Tournament: Phil Ivey plus eight lightweights at the final table

For eight of the 2009 WSOP Main Event finalists this year's ride has already been something of a fairytale, and their seats at the final table promise that each of them will leave the event as millionaires. For Phil Ivey though, it's just business as usual. If you follow poker at all, then you know Phil Ivey. Here's the breakdown on his less recognizable competitors.

The current chip leader, Darvin Moon, is a relative unknown (and according to recent interviews wants to stay that way) as are Steven Begleiter (3rd) and French WSOP first-timer Antoine Saout (8th).

Eric Buchman (currently holding the second largest chip stack) has posted several WSOP cashes in the past, and even placed in the money in the 2006 Main Event, but his inclusion at the final table promises to double his lifetime tournament earnings.

Jeff Shulman final tabled at the Main Event in 2000 for the biggest win of his career, but the stakes have risen significantly in the last nine years promising that Shulman will pocket at least a million extra for his efforts this time around.

Joseph Cada's first stab at big tournament play has been successful to say the least with two other WSOP 2009 cashes preceding his trip to the final table.

Kevin Schaffel's been poking around the major tournaments for a couple years, but thus far his best (and only) WSOP cash was 324th place in last year's Main Event.

Rounding out the top nine is James Akenhead whose story is more of the same: only two years of tournament play, lifetime earnings of just half a million, and no bracelets to his name.

With seven WSOP bracelets to his name (the only event winner at the table) and 35 cashes under his belt Phil Ivey is no doubt casting a long shadow over the final table and is an obvious favorite on poker forums across the net. Three times in his career Ivey has fallen just short of the Main Event's top nine, most notably finishing 10th in 2003 when Chris Moneymaker posted his historical win.

Will Phil Ivey add World Champion to his long list of accomplishments, or will this year's Main Event be a Moneymaker flashback? We'll have to wait almost four months to find out!

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