After long months of expectation surrounding the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table, the speculation will finally come to an end once the “November Nine” return to Las Vegas to finish what they started four months ago. A multitude of viewers and poker fans are expected to crowd the Penn and Teller Theater on Sunday, November 9^th to witness what many people have called “The most anticipated poker table of all times.” Certainly, the WSOP decision to move the final table to November has been incredibly effective; the tactic has not only generated expectation and excitement among poker fans, it has also granted the “The November Nine” players lots of media coverage and sponsorship contracts with online poker brands including PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com.

Moving the final table to November has also been a great deal for ESPN, which has tremendously increased its ratings thanks to the 2008 WSOP episodes running on Tuesdays and replayed several times during the week on all its affiliated networks. Ratings skyrocketed for this year's WSOP coverage; however, ESPN is expected to shatter the previous rakings once they start airing the Final Table on November 11^th. ESPN will have a crew of 70 people in Las Vegas covering the final table, the network team will have a provisional production studio that includes15 tape editors, as many as 10 producers monitoring the action, light and audio technicians and an army of camera men recording every detail of the event. ESPN will then edit the footage recorded over the previous two days and air on Tuesday, November 11^th as an attempt to provide its audience with a semi “live” coverage.

The 2008 WSOP Main Event will be completely free and is open to the public. There is a limited amount of seats in the theater and Harrah’s officials have informed that each of the nine players is planning to bring their own entourage, so be there early if you don’t want to miss the action.

Seating assignments for the final table have not yet been announced. Officials will draw the seats and notify each player at the same time of the order. Here is a look at the starting chip counts and prize chart:

Starting chip counts.

• Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000

• Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000

• Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000

• Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000

• Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000

• Darus Suharto - 12,520,000

• David ‘Chino’ Rheem - 10,230,000

• Craig Marquis - 10,210,000

2008 WSOP Main Event Prize chart:

• 1.       $9,119,517

• 2.       $5,790,024

• 3.       $4,503,352

• 4.       $3,763,515

• 5.       $3,088,012

• 6.       $2,412,510

• 7.       $1,769,174

• 8.       $1,286,672.

• 9.       $900,670