WSOP 2015: Main Event Results and Prize Money Payouts Ahead of Final Table

Nine players out of more than 6,400 original entries are left standing in the Main Event at the 2015 World Series of Poker. The "November Nine" will return in four months to determine the champion, who will take home more than $7.6 million.

The final table became set during the early morning hours of Wednesday as the last few hopefuls were eliminated. It includes six Americans—including chip leader Joseph McKeehen—one Israeli, one Belgian and one Italian.

Let's check out the complete group set to battle it out for the top spot and the coveted bracelet along with where they will stand when play resumes. That's followed by a breakdown of the remaining prize money and a recap of how the tournament reached this stage.

"November Nine"

Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1	Joseph McKeehen	USA	63,100,000
2	Zvi Stern	ISR	29,800,000
3	Neil Blumenfield	USA	22,000,000
4	Pierre Neuville	BEL	21,075,000
5	Max Steinberg	USA	20,200,000
6	Thomas Cannuli	USA	12,250,000
7	Joshua Beckley	USA	11,800,000
8	Patrick Chan	USA	6,225,000
9	Federico Butteroni	ITA	6,200,000

Prize Money for Final Table

Finish	Prize Money
1	$7,680,021
2	$4,469,171
3	$3,397,103
4	$2,614,558
5	$1,910,971
6	$1,426,072
7	$1,203,193
8	$1,097,009
9	$1,001,020

Tournament Recap

The large field, which featured everything from past champions and some of poker's biggest names to amateurs hoping to strike gold, took 10 days to whittle down to the final table.

Although most of the action during the early days—there were three separate Day 1s to get everybody started—is rather mundane, Day 1C had a lot of action.

Paul Oresteen of Bluff reported on a marquee table that had seen annual late entrant Phil Hellmuth meet up with fellow superstar Phil Ivey. Neither one would advance to the business end of the event this year, but it would be tough to find a more high-profile pairing going at it for at least a few hours.

The report noted they matched up with each other a couple times. Ivey got Hellmuth to fold with a big re-raise early on, but the "Poker Brat" got him back with quad 10s and a flush on the river later on, exclaiming "gotcha" after winning the latter pot.

Day 1C also marked the end of the road for last year's champion, Martin Jacobson, as well as fellow winners Greg Merson, Joe Cada and Jerry Yang.

All of the other past champions followed them out the door in the days that followed. Jim Bechtel, who won the title in 1993, survived the longest of that group with a 121st-place finish.

As the field begin to shrink and the final table came within reach, Daniel Negreanu was the most prominent player left standing. He's a stalwart in the poker community but has never reached the last stage of its most hyped event.

His drought wouldn't come to an end this year, either. ESPN highlighted the painful way the fan favorite was sent packing just a few spots short of the November Nine:

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Negreanu gambled the last of his chips with an A-4 and appeared to be in the clear when McKeehen called showing a J-3. But McKeehen slowly but surely amassed a straight as the cards on the table were flipped. It was the last one, a queen, that did Negreanu in, sending him tumbling to the floor with his hands covering his face.

"

Hellmuth said it's a feeling most pro players understand:

Alexander Turyansky of Germany was eliminated a short time later to finish preliminary play.

McKeehen heads into the final table with more than double the chips of his closest competitor. While it's the preferred position, he'll spend a lot of sleepless nights over the next few months debating how to attack the field.

The question is whether he should try to "bully" his way to free pots with aggressive moves or play conservatively to maintain his edge until more players are eliminated. Trying to find a middle ground is tough and can lead to slowly losing the advantage if luck isn't on his side on the flops.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the pressure will immediately focus on short stacks Patrick Chan and Federico Butteroni as they work to give themselves a little more flexibility.

As always, tensions will be high with so much on the line, and luck is going to play a major role in determining the champion. Play resumes on Nov. 8 and continues until the heads-up final on Nov. 10.