BY TOM SOMACH

The final table is set for the main event of the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

What started two weeks ago as a massive no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament in Las Vegas with 6,358 poker players, has finally been whittled down to a final table of nine players.

The chip-leader among those nine is Phil Hilm of Denmark, who goes into final-table play with 23.1 million chips.

In second is Tuan Lam of Canada, with 20.3 million chips.

In third is Jon Kalmar of the U.K., with 20.2 million chips.

In fourth is Ray Rahme of South Africa, with 15 million chips.

In fifth is Lee Childs of Reston, Va., USA, with 13.3 million chips.

In sixth is Lee Watkinson of Cheney, Wash., USA, with 12.1 million chips.

In seventh is Hevad Khan of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., USA, with 9.2 million chips.

In eighth is Jerry Yang of Temecula, Calif., USA, wth 8.5 million chips.

In ninth is Alex “The Mad Russian” Kravchenko of Russia, with 6.6 million chips.

Scotty Nguyen, the Vietnamese-born poker pro who won the WSOP main event in 1989, was attempting to win another main event title this year, but fell just short of the final table, finishing in 11th place and earning $476,926.

Final table action is scheduled to begin Tuesday, July 17, at noon Las Vegas time, 3 p.m. in the east.

The action will be televised live by ESPN on pay-per-view.

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