WSOP Main Event final table down to two players

A self-employed logger from Western Maryland and a 21-year-old poker pro will compete on Monday for poker's most prestigious prize and a payday of more than $8.5 million.

Darvin Moon, 46, is a woodsman playing in his first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) event. Joseph Cada is a 21-year-old poker phenomenon hoping to become the youngest-ever Main Event champion.

The two men survived a marathon 14-hour battle to give themselves a chance to capture the game's most coveted trophy - the champion's gold bracelet - and a top prize of $8,547,042. The runner-up will win $5,182,928.

James Akenhead: finished ninth

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British hope James Akenhead, aged 26 of London, started the short stack and was first out of the competition - he receives $1,263,602. While Phil Ivey, widely considered the best poker player in the world, finished in seventh place.

When play resumes, Cada will be the chip leader with 135,950,000; Moon will begin the competition with 58,850,000.

The duo sealed their place in the heads-up competition when Cada eliminated third-place finisher Antoine Saout, 25, of Saint Martin des Champs, France. Saout, a former engineering student, began final table play eighth in chips. He rose to chip leader before busting in third place to collect $3,479,670.

Poker pro Eric Buchman, 30, of Valley Stream, NY, finished in fourth place. Buchman entered the final table second in chips and collected $2,502,890, making this the most lucrative of his 10 in-the-money finishes at the World Series of Poker.

Jeff Shulman, 34, who splits time between Las Vegas and Seattle, busted in fifth place, winning $1,953,452. Shulman is the only member of the November Nine to have previously made aMain Event Final Table, finishing seventh in 2000.

Wall Street financier Steven Begleiter of Chappaqua, NY, was eliminated in sixth place. The 47-year-old former Bear Stearns Cos. executive won $1,587,160. Ivey, the 32-year-old poker legend, who owns seven World Series of Poker gold bracelets, collected $1,404,014 for his first Main Event Final Table appearance.

The eighth place finisher was Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, Fla.  The oldest player at 52, Schaffel won $1,300,231.