DON McDERMOTT / PVT The feature table at the World Series of Poker was set up to bolster in programs presented by ESPN. Camera crews surround the table, while other camermen walk through the main floor, taping selected action. Advertisement

LAS VEGAS -- The remaining 1,159 players - out of a monster World Series of Poker field of 8,773 - will resume their quest today for a share of the $82,512,162 prize pool, including a $12 million payoff for the champion.

All are WSOP records, as the tournament - which ran practically non-stop from June 24 through Wednesday - took Thursday off. Everybody - players, dealers, officials, concessionaires, and fans - needed that much-appreciated break in the action at the Rio Casino-Hotel.

In 2005, 5,619 players, with their $10,000 buy-ins, generated a prize pool of $52 million, with winner Jospeh Hachem of Australia receiving $7.5 million and each of the nine final table players grabbing at least $1 million. And it was just two years ago that Greg Raymer outlasted a field of 2,600 to record a pay day worth $5 million.

Starting at noon today, the tourney will begin its grind to a conclusion; the final nine players will battle Thursday for the championship and some consolation payoffs that will boost the assets, eradicate the liabilities - and generate fame, fleeting for some but a lifetime for the champion.

Players who finish 10th, 11th and 12th - that will be determined sometime Wednesday night - are each guaranteed $1,154,527. Note: In 2002, Don Barton of Pahrump received $70,000 for his 10th-place finish. Another note: In 2003, Chris Moneymaker outlasted 838 rivals to win $2.5 million; in this 37th annual WSOP, 873 players will get paid. Finishers 820 through 873 will receive $14,557 each.

Other payoffs: The runnerup will earn $6,102,499, with third place worth $4,123,310. Fourth will be $3,628,513; fifth is $3,216,182, with sixth at $2,803,851.

The seventh-place finisher will get $2,391,520, which exceeds the $2 million Robert Varkonyi was paid for his victory in 2002. Eighth place is worth $1,979,189, with ninth place at $1,566,858.

Don't pity the 13th-, 14th- and 15th-place finishers; they will each receive $907,126, with 16th through 18th worth $659,730 each. And so the numbers turn ...

Going into today's action, the chip leaders are:

1 - Dimitri Nobles, $549,200;

2 - Yuriy Kozinski, $443,300;

3 - Jon Lane, $405,400;

4 - Ken Jacobs, $375,300;

5 - Daniel Pelletier, $334,300;

6 - Daniel Negreanu, $331,000;

7 - Jason Strauss, $319,000;

8 - Terris Preston, $313,300;

9 - Brian Crispin, $309,000;

10 - Paul Wasicka, $308,300.

Negreanu is the first of the so-called big names of poker to reach the leader board at the end of a day's action; he was at the ESPN featured table at mid-day Wednesday and drew on previous experience in that pressure-ridden role to go on a major rush.

Hachem survived Wednesday; he will start today with $114,100. However, the most recent champions - Raymer, Moneymaker, and Varkonyi - have been eliminated, as have such notables as Mike Matusow, Sam Farha, T.J. Cloutier, Doyle Brunson and Robert Williamson III.

Returning to the tables, however, are players made famous by numerous appearances at final tables and at tables featured on television, a medium which has been the catalyst for the world-wide explosion of popularity poker has experienced.

That list includes Allen Cunningham ($172,900), Humberto Brenes ($148,300), Ted Lawson ($135,000), NBC Heads-Up champion Ted Forrest ($130,900), Josh Arieh ($85,600), Juan Carlos Mortensen ($77,600), Hoyt Corkins ($67,900), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson ($46,200), and Phil Ivey ($23,400).

Four of the best women players are still in the chase, with Cyndi Violette at $79,000, Annie Duke at $67,000, Kathy Liebert at $48,500, and Susie Isaacs at $40,300. When the original 8,773 players started, only 270 were women, but their presence cannot be ignored as the race to the title resumes.

Other players to watch: Dario Minieri, a 21-year-old WSOP rookie from Rome, Italy, who has $275,000, and Jeff Cabanallis, who has $203,000 and earned $800,000 by winning one of the major preliminary tournaments this season.

Now consider Jonathan Diamond ...

When action resumes today, he is at the bottom of the chip list with $1,100. But as the saying goes, as long as a player has a chip and a chair, he ... or she ... has a prayer.