6,494 people entered this year's World Series of Poker Main Event, down 350 from last year’s 6,844. A total of 648 places will get paid from the total prize pool of $61,043,600. The lucky final table members will all win over a million, with the winner getting just over $8.5 million.

• Final table payouts
• 1. $8,546,435
• 2. $5,182,601
• 3. $3,479,485
• 4. $2,502,787
• 5. $1,953,395
• 6. $1,587,133
• 7. $1,404,002
• 8. $1,300,228
• 9. $1,263,602

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker is in full swing and as usual, the stars have come out to shine... or at least play some poker. Many celebs are already gone, including wrestler Torrie Wilson, former NBA player John Salley, actors and pals Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, Marlon Wayans, Shannon Elizabeth, and musician Sully Erna. But don't count the celebs out yet! Many have made it all the way to Day 3 of play, including: Actor Jason Alexander, NBA player Jordan Farmar, and Lou Diamond Phillips (pictured).

See more pictures from the WSOP

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker is underway, and no one knows how to start things off with a bang like "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth. He came dressed as Caesar, carried by "centurions" while sprawled out across a special platform. Meanwhile hordes of scantily-clad "servants" tossed rose petals to pave the way for Phil "Julius Caesar" Hellmuth. When asked, "Why Caesar?" Hellmuth had this to say:

We are just having as much fun as we can have. Caesar was one of the ideas on our list. We actually talked about me being a gladiator or Caesar, and even Uncle Sam was an idea we wanted to do. We just decided on Caesar. You know that Caesar is going to be the main theme at WSOP-Europe. When you do Caesar, you want to do him big and you want to do him right.

In any case, his big entrance propelled him to stay alive through his Day 1, so I guess you can't fault him. We'll see how his luck continues in Day 2.

Read more about Phil Hellmuth | More Photos

I love the fourth of July -- admittedly, mainly because its a chance for a day off filled with barbeque and fireworks... with a significant chance of a little home poker game with friends at the end of the evening. What could be better? And in my opinion, poker is just as American as apple pie or baseball -- it's one of our great national pastimes. Read more about the U.S. and poker with these articles, and have a great fourth!

• President Richard Nixon & Poker
• President Warren Harding & Poker

I can't believe it's come upon me so quickly, but the biggest tournament of the poker year is just a few days away: The $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em WSOP Main Event kicks of Friday! Get excited for the Main Event by learning about how it all began and some of the winners of past years, including last year's youngest-ever champion, Peter Eastgate.

WSOP Reading:

• How did the World Series of Poker begin?
• Every winner of the WSOP Main Event
• Read about Last Year's Final Table Players, The November Nine
• 2008 Winner Peter Eastgate
• World Series of Poker Central

My favorite tournament of the World Series of Poker, the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament, is going on at the Rio. Only 95 people entered this year, and my bet is that some of the usual entrants blew their "big buy-in" at the $40,000 buy-in Hold'em event. Nevertheless, it's still a great gathering of the best of the best poker pros and crowns a champion who is great at not just one poker game, but five. There are 53 players left and leading the pack at this point is Gus Hansen, but former champs Scotty Nguyen is close behind and Freddy Deeb is still alive as well, so we could have our first repeat champion. Sadly both of the women who entered, Annie Duke and Jennifer Harman, have been eliminated, so we won't have a queen of H.O.R.S.E. this year.

Related Resources:

• H.O.R.S.E Tournaments 101
• 2008 Winner: Scotty Nguyen
• 2007 Winner: Freddy Deeb
• 2006 Winner: Chip Reese
• Photos from the 2006 H.O.R.S.E Event at the WSOP

All I can say is wowzers. Jeff "The Iceman" Lisandro just took down his third bracelet in one year at the World Series of Poker in the $2,500 buy-in Razz event. Only four other players in the entire history of the WSOP have accomplished such a feat: Puggy Pearson in 1973, Ted Forrest and Phil Hellmuth in 1993, and Phil Ivey in 2002. What's more, none of them did it with fields as large as they've been since the big poker boom following Chris Moneymaker's WSOP win in 2003. Speaking of Moneymaker, with the $188,390 for first place Lisandro collected for this most recent victory, his combined WSOP earnings now total $2,578,137. This currently ranks 35th on the all-time list, which puts Lisandro one spot ahead of Chris Moneymaker. Even more impressive, Lisandro now has a chance to become the first-ever four-time gold bracelet winner in a single year in WSOP history. Can he do it?

The World Series of Poker is held at the Rio, and that may be where the biggest tournament in poker is going on right now, but it's not the only place to play poker in Las Vegas! So if you're in Vegas and want to play, try one of these Top 10 Las Vegas Poker Rooms. Whether you're staying on or off the strip, if you're in Vegas, there's a poker room nearby filled to the brim with poker people.

Amazingly, not one, not two, but now three different men have won two World Series of Poker bracelets at this year's 2009. Joining Brock Parker and Phil Ivey in the 2-for-2009-club is Jeff Lisandro, who just won Event 37, the $10,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-better event. He adds $431,656 for his great play to the $124,959 he already won for first place in Event 16, the $1,500 buy-in seven-card stud event. While I must admit I was rooting for the legendary Doyle Brunson to take down his 11th bracelet at this event (Texas Dolly went out in 7th place), I have to admire Lisandro's amazing skill and poker play that allowed him this remarkable win. Congrats!
Photos: See Lisandro's winning hand at event 37 and event 16.

They've already given out more than half the bracelets at this year's World Series of Poker, and a lot of exciting things have happened in the last seven days, including:

• Phil Ivey taking down his second bracelet of the series!
• Another notable accomplishment was James Van Alstyne winning his first-ever bracelet in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E event after coming in second place in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E event to Zac Fellows.
• And Greg 'FBT' Mueller won his first WSOP bracelet at the $10,000 limit hold'em event.

For more winners, check out our winners gallery.