WSOP Final Tablists Guaranteed $900,670 on Tuesday

All nine final table players will go home with $900,670 on Tuesday and will wait 117 days to play for more. (Bodog Beat Image)"]

In what is sure to happen early, early next Tuesday morning, the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event will be set and nine players will become part of the poker consciousness for the next 117 days. Those nine players will also leave the Rio with $900,670, or ninth place money.

They will practice, study, talk, read and try to learn as much as possible about the game and their opponents before coming back and trying to not be the one poor sod who will leave with nothing extra to add to their bank account. Well, as poor as a sod can be with $900k. Outlasting just one person on the return journey to the final table means a jump over the million mark to $1,286,672, a $300k difference and a life-changing amount all on its own.

As degenerate as most gamblers are, the detractors of the final table delay would point out that $900k is a lot of money to get into trouble with, especially if you thing there's at least $300k more coming. Maybe they gamble it all away and get into debt with a bookie who tells them their slate will be wiped clean if they throw the final table. These and other arguments are the crux of the opposition to the delay; collusion, cheating...call it what you will.

However, the reality of this happening is likely to be slim, depending on the characters at the final table. More realistically, they will have time to negotiate sweet final table bonus deals from several sponsors based on higher projected ratings for the telecast and relative stack size. And, to be honest, leaving the Rio on Tuesday with $900,670 would have been a lot easier sell than waiting 117 days for any kind of payout at all.

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