LAS VEGAS (AP) -Ylon Schwartz took a chip lead at the World Series of Poker after more than two hours of play, and the top stack entering the tournament fell to sixth.
No players were eliminated through 2 hours and 22 minutes of play on Sunday at the final table of the Texas Hold 'em main event.
Schwartz, a 38-year-old professional poker player from Brooklyn, moved from the middle of the pack into the lead with 40 million chips. Ivan Demidov, a 27-year-old Russian, was in second with 27.9 million.
Dennis Phillips, who started the day with 26.3 million - roughly 19 percent of the chips in play, held 9.8 million chips by the break.
Phillips doubled up in the last hand before the break when his pair of queens held up against the jacks of David ''Chino'' Rheem.
Phillips, who mostly folded hands as play started, lost the bulk of his chips in two hands to move from chip leader to eighth without ever showing his cards. The biggest hit came from Demidov, who put Phillips all-in for the first time at the final table. Phillips folded and lost about 12.7 million chips on the hand. He lost 3.2 million to Schwartz two hands earlier after folding to a bet of 6 million chips.
Kelly Kim, a 31-year-old poker professional from Whittier, Calif., survived two all-in bets after watching his stack slowly whittle away at the start of the final table.
On the brink of elimination and with about half his stack committed to the pot through minimum bets, Kim looked down at pocket kings and leaped out of his seat when Demidov dared him to bet all his chips.
''I got kings!'' Kim yelled as his fans roared in the crowd.
The final players at the World Series of Poker resumed play Sunday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to determine the champion at this year's no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event.
Fans waited outside the Penn & Teller Theater at the hotel as early as 2 a.m. in hopes of nabbing one of the 1,000 seats inside, a security guard said. Most were taken by friends and family of the players.
Inside, the players grinned before play started as they dumped out bags holding the exact chips they had built during seven sessions of play in early June. Photographers snapped pictures as four showgirls looked on and a disc jockey spun club tunes to fans waiting outside.
Phillips tipped his baseball cap and lifted his hands in the air to greet roughly 300 of his friends, who were flown into Las Vegas by his sponsor, gambling site PokerStars. Phillips won his $10,000 buy-in and trip for the main event in a $200 satellite tournament at Harrah's St. Louis Hotel & Casino.
''If I were him, this would be going to my head,'' said Mike Harris, the 22-year-old nephew of Phillips' girlfriend. ''He is just so grounded.''
Following 30 minutes of introductions - 117 days since the last hand was played - the cards hit the felt after 2007 main event champ Jerry Yang announced the famous line: ''Dealer, shuffle up and deal!''
Seven players were to be eliminated Sunday, with the last two scheduled to play heads-up Monday night for the title and top payday. The nine players will split $32.7 million - the lion's share of a pool built on the $10,000 entry fees of 6,844 players who began play in July.
The pool accrued $98,179 in interest during the break, which was enough to shift some of the prizes significantly. The top prize, originally $9.12 million, gained $32,899.
The last nine players returned to the table after a break to build up interest in the event with vastly different sized chip stacks. Chips don't have monetary value, but they tell players where they stand compared with their opponents and significantly affect how they can maneuver in the game. A player who loses all his chips is eliminated.
Schwartz, the chip leader, has been hustling games since age 13 and said the only difference between the World Series of Poker final table and other poker games is the ''public spectacle.''
The Brooklyn native told The Associated Press before the final table that he would try to not let the pressure of the money stand in the way of winning.
''It is $9 million, but I have no understanding of what that means,'' Schwartz said.
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