Ivan Demidov - 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Runner Up
Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov is a 27-year old semi-pro player from Moscow, Russia. His live tournament record before the Main Event included an 11th place finish in this year's $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event, good for a cash of $39,854. Ivan came close to making history this October, when he made the final table of the World Series of Poker* Europe Main Event, eventually being eliminated in 3rd place for a cash of $608,995. Elsewhere, he's also made several other cash finishes in tournaments around Europe, and finished 3rd in a side event at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2007. When he isn´t playing poker, Ivan enjoys skiing, white water rafting and scuba diving. He is also a former semi-pro StarCraft player, and graduated from Moscow State University in 2004 with a degree in Math.
Ivan claims he raised the money to enter the Main Event with the help of a friend. With close to a million dollars in prize money already guaranteed, his friend has clearly made a wise investment. Ivan says that he and other Russian players had been inspired to do well at this year’s WSOP* after the success of fellow countryman and Team PokerStars Pro member Alex Kravchenko. He’ll now be hoping he can make it even further than Kravchenko’s 4th place finish in the Main Event last year. He goes into November’s Final Table with a chip stack of 24,400,000, 2nd only to chip leader and fellow PokerStars Million Dollar Man Dennis Phillips.
Ivan Demidov - PokerStars.tv interview
Watch WSOP 08: Ivan Demidov WSOP Finalist on PokerStars.tv
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