Hilm holds chip lead, Nguyen falls short of final table (baby)

Scotty Nguyen, the biggest star left in the World Series of Poker's Main Event, exited the building in 11th place early this morning when he failed to hit a flush draw.

Nguyen, who owns four WSOP bracelets and won the Main Event in 1998, won $476,926 and was just two spots away from making the final table.

Phillip Hilm, who has just one WSOP cash in his career, holds the chip lead heading into Tuesday's final table with $22.1 million. Hilm's largest career poker payday was $90,441 for a fourth-place finish in a European Poker Tour event in his native Denmark. The final table, set to begin at noon PT on Tuesday, will be Hilm's first at the WSOP.

Another player with no final table experience, Tuan Lam, is close behind with $21.3 million. Lam has two WSOP cashes to his credit.

Lee Watkinson and Alexander Kravchenko are the only two players at the final table who have won WSOP bracelets. Watkinson (sixth, $9.9 million) won his first last year in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, while the Kravchenko (ninth, $6.6 million) won a $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low event early in this year's Series. The Russian also just missed making the final table in a $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

While both players are relatively short stacked, even Kravchenko has more than 25 big blinds and there will be plenty of room to play at the final table.

Jon Kalmar (one WSOP cash) is third with $20.3 million, Raymond Rahme (no WSOP cashes) is fourth with $16.3, and Lee Childs (no WSOP cashes) is fifth with $13.2 million.

Hevad Khan (two WSOP cashes, both this year) is seventh with $9.2 million, and Jerry Yang (no WSOP cashes) is eighth with $8.5 million.

The winner of the Main Event will take home the second-largest first-place prize in poker history, $8.25 million. Last year's winner, Jamie Gold, claimed a $12 million first-place prize. Ninth place in this year's tournament pays $525,934.