Kevin Schaffel went into the nighttime with a good chance still to make the final table at the World Series of Poker main event.

Schaffel, a South Florida native, is No. 8, with 14 players still alive. He has 9.5 million chips; the leader has 27 million, and the No. 14 player has 2 million. The No. 15 player was just knocked out and earned more than $633,000.

They just took a 90-minute dinner break, starting about 10 p.m. Eastern time. They're playing tonight in Vegas until they reach the final 9.

(material from an earlier post is below)

As I wrote earlier, a final table at the World Series of Poker would make Schaffel, of Coral Springs, a media star. ESPN follows you, blogs and poker magazines tell your story and, oh, you'll win at least $1 million.

The World Series plays down to the final table today, then delays the rest of the action until November to a.) give it some build-up and b.) air all the play leading up to the final table. (If you're new to all this, poker is a bear to edit for TV, with tons of dead time. So it's difficult to show 'live.')

Meanwhile, Ryan Fair of Fort Lauderdale busted out at No.31, but he can't feel too bad: he earned $253,941. Plus, Tuesday he was at ESPN's "featured table," meaning he'll get some air time. He went all-in with ace-king, against Jeff Shulman's king, and didn't get an ace on the flop, turn or river.

Schaffel has lived in Pembroke Pines, Weston and Coral Springs in recent years, is 51 years old and is divorced with two children, according to poker web sites. He also is a pretty good golfer, according to our clips, winning the club championship at Eagle Trace and being in the running for the U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying.

I have some more bio that I'll likely put up on Thursday.