Okay, so I was a little off on my prediction of how many people were going to enter the 2008 version of the World Series of Poker’s $10,000 Main Event. Actually, I was way off.

Nevertheless, the final count of 6,844 participants still outpaced the 2007 count of 6,358 by more than 7 percent, hopefully quieting most of the critics who speculated that poker’s boom had busted, and popularity in the game was starting to wane.

Of those 6,844 starters — who are vying for more than $63 million in prize money, including a healthy $9,119,517 first prize — there are still 3,629 with a chance to win at least $21,320.

Those left standing include at least seven Southern Arizona poker players.

The local player with the most chips entering Day 2 (Day 2A is Tuesday, Day 2B is Wednesday) is Garrett Adelstein, a 2004 Mountain View High School graduate who in January won $48,000 for finishing 24th at the PokerStars Carribean Adventure in the Bahamas.

Adelstein, who played on Day 1C (also known as Saturday), has 93,125 in chips. That puts him far above the average stack of 37,718.

Also above the average of Frank Estrella, who played Sunday (Day 1B) and finished up with 39,775. Estrella qualified for the Main Event through the Tucson Poker Club, which sends one player to the big tourney each year and has him representing 47 other players who took part in the club’s annual championship.

Other locals still left with a chance to finish in the top 666 — great number, huh? — in order to reach the money are Jeff Katz (28,575), Rio Rico resident Pedro Monteverde (28,125), Seth Krasne (21,900), Sierra Vista’s Steven Wegner (17,125) and Deb Blair (16,675), who last year finished 176th in the Main Event to take home more than $51,000.

One local who did not participate in the Main Event was Tucson-based professional Nadim “Ned� Shabou. Rather than pay $10,000 to enter, Shabou attempted to qualify via $330, $540 or $1,060 satellites, but was not successful.

Instead, Shabou writes in his blog (www.nutshouse.com/problog.html) that he will try to play the $15,000 buy-in Bellago Cup, which is being held next week in Las Vegas and serves as the opening event of the World Poker Tour’s seventh season.

That’s all for now, poker lovers! — BJP