Good Practice for November
by Court on 10.02.08, 10:37 pm
The buzz around Ivan Demidov in the last 48 hours has been tremendous. Ever since it became likely he would make the final table at the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair, people have been talking about the amazing, historical (poker history at least) accomplishment of making both WSOP Main Event final tables in the same year.
Could he possibly pull off the greatest poker feat of all time and win both? How will his play here help and hinder him in the November final table? Will his marketability skyrocket? 
Well, the first question turns out to be a no, but it took almost 15 hours to find that out. The other two questions are still up in the air and will likely be hotly debated and discussed in the month between this final table and the November table.
Demidov (left) had a shot here, holding the chip lead in 3 handed play but being up against two tough competitors that gave nothing up easy. John Juanda ended up finishing Ivan off with pocket aces against Demidov’s Q
T that had a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw when the money went in on the turn.
In a battle of the blinds, which is not uncommon in 3-handed play, Juanda raised to 105k from the small blind and Demidov called the additional 65k. On the 8
53 flop Juanda checked to the November Niner who bet 170k. John called and then checked again after the J
hit on the turn.Â
Demidov fell right into Juanda’s trap when he bet 450k. John raised all in over the top and Demidov found himself pot stuck with queen high but enough of a drawing hand that he had to get the rest of it in there. The Poker Gods must have decided that Demidov had enough practice for his November table and the J hit on the river ending Demidov’s amazing run in 3rd place for £334,850.After eliminating Ivan, John Juanda now has the chip lead going into heads up play with the other Russian that has been such a force at this final table. Stanislov Alekhin has done the lions share of the work today eliminating 5 of the 7 players that have busted out so far, but even with that impressive feather in his cap he still goes into heads up play at a significant disadvantage in the chips.
John Juanda’s 4.6 million chips give him almost twice the 2.6 million of Alekhin .
