BY TOM SOMACH

Thirty-six poker players were still alive at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event as play continued Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The latest big names to be eliminated were actor Toby “Spiderman” Maguire and former main event winners Robert Varkonyi, Huck Seed, Carlos Mortensen and Berry Johnston.

The 36 remaining players–at four tables of nine players each–will further be whittled down to one final table of nine players, with final table play commencing on Tuesday.

ESPN, through its pay-per-view arm on cable, satellite and online, will provide live coverage of final table play beginning Tuesday afternoon and continuing until one player is left.

The main event, the 55th and final event of the 2007 WSOP, is a $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament that has a total prize pool of $59,784,954, and that started with 6,358 entrants.

The winner of the main event will be considered the winner of the ‘07 WSOP–and his life will immediately change forever.

He’ll become an instant worldwide celebrity, and will attract endorsement deals like a magnet.

And, of course, in addition to winning the coveted championship bracelet–this one is made of gold and diamonds–the main event champ will take home $8.25 million in cold cash, all $100 bills.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)