The pressure compounds by the day at the World Series. There's no questioning that immutable fact.

But it's different this year. Of course, making the final table in years past has meant something special, but for the most part, second through ninth places are rarely recognized with even a fraction of the spotlight as the winner. While the money has always been good, the historical significance is usually reduced into the also-ran category.

This year, it's different. The four-month final table delay virtually guarantees the final nine players celebrity like few other poker players have enjoyed. One hundred sixteen days of TV coverage, newspaper articles, and marketing will turn these guys into some of the biggest stars of the year.

Chris Klodnicki nearly got there. The poker pro and PokerStars qualifier from Vorhees, NJ has just busted out in 12th place.

Klodnicki and a wild group of friends spent the day planning for the good life. It looked as if he might enjoy it. Instead, over the course of the last several hours, his stack deteriorated to the point that he had little choice but to get his money in. It happened when he held JdTd on a AdQdQx flop. His opponent held QJ and filled up on the turn. By the turn he was drawing to one out for the gutshot Royal Flush, missed, and now is out of the 2008 World Series just a couple spots short of the final table.

Congratulations, Chris, on your $591,869 finish.

Earlier today, Klodnicki and his crew spoke to the PokerStars video blog team...

Watch WSOP: Chris Klodnicki Goes Deep on PokerStars.tv