The race to become World Champion in Las Vegas may have taken all year, but we’re just eight eliminations from finding our who will wear the crown… at least for a couple of days! 

Don’t worry, this is no jibe at the fact that Stoyan Madanzhiev still considers that the $3.9 million he won back in the summer makes him the real World Champion. In fact, we won’t even mention it.  

The final nine players are set for a Las Vegas at the Rio showdown on December 28th, which takes place just two days before the 30th December showdown between the WSOP.com and GGPoker World Champions. That heads-up showdown will produce the ‘Hybrid’ world champion, awarding them an extra $1 million.  

Day 2 of the WSOP Main Event, held on WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey saw the final nine players emerge from 71 players who kicked off the penultimate day of the event.