LAS VEGAS -- Registration for the 2012 World Series of Poker main event is closed and, with a field of 6,598 players, it will go down as the fifth-largest tournament in history. The one player who outlasts the rest will win $8,527,982 and the honor of being the 2012 world champion.

"It's a remarkable turnout for this year's WSOP main event and the 43rd annual WSOP overall," said Seth Palansky, vice president of communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment. "We appreciate the poker players continuing to support the World Series of Poker and can't wait to meet our October Nine."

The main event can only be viewed as a unique tournament that can attract the masses even during the toughest of times. It was only 13 months ago that Black Friday dominated the headlines. Many attributed last year's WSOP record-breaking success to former online professional poker players taking their final shots before they moved on from poker. While there was a reduction in the overall player base and poker economy this past year, a decrease of only 267 contestants must be viewed as a great success for the game.

Having any doubts about that last statement? Sure a decrease isn't optimal, but just think that the only PokerStars.net patches around the room are the ones worn by their sponsored pros. After years of feeding hundreds and thousands of players into the main event, you won't be able to find many online qualifiers at the Rio. There are still some online sites that continued to offer seats into the main event, but when the biggest poker site in the world isn't one of them, we can only reflect on just how high the number could have been if everyone played ball.

The bottom line is that it's a great turnout for a great event. The total prize pool for the main event was $62,021,200, and 666 players will make the money.

Here are the complete payouts for the main event:

1: $8,527,982
2: $5,292,889
3: $3,797,558
4: $2,850,494
5: $2,154,616
6: $1,640,461
7: $1,257,790
8: $971,252
9: $754,798
10-12: $590,442
13-15: $465,159
16-18: $369,026
19-27: $294,601
28-36: $236,921
37-45: $191,646
46-54: $156,293
55-63: $128,384
64-72: $106,056
73-81: $88,070
82-90: $73,805
91-99: $62,021
100-162: $52,718
163-234: $44,655
235-306: $38,453
307-378: $32,871
379-450: $28,530
451-522: $24,808
523-594: $21,707
595-666: $19,227

Small blinds: Michael Mizrachi has more than 150,000 at the dinner break. … One of the players at Sorel Mizzi's table has been drinking. Heavily. He has already been cut off, but can be heard throughout the Amazon Room. Usually when people drink they have a tendency to lose their chips. Well, not this guy. He's one of the chip leaders at the table. He also said he made it into the main event on a $200 satellite. … Antonio Esfandiari was ordering his dinner between hands. He ordered the first dish, put the phone down to play and won a pot, then resumed. … Notable Level 3 eliminations include Tony Hachem and Andrew Brown. … Thor Hansen was also eliminated, but having him here is an uplifting story. Thor was diagnosed with cancer late last year and has been undergoing treatment. Now, he's feeling better and back at the WSOP, and it's great to have him here. … Day 1C attracted a total of 3,418 players, more than Days 1A and 1B combined. … The WSOP will set a record and award more than $220 million this year.