Kelly Kim KOd

Kelly Kim was supposed to go out first. Members of the media were betting on how many hands he’d last and some had the line set at as few as 15 hands. But Kim showed extreme patience and waited for his opportunity.

“I just wanted to wait and wait and wait as long as I could,” said Kim. “Every hand you wait and survive there’s a better chance to sneak up.”

On the first hand of the night Kim moved all-in and found no callers. He then waited and waited for an opportunity to double up again, but in the process let his stack get as low as 2.5 big blinds. On his exit hand though Kim had all but his last 150,000 committed to the pot. When action came to him he moved all-in and got calls from Ivan DemidovYlon Schwartz and Darus Suharto to call. With all those callers Kim simply mucked his hand when the river card was dealt and walked away.

The crowd though wanted to pay tribute to Kim’s perseverance and gave the 31-year-old a standing ovation. The support, which was led by the army of supporters here for Dennis Phillips, lasted more than 30 seconds as Kim exited the stage.

“The support was awesome. I’m glad I was able to win that one hand to give them something to cheer about.”

With an eighth place finish Kim’s given them more to cheer for – about $380,000 worth