WSOP Main Event Final Table Two Months Away

This week marks the halfway point in the long four-month wait between the first stage WSOP Main Event and the final table, which pits the nine remaining players against each other.

Tournament organizers decided to capitalize on the growing popularity of poker, online poker specifically, and the event itself by first delaying the final table in 2008, allowing for the televised event to be promoted as fully as possible.

The new format, known to fans as the November Nine, returns this year for the third time, with the finalists to compete against one another at the Rio All Suite Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, beginning November 6.

Of the more than 7,000 players from 92 different nations that competed in the Main Event, six American and only three others - two Canadians and an Italian - remain in the running for the $9.8 million first prize.

Twenty-two year-old Canadian Jonathan Duhamel leads all challengers heading into the final stage, claiming the chip lead with around 66 million of the 210 million chips in his possession.

Michael Mizrachi, starting in seventh place, is the biggest name at the final table, after creating history during the 2010 World Series of Poker as one of four brothers to win prize money.

The other players remaining are John Dolan, Joseph Cheong, John Racener, Soi Nguyen and Jason Senti of the US, Matthew Jarvis of Canada, and Filippo Candio of Italy.

ESPN will televise the November Nine.