The November Nine of Poker - Schwartz and Montgomery

2008 WSOP fourth place finisher Ylon Schwartz has made his living the past seventeen years playing chess games in New York City’s Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. A former chess master, originally from Brooklyn, NY, the 38-year old brought 12,525,000 chips to thepoker table and seemed averse to landing in the spotlight, saying that if he won thepoker tournament, he would “go someplace far away where he can’t be found.” Holding Ace 10, Schwartz went all-in against Eastgate’s pocket 5s. The river completed a set for Peter, with nothing materializing on board for Ylon, who took home $3.8 million in fourth place.

The fifth place winner, Scott Montgomery started the final poker table with an impressive 19,690,000 chip stack. The Canadian was teaching English in Japan when he began serious online poker play several years ago. In 2008, he finished fifth in his first $10,000 buy-in event - the WPT LA Poker classic. The 26-year old cashed in three WSOP events this year before making it to the November Nine for the Main Event. He went up against Eastgate’s pocket 6s with the Ace 3, and the flop brought A 4 Q, then another Ace on the turn with the 6d on the river, giving Eastgate a full house to beat Montgomery’s trip Aces. His fifth place finish brought Montgomery a $3,088,012 prize.