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By Gary Wise
ESPN.com
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It seems like long ago when 6,494 dreams started sorting the order in which they'd be shattered back in early July. Day after day, hopeful souls marched into the Rio All-Suite Hotel's Amazon Room with their eyes on the prize: $8,546,435, fame, the bracelet and the envy and admiration of the poker world's nine-figure population. Most marched back out tails tucked, telling one sad story after another after their respective decimations.

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AP Photo/Laura RauchThe guys were last together on July 16. It'll be quite a reunion at the Rio on Saturday.

Nine players survived the two weeks of main event play in July, and now that ESPN's broadcasts have caught up to the action, we're all up to date on who they are, how they're seated and where they rank heading into the final table. We also can finally look at the storylines that will bind and define them and how those storylines might affect their respective outcomes when play resumes Saturday.

ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman explained here how the schedule will unfold, but he didn't get into two contrasting features of the final table that when weighed will determine how things play out. First, with the small stack at $6.8 million and the big blind just $240,000, there's plenty of play left at this table.

Second, have a look at the payouts:

1: $8,546,435
2: $5,182,601
3: $3,479,485
4: $2,502,787
5: $1,953,295
6: $1,587,133
7: $1,404,002
8: $1,300,228
9: $1,263,602

The important thing to note here is how little the payouts rise through the first few eliminations. Sure, $36,000 is a lot of bread to mere mortals, but when you're assured a seven-figure payout, that kind of dough is ignorable, which means we won't be seeing a lot of Kelly Kim-style stalling one's way up the final standings. These guys will play to make it to the late stages, and that could mean a fast start out the gates. Of course, that will depend on who gets which cards and a thousand other variables. Here's a look at the nine players left standing and a few of those factors that could end up influencing who wins it all.

Seat 1: Darvin Moon -- $58,930,000

Being the chip leader going into the final table is hardly insurance once there. Philip Hilm, the 2007 chip leader, was the first player eliminated. Last year, Dennis Phillips almost met the same fate before staging a comeback to finish third. Still, when the leader's stack is as massive as Moon's, a top-three finish is more or less expected. Greg Raymer and Jamie Gold, whose pre-final-table domination closely mirrored Moon's, both led wire to wire in taking their championships in 2003 and 2006, respectively.

Many questions still surround Moon with just a few days until he returns to the table, many of them concerning whether he'll consent to some kind of sponsorship deal and how he'll cope with the pressures and advantages of being the big stack. We know that he's refused coaching despite reportedly striking up a friendship with Phillips and, thanks to ESPN's "Inside Deal," that he's not planning to use the same game plan he did in July. On the show, Moon told Bernard Lee, "I hope they learn everything I've done, because when I go back, it'll all be different."

Look for Moon to sit on his stack and keep things relatively conservative.

Seat 2: James Akenhead -- $6,800,000

The only player other than Phil Ivey with a pre-WSOP sponsorship deal, Akenhead is the real deal. However, he's dealing from a position of weakness thanks to entering play with the short stack. His preparation has consisted of a lot of travel, with Thailand and London (where he finished ninth in the WSOP Europe main event) among the destinations.

Akenhead has gone on the record saying he's playing for first and the small payout increases leave him little incentive to let everyone mix it up without him. The bet here is he'll be the first player to announce "all-in," with the result of that hand playing a large role in the overall standings.

Seat 3: Phil Ivey -- $9,765,000

In a worldseriesofpoker.com poll asking who will win the main event, an astounding 78 percent of respondents said it would be Ivey. The seven-time bracelet winner has just more than 5 percent of the chips in play. Is it possible the best player in the world is also the most overrated?

When a player is as widely respected by the best players in the world as Ivey is, there's little doubt regarding the skills he brings to the table, but even a force as powerful as Ivey can't completely ignore the math. He does bring an intimidation factor that had many of the Nine talking specifically about their proximity at the table to Ivey, but he will have to get lucky to thrive. One thing's for certain: If any player at this table is unaffected by the pressure, it's Ivey.

Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel -- $12,390,000

No November Niner has had a bigger result since July than Schaffel, who finished second at the World Poker Tour's Legends of Poker tournament for a $471,000 score. Not a bad tune-up. "I'm just playing," Schaffel explained when asked about his preparation. "I played in two other tournaments against two big, good fields. That kept my tournament game in shape. I've played cash three to four times, played online, practiced with some friends, read a little, a bit of everything."

