Bodog Beat

Leo Margets is still standing as the last woman standing at the 2009 WSOP Main Event. (Bodog Beat Image)

We are drawing ever closer here at the 2009 WSOP Main Event to crowning the new group of media darlings (*snort*) who will become the November Nine. In fact, by the time play is halted for the day, we will have those nine players. The only question remaining is how long that will take. Last year play went through until 4:30am and we've heard guesstimates that say it will probably be about the same, so more or less eight levels of poker.

The major storyline at the moment belongs to poker pro Phil Ivey, who is still standing strongly in fourth place with 11.35 million in chips. The current chip leader is everybody's favorite logger from Maryland, Darvin Moon, with 20.16 million in chips. He is followed by Billy Kopp with 15.97 million.

Still hanging on for dear life is the last woman standing, Leo Margets. She starts the day with the second-smallest stack at 1.53 million. The only other notable players coming into the day are CardPlayer magazine's Jeff Shulman (10.17 million), Antonio Esfandiari (4.47 million) and that's pretty much it. So much potential in the field boiled down to just this. Kinda feels like last year.

Anyway, the cards are just about ready to go in the air, so we're off to take some pics and see how this thing ends. Stay tuned for more 2009 WSOP Main Event live updates.