Bodog Beat

There was much cheering and celebration when the money bubble burst in the 2008 WSOP Main Event. (Bodog Beat Image)

It took some serious patience on the part of the tournament staff (what part of "players please sit down" is so hard to understand?), a lot, A LOT, of hand-to-hand play and a whole lot of running back and forth by the ESPN cameras, but the money bubble finally burst here during Day 3 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

As soon as the announcement was made a cheer went up from the crowd and the tension bled out of the air, and pretty soon the eliminations will be flowing like the beer we wish was flowing down our collective gullets (been a long day). There are now currently exactly 666 ("the number of the beast") players remaining and they are all on well-deserved 20-minute break. The bubble boy, Steve Something-or-the-other (there was a lot of yelling and cheering going on), won a $10,000 buy-in to the 2009 WSOP Main Event courtesy of "The Beast," Milwaukee's Best Light.

All players from here on out will be walking away with at least $21,230, with a $2,000 jump coming when the 604th-place player busts out. Then begins the long slow climb up the payouts scale until we get to the $900,670 that all nine final tablists will take home.

Stay tuned for more live updates from the tournament floor of the Amazon Room at the 2008 WSOP.