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At the top is Phillips and Ivan Demidov, a 27-year old semiprofessional poker player from Moscow with 24.4 million in chips. Next in line are poker professional Scott Montgomery, 26, of Perth, Ontario, and Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Odense, Denmark, who holds 18.4 million chips.
Schwartz is next with 12.5 million chips, slightly ahead of 39-year-old Toronto accountant Darus Suharto. Rheem is in seventh place with 10.2 million chips, just 20,000 chips ahead of Craig Marquis, 23, of Arlington, Texas.
Marquis holds nearly four times as many chips as Kim.
The no-limit rules to the game mean players can bet their entire stack at any time, risking elimination in a single hand to improve their position.
The players know that the game is more about mental dexterity than cards on the felt, which in theory are truly random. Winners tend to recognize their opponents’ playing styles first and adapt.
“You’re always learning, you’re always perfecting, you’re always trying to improve,” said Phillips, who has spent weekends and other spare time analyzing his game and that of his opponents.
Schwartz took the opposite track, disappearing for the week before the final table into the remoteness of Nevada’s mountains and desert. His goal is complete mental clarity, like a great golfer on a golf course.
Schwartz acknowledges that money and the game might creep into his thoughts.
“That’s the trick. If you really can distance yourself then that’s very powerful,” Schwartz said. “You’re not thinking tactically or positionally or mathematically about anything.”
“The way is to be, and that’s it,” Schwartz said.
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