The Big Dance is the ultimate ultra-marathon. For the players to even get to the final table requires an almost Buddhist-like temperament with never-ending patience. Although officially the Big Dance takes seven days, Days 1 and 2 have such enormous fields that they are spread over multiple days. As a result, the Big Dance actually takes 12 days to complete. Even test match cricket, often lambasted for its snail-like pace of play, is over in no more than five.

Those final nine players have already played 60 hours of gruelling, tight poker over Days 1 through 6. Anyone that exhibits even the slightest rush of blood is likely to be eliminated. These men are the uber-rocks of poker. Yes, they may have played aggressively and taken selective risks, but most of them have pushed all in only a handful of times in the entire 60 hours of play to this point.

The final day begins at 10 a.m. with a press conference. The nine competitors are paraded before the media, their attire emblazoned with logos from online card rooms Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars, due to endorsement deals that have, in many cases, been hastily arranged overnight. The players answer their questions awkwardly, unaccustomed to their overnight celebrity status. A producer from ESPN, which is broadcasting the final table live on pay-per-view, mentions that this will probably be the longest sports broadcast in the history of the world.

Seven of the nine men (the last woman fell in 38th place) range in age from 31 to 41, suggesting that the 30s may be an optimal age for poker play. Some experience in required to obtain the necessary poker skills, but some youth helps for stamina reasons.

In addition to these seven, there is an excitable 22-year-old Internet poker professional, and the senior contestant of the field, a 62-year-old from South Africa. It is an multi-cultural field. In addition to the South African there are Americans (one of whom was born in Laos), a Danish-born Englishman, a Russian, and a Vietnamese-born Canadian. Each of the nine has an incredible story to tell of their journey to the final table, but perhaps the most incredible is that of Jerry Yang, the most inexperienced player of the field. He has only been playing poker for two years.

Slide show Card sharks Take a visual tour of the sights at the World Series of Poker’s main event. more photos

Yang says he was born into abject poverty in Laos, and recounts the stories of how his family was so poor they couldn’t even afford a ball to play with. He eventually managed to escape Laos, began to learn English at age 13 and years later obtained his masters degree in health psychology. He thanks God for being here. He talks about his wife and six kids. And he pledges to give away 10 percent of what he wins to charity.

After the press conference, the action moves to the Amazon convention hall at the Rio, the main location of the carnival over the previous 55 days. It has been completely transformed for the day. Previously the home of 230 poker tables, the room now resembles an enormous cavern. Almost all the poker tables are gone. In their place are barriers — lots of them. There is seating for 120 people in bleachers around today's feature table, but those seats are essentially reserved for the entourages of the players and a few celebrity poker players. Barriers stop most people getting anywhere near the real action.

ESPN has equipped the poker table with hole-card cameras, and cameras on dollies constantly swing around the table. A director sits at a desk off to the side, pushing buttons and marshalling cameramen. All the ESPN people are wearing headsets.  It is more like a scene from a movie shoot than a poker game.

Play begins at noon. For most people, including most of the media, it is impossible to actually see what is happening. Instead, there are TV screens set up around the Amazon Room. But the images on those screens mostly focus on the center of the poker table, rather than players. Coupled with the lack of sound, this makes for a very poor viewing experience for most spectators. People wander around the room, wondering where to sit. Media members quickly discover that the best view is in the media room, where they can watch on TV and also get a sound feed.

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