that way to some, even with just a level to go. His stack now measures 1.3million, good enough to yawn a few times and not worry about having to pay attention. He cashes her two years ago and will better that here.
Victor Ramdin and Kara Scott
Victor Ramdin has been the subject of much ESPN attention today and has spent a great deal of time at the feature table. He passed the time there doubling his stack to more than one million chips.
He's recently been joined by the always radiant Kara Scott, her sparlkly new necklace shining even brighter under the lights. She has around 400,000 and could very well be playing in Day 5.
Victor Ramdin and Kara Scott at the feature table
In other news...further down the room Bill Purle was unlucky not to double up, moving in and getting called.
“All-in and a call” yelled the dealer, as instructed, but when both players turned over aces a, “nevermind!” followed.
Bill was just seen sprinting to the door for a well earned smoke, closely followed by his wife Alice who has spent much of the day waiting patiently for him on the rail. He has 780,000.
Victor Ramdin has a genie, but he looks nothing the lovely Jeannie from your TV set (or, for that matter, a semi-popular slot machine here in town).
“It’s my lucky genie,” he told his table. “I’m very superstitious.”
How lucky? Midway through the first level of the day he saw a raise and an all-in re-raise before he looked down at two black kings in his small blind.
“Call,” he said, his genie hanging just over his shoulder.
The first raiser smelled something funny and mucked his hand, leaving the re-stealing all-in player to sheepishly turn up Js7s. He was drawing dead by the turn.
“Sure, people just hand you their chips,” said a brash player a couple of seats to Ramdin’s left.
Ramdin pointed to his genie. “It’s the massage,” he said.
Ramdin is more focused than I’ve seen him in recent years. He’s alternately grinding and playing huge pots. What’s more, he’s kept the same massage therapist-- a big, muscular man--near his back at nearly all times. The therapist is not quite Tiger Woods’ caddy, but at times it seems like it.
Even when the genie is away, Ramdin is winning. On a board of 4d5hAh-Qc-Qd, Ramdin checked and watched his opponent throw out 65,000 in chips. Ramdin tanked while the ever-present ESPN cameras swarmed. He finally threw in his call and watched his opponent muck without showing. Forced to show his own hand, Ramdin turned up A2.
He stacked his chips without a word--laser focus that only makes way for some fun table chit-chat between hands. ESPN seems to love him. The producers have made Ramdin their feature table player twice, and had cameras at the ready any time he is in a hand.
Last night, as he sat on the side feature table, he leaned back to shake my hand. In just a few short minutes, without really trying, he cemented my impression of him.
“My son starts school tomorrow,” he said.
Not even August yet, I wondered why. Ramdin explained his son has some exceptional talent in a wide variety of disciplines, including boxing and chess. Ramdin found a summer program for gifted kids, and in went his son. While Ramdin toils in Las Vegas, he’s making sure his family is well taken care of.
That’s Ramdin. He’s a strategist, he’s a provider, he’s a fighter.
“Why don’t you have a woman masseuse?” someone wondered aloud.
Ramdin said the females are fine, but they sometimes don’t have the strength to get to the deep tissue.
“You’re a fruitcake,” said the mouthy player from before.
Ramdin’s lips drew into a line, but he didn’t say a word. Instead, his genie spoke for him.
“Have you seen his wife?”
Later, Ramdin remembered the guy in not-too-fond terms.
“The guy called me a fruit,” he said.
From nowhere appeared the genie. “That guy was uneducated,” he said.
“Wish he’d said it to be outside,” Ramdin mused. Then he looked to his therapist-caddy-genie and said, “We’re going to have a session at the dinner break.”
***
Ramdin looks to go into that break with more than 600,000 in chips.
Here’s a video blog recorded earlier today when Ramdin was having a rougher time of it.
Editor's note: After publishing this article, we were made aware Ramdin actually has two genies in the field. Rob Marriott is the one featured in the article. Morgan Hildreth is the other. Both seem to be good luck for Ramdin and are a credit to the growing number of male therapists in the room.
Wow. There was a chance that the action might have slowed today as dollar signs replaced pupils in the eyes of the remaining players. But it couldn't be further from the truth: we had torn through a quarter of the day's starting field by the time the first break came along. That's 483 down to 350 in two hours. And counting.
One of those to slide to the rail was Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who got his last chips into the middle pre-flop behind pocket kings. They were no good against ace-queen when the bullet flopped.
Most of the damage to ElkY had actually been done earlier, when a middle set was no good against a rivered straight. Ho hum, such is poker. ElkY's World Series main event is done.
Faring better, much better, are Team PokerStars Pros Victor Ramdin and Hevad Khan, as well as sponsored player Kara Scott. Ramdin admits that he's not exactly in love with his table today and is finding it significantly tougher than those on which he prospered in days one and two. But that's fine. "I have a decent stack," Ramdin said. "Once again, my plan is just to get through the day. I'm taking it one day at a time. It's not a dream table, but I will adjust accordingly."
Hevad Khan, meanwhile, is quietly going about his business, and his business is winning a lot of pots and accumulating a lot of chips.
For three days now, Khan has been like a machine: shift right hand over to chip stack, pick up chips, bet, scoop chips. Repeat. The same process has now earned him more than half a million. That'll work.
PokerStars sponsored player Kara Scott lost a couple of huge pots late last night and was annoyed. But it's a measure of how well she's been playing here that bagging up 170,000 at the end of day three felt like a disappointment.
But Scott is back on the upward surge today and doubled up early in a kings versus jacks all-in pre-flop coup that pushed her over 300,000. This wonderful story continues.
Also hugely prosperous today is PokerStars player Sarkis Akopyan, from Moscow, Russia. He's in seat one on the feature table and has about 1,200,000 in chips. Yep, that's one-point-two-million. You read it correctly. Asked how he got those, he said simply: "It's a long story." No doubt we'll hear it one day.
Akopyan, who owns a soft drinks wholesale company back home, is here simply for fun and is reckons his casual approach to the game is the main reason he's been doing so well. "I don't focus on the money," Akopyan said. "I'm just enjoying myself. That's how come I've come so far."
Fair enough, Sarkis. But please excuse us if we continue to focus on that massive stack and the vast amount of money it might soon be earning.
As we have mentioned, players here are busting at an amazing rate. Unfortunately one of them was PokerStars qualifier Kory Mitchell, whose friend Meg e-mailed to tell us to keep tabs on him. According to Meg, she gave Mitchell a card protector before he came to Vegas that is keeping him from too many bad beats. He was almost the bubble boy last night before a miracle river gave him a full house, but he lived to fight on.
While I'm sorry to report that Mitchell's great run came to an end in 414th place today, good for $28,950, there is some good news for Meg. Our video blog team caught up with him this morning, so here he is in moving pictures:
You can e-mail us at blog@pokerstars.com if you know any of the PokerStars qualifiers still in the field. We'll do our best to keep up with them. We're fast runners.
It only cost him $80. 
