The World Series of Poker Europe 2009 Main Event final table has been set and upon first inspection, it appears to be basically a dry run for this November's WSOP Main Event big finale.  

Not only does today's final table feature two actual members of this year's November Nine- James Akenhead and Antoine Saout- it also features a Shulman from CardPlayer and one of the most highly respected well known pros on the tour, who is almost always considered a favorite at any table he joins.

Of course in this case were not talking about Phil Ivey, we're talking about his old friend Daniel Negreanu, and the Shulman I mentioned is not November Niner Jeff, but his father Barry, but still the similarities are downright creepy.

Other players to make this year's WSOP Europe final table include Markus Ristola, Praz Bansi, Chris Bjorn, Matt Hawrilenko and Jason Mercier, who currently leads the field with a whopping 3,198,000 in tournament chips- apparently doing his best to play the role of Darvin Moon.

The chip counts going into today's WSOP Europe Final Table are as follows:

Jason Mercier- 3,198,000

James Akenhead- 1,398,000

Praz Bansi- 1,160,000

Barry Shulman- 1,090,000

Markus Ristola- 784,000

Antoine Saout- 701,000

Matt Hawrilenko- 674,000

Chris Bjorin- 518,000

Daniel Negreanu- 438,000

The final table of the WSOP Europe, ?10,350 buy-in, Main Event, begins today at noon, London time.  For more information visit www.worldseriesofpoker.com.
 

Story by Mark Anderson