WSOP Final Table: Kelly Kim

by Bodog Poker | Oct 21 2008

Continuing with our series on the WSOP’s November Nine, in this installment we meet Kelly Kim.

Thirty-one-year-old Kim will be entering the WSOP Final Table severely short-stacked with only 2,620,000 in chips giving him slightly less than enough to pay for 11 big blinds or just over 6.5 cycles with blinds at 120,000/240,000 and 30,000 antes. That’s not a lot of wiggle room for Kim. But his stack size will make play interesting right off the bat as he will be forced to make moves and while many players will have the chips to make a marginal call, nobody will want to see him double up.

Kelly Kim is a professional poker player from Whittier, Calif. He has a BA in Economics and worked as a business analyst before going pro. His first live tournament cash came in 2001 when he won $798, but since then he’s gone on to cash 36 more times and accumulate live winnings of $351,744. And that’s not including the $900,000 he has received for making the WSOP Final Table.

Kim is currently getting ready for the WSOP Final Table by playing in live tournaments like the WSOP Europe and the Bellagio series. He is also executing some statistical analysis and studying the players joining him at the Final Table in the ESPN WSOP coverage.

The November Nine's Hometowns and Chip Counts:
• Dennis Phillips - Cottage Hills, Ill. - $26,295,000
• Ivan Demidov - Moscow, Russia - $20,400,000
• Scott Montgomery - Perth, Ontario, Canada - $19,690,000
• Peter Eastgate - Denmark - $18,375,000
• Ylon Schwartz - Brooklyn, N.Y. - $12,525,000
• Darus Suharto - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - $12,520,000
• David Rheem - Los Angeles, Calif. - $10,230,000
• Craig Marquis - Arlington, Texas - $10,210,000
• Kelly Kim - Whittier, Calif. - $2,620,000

Kim will need as much preparation as he can get since he’s coming in so severely short-stacked with his 2,620,000. The next lowest stack after his is Craig Marquis' with 10.2 million and way up at the top is chip leader Dennis Phillips with 26.2 million. It’s almost certain that Kelly Kim’s tournament life will come down to a coin flip very early. If he wins he’ll have the space to maneuver a bit. If he loses, well, he’s probably prepared for that eventuality and can comfort himself with his $900,000.

When asked by the World Series of Poker media who he thought would be the toughest opponent at the WSOP Final Table, he said, “Well I didn't play with a couple of the players until we got 10-handed, but with the players I did play with, I feel the toughest opponent is Peter Eastgate. I think he has all gears and can play fast and slow and he is very difficult to read.”

Interestingly, Peter Eastgate was the same player that Ivan Demidov cited as the person whom he expected the toughest competition from. Bodog oddsmakers currently have Peter Eastgate (fourth in chips) sitting with 11-2 odds to win the WSOP Final Table.

Kelly Kim is the longshot of the bunch at 25-1. But keep in mind that Kim is really just a coin toss away from getting back into contention.

Get the complete WSOP odds in the Bodog Sportsbook. And play online poker at Bodog Poker.