If the upcoming World Series of Poker Main Event “October Nine” final table is lacking in starpower then the World Series of Poker Europe Main event final table that will play out tomorrow is more than making up for it. Consider this as a final table for one of poker’s most prestigious tournaments: 12-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, 2010 November Niner and tournament poker phenom Joseph Cheong, and Mr. Run-Good himself Jason Mercier.

Hellmuth began the day in very good shape with 24 players remaining, sitting in 6th place on the leader-board, and before the players had even warmed their seats Hellmuth had catapulted to the top of the leader-board after eliminating Curt Kohlberg with Hellmuth’s Pocket Aces holding up, giving him the chip-lead. Hellmuth would stay right near the top throughout the day, and finished the day just ahead of the aggressive Russian Sergii Baranov. Together, Hellmuth and Baranov have more chips than the other six players combined.

But don’t sleep on Joseph Cheong who is sitting in third place with nearly 2 million chips. Cheong has been on fire since finishing third at the 2010 WSOP Main Event, having won over 41 million since his $4 million score, including two runner-up finishes in major tournaments as well as a win at the 2010 Festa al Lago tournament series.

Here is a look at the final table chip counts and seating assignments for Thursday’s WSOPE Main Event:

* Seat 1: Paul Tedeschi — 543,000

* Seat 2: Joseph Cheong — 1,966,000

* Seat 3: Stephane Albertini — 1,162,000

* Seat 4: Christopher Brammer — 851,000

* Seat 5: Jason Mercier — 652,000

* Seat 6: Sergii Baranov — 3,339,000

* Seat 7: Phil Hellmuth — 3,434,000

* Seat 8: Stephane Girault — 664,000

While Hellmuth would surely love to add the more than $1 million that will go to the winner to his resume, even more important to the Poker Brat is the coveted WSOP bracelet, which would be Hellmuth’s 13th overall, and would make him the first player to have won both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOPE Main Event. Hellmuth will also have a stranglehold on the WSOP Player of the Year Award –making this even more impressive is the realization that Phil finished second on the WSOP POY Leader-board in 2011.

The action at the final table will kick-off just before 2 PM local time on Thursday, and with Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, and Joseph Cheong in the mix you can expect the twitterverse to be full of poker talk.

Tags: Albertini, Brammer, Brat, festa al lago, Good Shape, Kohlberg, Leader Board, Mercier, Niner, Phenom, phil hellmuth, Poker Main Event, Prestigious Tournaments, Seat 6, Seating Assignments, Starpower, Tournament Poker, World Series of Poker, World Series of Poker Main Event, WSOP Main Event

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