2008 Re-Cap - Evolution, Scandal and History

Submitted by Moshnetwork on February 10, 2009 - 11:19am

Gary Wise of ESPN Poker Club looks back at some of the amazing and tumultous stories that made 2008.

The November Nine

The final table of the WSOP was announced to be delayed almost four months to heighten TV viewer interest and drum up familairity with the 'November Nine" players. There was great debate on the announcement but the combatants benefited financially and the TV ratings grew in mammoth proportions.

Online Scandal

A group of industrious poker players discovered that hole cards could be seen on Absolute Poker and one of the largest sites Ultimate Bet, was shown to be cheating for 4 years to the sum of $20 million.

Scotty Nguyen

'The Prince of Poker' became the first player to win poker's biggest 2 tournaments (some consider), adding the 2008 WSOP $50,000 HORSE title to he's 1998 WSOP Main Event title. A drunken Nguyen berated dealers and oppenents in the amazing win. Public opinion was strong on he's drunk tirades.

Demidov's Double

Russia's Ivan Demidov third-place finish in the WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe) was notable as he had an unusual target on he's back being one of the waiting November Nine. He went on to finish second in the WSOp main event.

Heads-Up and The Year of the Pro

Chris ' Jesus' Ferguson took home the National Heads-Up Poker Championship after twice coming second, losing the finals in 2005-06 to Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest respectively.

Live tournament pro also made come-backs with Negranu, Matusow, Greenstein, Nguyen and Layne Flack among the pros returning to glory.

Eastgate Wins Main Event

Denmark's 22-year-old wunderkind Peter Eastgate became the youngest player in history to take the WSOP main event title, taking the record held previously for 19 years by Phil Hellmuth. Eastgate's victory netted him $9.1 million, the second-largest prize in recorded tournament history!

Source: ESPN