Russian Ivan Demidov managed something pretty amazing this year.  He finished 2nd at the World Series of Poker Europe final table (WSOPE) and now he's among the nine that will face off today at the WSOP final table in Vegas after a three month delay.

Asked if he felt intimidated by Demidov's presence, finalist Ylon Schwartz said: "No.  Nobody intimidates me.  The one person I fear at the table is myself."

Another finalist, Darus Suharto, had this to offer:  "Well he did make the final table for WSOPE.  I don't see him as a big threat.  I do think he has a chance.  I'll just have to do my best at the final table and see what happens.  Hopefully things will look up for me."

It's never been done before, somebody finishing at two different World Series of Poker final tables in the same year.  And while the WSOPE is only in its second year, the feat is amazing nonetheless.

The 27-year old professional poker player from Moscow, Russia is already a guaranteed millionaire regardless of where he finishes at this week's table.  He's also been instilled as the favorite by online gambling websites taking bets on the 2008 WSOP winner. 

With 24,400,000 chips, Demidov is only about 2 million chips behind the chip leader Dennis Phillips. 

He would be the first Russian to win a World Series of Poker main event.

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Ace King, Gambling911.com