This is it, poker fans - the most glorious display of wretched excess, blind hope and - oh yeah - high-stakes poker kicks off today with Day 1a of the Main Event at the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Thirty-four days ago the first events of the 2008 WSOP kicked off in the cavernous confines of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino just off the Las Vegas Strip, and in the ensuing month-plus, we've watched 53 events play out to completion, with some of the biggest names in poker adding to their jewelry collections with big-ticket wins on the game's biggest stage.

But with those preliminary events come and gone, all eyes turn to the Big One, the donkament to end all donkaments, and the most famous tournament in all of poker. The Main Event functions as a promotional wet dream and a nationwide lottery, half a two-week collection of the wildest parties of the year and half an invitation to navel-gaze about the state of the game.

It starts today, the first of four Day 1's that will each feature as many as 3,000 hopefuls taking to the tables of the Amazon Room, although realistically that number will probably wind up around 1,500 per day.

The first flight takes to the tables at noon and will play out five two-hour levels before calling it quits until Day 2a on Tuesday. We'll repeat the process over the following four days, take a day off on Monday, July 7 and then play out the two Day 2's before the entire field is consolidated into the Amazon Room.

Plan is to play five levels a day all the way through to Day 6, Sunday, July 13, at which point we'll play down to the final 27 players. Monday's Day 7 will see the field further reduced, this time to the final nine, at which point we'll call it quits for the summer and take a five-month break before returning for the final table on November 9-10.

The Champ!

Not that you need the reminder, but last year's Main Event attracted 6,358 entries, down from 2006's 8,773 but still a respectable number, especially given the somewhat threatening climate surrounding the industry last year.

Six-hundred and twenty-one players were paid a portion of the whopping $59,784,954 prize pool, with a number of top pros - including Roy Winston, Daniel Alaei, Bill Edler, Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman, Kenny Tran and Scotty Nguyen - making the final three tables.

The final table featured Lee Watkinson as token pro, Philip Hilm as chip leader and Internet multi-tabling sensation Hevad Khan as de facto sideshow.

In the end, however, it was Laotian social worker and amateur poker player Jerry Yang who took the title, defeating Tuan Lam in heads-up play to claim his first WSOP bracelet, $8,250,000 and literally oodles of fame - most of it coming courtesy this exclusive PokerListings.com interview.

Yang has had a full year as poker's ambassador but has shied away from the spotlight, although after Jamie Gold's somewhat rocky tenure as Big Man on Campus, maybe that's something to be thankful for. The Shadow will be back to defend his title, that much is certain, but the odds against a repeat are so astronomical we feel confident in predicting there will be no Yangbang this year.

Who will win? Only PokerListings.com knows, and we've been sworn to secrecy until November. We do, however, have trouble keeping secrets. Stick around over the next couple weeks and we might be persuaded to reveal the information little by little, just so long as you don't tell anyone.

Game on!