After 17.5 hours and 276 hands, two players are left standing out of the 6,494 who started more than 4 months ago, and they will come back on Monday 10pm local time (Tuesday 1am ET / 7 am CET) to decide the World Champion of poker in 2009. It was one of the most dramatic final tables ever, with sick setups, bad beats, some brilliant play and some questionable play. Here's a recap of how each of the players fared, if you don't want to spoil the suspense before the final table broadcast on Tuesday, don't read any further.


9. James Akenhead (UK) $1,263,602
The British pro started with the smallest stack and was the first one to go, but not before some memorable hands. First he got extremely lucky to triple up with KQ vs Eric Buchman's AK, but just a few hands later he ran his KK into Kevin Schaffel's AA and was left crippled again. In his last hand he open shoved with 33, but found a caller in Schaffel who had 99 this time. No 3 came and that was that for Akenhead.

8. Kevin Schaffel $1,300,231
After sending Akenhead to the rail, Kevin Schaffel shortly got into another AA vs KK setup, but this time there was a cruel twist to it. He got the chips in preflop vs. Eric Buchman, but the flop came KQJ to give Buchman a set of kings. Schaffel still had 6 outs, but Buchman hit quads on the turn to put it beyond doubt.

7. Phil Ivey $1,404,014
You could hear the collective sigh of disapointment through the poker world when Ivey's frustrating final table run finally came to an end in hand no. 90. After soldiering on with his short stack he open shoved with AK and found a caller in Darvin Moon with AQ. The crowd was ecstatic but only until the flop which came queen high to give Moon the lead. No king was coming and Ivey hit the rail in 7th place. The best player in the world just couldn't catch the break he needed and finally his luck ran out in a most frustrating way against the amateur from Maryland. "It’s disappointing I did not win. But I am happy with the way I played. I think I made pretty good decisions with the amount of chips that I had. And, I think I gave myself as much possibility of winning it as I could," Ivey said to Pokernews.com. Just a couple of hours after busting out, he was already playing in a $1,000/$2,000 cash game with David Benyamine and Gus Hansen.

6. Steven Begleiter $1,587,160
Steven Begleiter followed Ivey to the rail and it was that man Moon again sucking out with a 3-outer. Begleiter raised preflop, Moon put him all-in from the big blind and Begleiter called in a flash, tabling QQ. Moon had AQ again, but this time we had to wait until the river: 874 3... A, and Begleiter's tournament ended in 6th place.

5. Jeff Shulman $1,953,452
Like Ivey, Shulman had a frustrating time at the table, never really making any progress, and when he finally caught a break, Lady Luck dealt him a cruel blow. He got the chips all-in preflop with JJ vs. Joe Cada's 33, but the 3 on the flop meant yet another suck out and Shulman was left crippled. He bowed out in a coinflip with 77 vs. Antoine Saout's A9 when the Frenchman spiked a 9 on the flop.

4. Eric Buchman $2,502,890
The pro from New York played an excellent game (Shulman called his play "perfect" in his exit interview) and held the lead for much of the way, but lost it in a dramatic hand with Antoine Saout. There was a history of raising wars between these two, so it was not surprising that both thought their hands were good when they got it all-in with AK vs AQ, Buchman holding the queen in his hand. No help came and Saout shot into the lead, Buchman was left crippled with just 9.8 million. He doubled up once, but then Darvin Moon made another questionable play to bust him: Buchman shoved on top his raise for approximately 22 million, and Moon snap-called for way more than half of his chips with KJs. Buchman had A5, but Moon hit a king on the turn and Buchman's tournament came to an end.

3. Antoine Saout (France) $3,479,670
Saout also played an excellent game, and came so close to sealing his place in the last two: holding the chip lead 3-handed, he got the chips in preflop with QQ against Joe Cada's pocket deuces. Cada was drawing thin, but incredibly the flop came 972 to give him his second flopped set against a bigger pair. Saout still had chips, and just a couple of hands later he was all-in again with a better hand: 88 vs AK, but it was Joe Cada's day and the king on the river sealed the deal for him. Saout can be proud of his performance, making almost $3.5 million as the best European at this year's Main Event.

So, the heads up will be between the young online pro Joe Cada and probably the most famous logger out of Maryland right now, Darvin Moon.

Moon's play was unorthodox to say the least, his inexperience showing on some occasions when he made horrible mistakes, like trying to bluff Antoine Saout out of a pot with air when there was absolutely no chance Saout would fold, or when he himself folded in a 49m pot with Steven Begleiter when there were still two cards to come on a 4s 3s 2d flop and Moon had to pay only 6m more. According to WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, "Moon later explained that he thought he had a good read on his opponent, that he was weak. But he admitted to being wrong and decided to cut his losses." The only trouble is, by doing so, Moon effectively maximized his losses, not paying the extra 6m to get more than 8:1 pot odds to see the last two cards.

But, despite crowd reactions, all the media pressure - and indeed poker mathematics and some questionable play on other occasions, too - the humble amateur has a shot at the win at the biggest tournament in the world. Moon has 58.95 million in chips, almost exactly the same amount he had at the start of the final table.

Joe Cada was by far the most aggressive player at the table and seemed to find new strength when the tournament dragged on and everybody else was getting tired. True, he was also the luckiest, dropping to just 2.4 million in chips at one point and incredibly coming back with some great play and some memorable suck outs. He is the overwhelming favorite on Monday. Cada has the skill advantage and a clear lead with 139.95 million in chips.

Information about the hands taken from Pokernews.com and the Bluff Magazine's audio stream.