Ivan Demidov Biography

Ivan Demidov bio

Ivan Demidov is a self described semi-professional poker player from Moscov, Russia. He started playing poker while going to college to study Mathematics. He began playing poker online while in college and has continued playing online since that point. He has stated that moving from playing online to playing has been a tough transition, but it appears that he is making the transition without much of a hitch.

Demidov recorded his first live cash in 2006 with a final table in a Pot Limit Omaha event at the Korona Russian Poker Championship. His fifth place finish was the sign of great things to come. In 2007, Demidov finished 3rd in a $1,000 No Limit event at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. His next cash would not come until this year that Demidov recorded his next live cash, but his accomplishments are going to go down in poker history.

First, Demidov finished 11th in Event #44 of the World Series of Poker. Event #44 was the $1,000 with Rebuy No-Limit Holdem event. He would receive $39,854 for his 11th place finish, but that was just scratching the surface of what was to come.

Demidov would enter the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and would steadily increase his stack over each day. He claimed that he played a little tight but it would not matter as he would hit key hands in Day 7 to chip up to 24.4 Million in chips. He made the “November Nine” second in chips, only trailing Dennis Phillips going into the final table.

Demidov then stated that he would play some different tournaments to give himself some experience and would work with fellow pro and friend Alexander Kostritsyn to improve his game. His hard work would pay off at the World Series of Poker Europe when Demidov would make the final table of the Main Event. He set a World Series of Poker record for being the only person to make both the Main Event in Las Vegas and in Europe. Demidov finished 3rd in the event and took home $664,781. His play impressed several professionals along the way, including Daniel Negreanu.

Demidov finishes second to Peter Eastgate in 2008 World Series of Poker main event.