Schaffel, who has cashed in the main event twice, seems to have inherited one of the tougher seating situations at the table. His growing friendship with Steve Begleiter has been well documented, but now he finds the third-place "Begs" sitting to his left and second-place Eric Buchman one more seat beyond. It seems almost inevitable that at some point Schaffel will clash with one of the two, but he's philosophical about the arrangement. One could hear the smile in his voice when he said, "I'm happy to have any seat at the final table."

Seat 5: Steven Begleiter -- $29,885,000

Although Ivey has gotten the majority of the media attention, Begleiter's place at the final table hasn't gone unnoticed by the mainstream media thanks to his former employment with felled financial giant Bear Stearns.

Begleiter is one of only two amateurs at the table. (Moon is the other.) As the more aggressive of the two, one has to think some of the assembled pros will be lining up to take their shots (much like Norman Chad has throughout the broadcasts …). To protect himself, Begleiter may have enlisted some help. If Phil Hellmuth is to be believed, Begs may have brought in single-table sit 'n' go specialist Jon Little as coach. It says here that the choice would make a lot of sense.

Seat 6: Eric Buchman -- $34,800,000

With all the talk of Moon, Ivey and Begleiter, Buchman has gone largely unnoticed despite a long, successful track record as a pro and the largest stack not being piloted by a logger. He also happens to be very happy with his seating arrangement. "I'm glad Moon is on the other side of the table," he said. "I'm glad there are a few short stacks to my left." Buchman's preparations for the tournament have seen him stay away from poker, as the second-to-last paragraph of this article says. Despite his sole focus on this tournament, though, he understands he has only so much control over his fate. "It's like this," Buchman explained. "First place is the only place where you get complete satisfaction. You're the world champion, you get the big prize, complete satisfaction. Anything else is going to be disappointing. All that money will help you dry your tears, though. I wouldn't say I won't be happy if I finish in the top four, just not completely happy."

Seat 7: Joseph Cada -- $13,215,000

This year's online player of choice, Cada, at 21 years old, comes poised to break Peter Eastgate's record for youngest champion. With numerous online successes to his name, one can be sure Cada is confident in his own game, but he'll probably get some advice from backers Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy and Eric "Sheets" Haber, who stand to benefit greatly from any moves the kid makes up the standings.

Cada is another player who likes where he's sitting. "I love my seat," Cada said on Inside Deal, pointing out he was happy to have Begleiter and Buchman on his right. "Those two are a little more aggressive than Darvin, so I'd rather have them to my right and him on my left. I'm also exactly center from [Ivey]. I have a good draw at the final table."

The quote brings up the questions of whether Cada was intimidated by Ivey in July and whether he'll have gotten over those feelings when he sits down Saturday.

Seat 8: Antoine Saout -- $9,500,000

Saout was an afterthought in August. He was an unknown, inexperienced professional with a small stack and little English to hang his press clippings on. Since then, however, he's forced the world to recognize he's a real threat at this table should he manage to accumulate chips in the early going.

Saout seemingly has prepared for the final table by playing nonstop, scoring five cashes since August, including a seventh-place finish at the WSOP main event. On top of his hot streak, he has one other advantage: naivete. "I didn't realize how big a deal it was when I qualified," Saout admitted in an interview last week. "I don't think I even understand it now, but it's cool." It's hard to feel pressure when you don't know it's there. Seat 9: Jeff Shulman -- $19,580,000

We've all heard about the bracelet and the garbage by now, but that's behind us. Shulman has withdrawn his July statements and is now focused on the goal at hand, but where the table-quiet Shulman is concerned, few eyes will be on him.

Not only is Shulman sitting directly to the right of man-of-the-moment Moon, he's also being coached by none other than Phil Hellmuth, who was brought in to share the secrets to his final-table success and his winner's mentality. Shulman has admitted that Hellmuth's enthusiasm has started to become infectious, instilling a belief that "I could actually win this thing!" The question is whether Hellmuth's positive influences could be undermined by the potential combustibility he brings to more or less any situation in which he's involved.

There you have it. Nine guys, nine stories, nine potential champions. Keep your eyes on ESPN and ESPN.com to see how it all unfolds starting Saturday.