It's all come down to today, with just 27 players still alive in the 2009 Main Event field, each dreaming of surviving the day to take a seat with the November Nine -- the final table of nine players who will return in November to decide who will be the 2009 Main Event champion.
Most pro poker players will tell you that the worst day of the year is when they bust out of the Main Event, and that dreaded day has already struck for 6,467 players in this year's Main Event, with just 27 players still in the mix and dreaming of a guaranteed $1 million payday if they make the final table, plus a shot at $8.5 million for winning it all.
The story at the moment continues to be Phil Ivey, who refuses to succumb to the sea of amateurs and is sitting 4th in chips overall. Fellow pro Antonio Esfandiari is still alive, with Darvin Moon holding the overall chip lead going into today's action. They'll play down to nine players today no matter what, so it could be a very long day of poker when action kicks off at noon.
Which of the 27 remaining players will join Peter Eastgate as a WSOP Main Event champ?
Below are the chip counts for all remaining players:
Table 1
Seat 1: Jesse Haabak - 2,750,000
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli - 4,385,000
Seat 3: James Calderaro - 6,475,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Tamayo - 3,300,000
Seat 5: Warren Zackey - 5,485,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 10,005,000
Seat 7: Leo Margets - 1,530,000
Seat 8: Tommy Vedes - 5,070,000
Seat 9: James Akenhead - 8,615,000
Table 2
Seat 1: Phil Ivey - 11,350,000
Seat 2: Jeff Shulman - 10,170,000
Seat 3: George Caragiorgas - 1,615,000
Seat 4: Nick Maimone - 1,545,000
Seat 5: Andrew Lichtenberger - 5,625,000
Seat 6: Marco Mattes - 5,285,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada - 6,565,000
Seat 8: Darvin Moon - 20,160,000
Seat 9: Jordan Smith - 4,510,000
Table 3
Seat 1: Jamie Robbins - 9,795,000
Seat 2: Antonio Esfandiari - 4,470,000
Seat 3: Francois Balmigere - 1,440,000
Seat 4: Ludovic Lacay - 5,610,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 11,885,000
Seat 6: Ben Lamb - 9,410,000
Seat 7: Antoine Saout - 11,135,000
Seat 8: Kevin Schaffel - 11,245,000
Seat 9: Billy Kopp - 15,970,000
