With less than one day before the final nine competitors of this year's World Series of Poker Main Event reconvene at the most important final table in poker, the eyes of the poker world are once again turning to Las Vegas and the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

It's been over three months since these last nine players sat across from each other on the Rio felt and in that time, though their stacks haven't changed, much about many of the players have. 

For instance, both Kevin Schaffel and Steven Begleiter made some big scores, getting all the way into the top ten at the recent World Poker Tour Legends of Poker main event in Los Angeles, with Schaffel taking second for $471,670.

James Akenhead, competed at the WSOP Europe main event in September, and made it through nearly the entire 334 person field, eventually taking ninth place for nearly $110,000; and Antoine Saout took 40th at WPT Marrakech for $14,569, before taking 3rd in the Barriere Poker Tour- Grand Final High Roller Tournament for more than $26,000.

WSOP Main Event chip leader Darvin Moon, hasn't had any significant cashes since leaving the Rio in July, but given his stack is nearly double that of second place's Eric Buchman, he can probably still feel pretty confident returning to the table.

The two most well known pros at tomorrow's final table, Jeff Shulman and Phil Ivey, also don't have any recent tournament cashes, however, both have had an interesting last few months of poker regardless.

Shulman for instance, watched his Father Barry take down the WSOP Europe Main Event over the summer for over $1,300,000, certainly adding some pressure for Jeff, as the two could now be the first father/son combo to both win WSOP Main Events in the same year.

Ivey, spent much of the last few months in self imposed isolation in Cabo (see recent Life of Ivey video) but still found time to lose and win millions online, playing the biggest games his site Full Tilt Poker has to offer.

All of these players, regardless of the last few months, will now return to compete in what is without a doubt the most significant poker tournament of their lives (and at $8.5 million for first, also potentially their biggest cash), and no matter what they've accomplished in the interim, will surely now be judged mainly by what they do Saturday.

The current chip counts for the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table are as follows:

Darvin Moon- 58,930,000

Eric Buchman- 34,800,000

Steven Begleiter- 29,885,000

Jeff Shulman- 19,580,000

Joseph Cada- 13,215,000

Kevin Schaffel- 12,390,000

Phil Ivey- 9,765,000

Antoine Saout- 9,500,000

James Akenhead- 6,800,000

The World Series of Poker Main Event final table begins in the Penn and Teller Theater, this Saturday (11/7) at noon PT and will continue until the table is down to the final two opponents.  Those two players, whoever they may be, will then begin again at 10 PM Monday night to play down to our new champion, with the resulting recorded ESPN program shown to the world the next day (Tuesday the 10th)  at 9PM ET.

To catch the action live as it happens poker fans can wait in line at the Penn and Teller Theater for entry on a first come first serve basis, or take advantage of the many online options, including reading live updates from PokerNews, listening to the live broadcast feed from Bluff Magazine.com, tweeting with the PokerRoad Nation with folks sitting in the theater seats, chatting about the event in the PokerRoad forums or all of the above (clearly the most recommended option).


Story by Mark Anderson