LAS VEGAS — An excruciatingly slow hand-for-hand crawl at the World Series of Poker ended Thursday when a Hong Kong banker became a hero to the 666 remaining players, busting out of the main event and bringing everyone left prize money.

Steve Chung, 45, needed an eight to show up in five community cards to give him a third and crack the pocket kings of his opponent in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament, but it never came and Chung was eliminated in 667th place.

"It's just the luck of the draw," Chung said. "He wanted to gamble, so oh well."

News of Chung's elimination brought a standing ovation from the spectators and remaining players, who had spent more than an hour playing just nine hands.

A few tables away, a card sat next to a few chips for Fernando Gordo of Buenos Aires, who did not show up for his third session of play and was about to be eliminated. His 137,900 chips to start the day were enough to earn him $21,230, and win three-time bracelet winner Mike "The Mouth" Matusow a side bet with the other players at his table.

"I got a $200 bet this guy cashes," Matusow said. "I wanted to bet more but they wouldn't."

A flurry of early eliminations brought the players to the money.

After two hours of play Thursday, 262 players had been eliminated from the remaining field of 1,308. After four hours, 852 players were still at the tables. By the dinner break, there were 733 players left, 67 eliminations away from the money.

"If I get a strong hand, I'm going to push, otherwise I'll hold," said Jerry Maher, a 44-year-old restaurant owner from Hoboken, N.J., as he tried to stick around holding just 25,000 in chips, not much more than he started the tournament with. He did not last.

Mark Rodoja pushed with pocket aces, the best starting hand in no-limit Texas Hold 'em, and it paid off as he doubled up through another player who called.

"Yes, yes, yes," the 23-year-old online player from Ontario shouted. "Let's have some fun on the bubble."

With 675 players left, tables began playing hand-for-hand, each table waiting for all others to finish their hands before dealing another.

The process ensured that tournament officials could pinpoint Chung as the person to finish one spot from the money.

The final 666 players represent the top 9.7 percent of a field of 6,844, all gunning for a chance at the title and $9.12 million top prize that will be awarded when play concludes in November.

Chung, while eliminated from the tournament with no winnings, received a free buy-in to next year's main event.

"The money doesn't mean much to the top pros — making the money. That's when we try to raise every pot," said 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who won the main event in 1989 and held an average stack after two hours of play.

"There will be a lot of people who really care about making the money, and then there will be a lot of pros who just don't care."

Hellmuth said in past years he's been able to increase his chip stack considerably — from 400,000 to 700,000 or 800,000 — as players got closer and closer to guaranteed cash.

Play resumed at normal speed after Chung was eliminated and the players took a short break.

Chips have no cash value, but indicate where players stand relative to their opponents. A player must lose all their chips to be eliminated from the tournament, and the no-limit structure of the game allows players to risk all their chips at any time.

Players became extremely guarded as they drew close to finishing in the money, because they want to avoid exiting the tournament empty handed. Even players in decent chip position often are reluctant to risk everything.

"We all have our little strategies for later," said Jeff Kimber, a professional player from London who gained the chip lead after about 90 minutes of play Thursday.

Kimber doubled his stack at the expense of then-chip leader Brian Schaedlich, a 22-year-old special-education teacher from Cleveland who began the day with 801,000 chips — 270,000 ahead of his closest rival.

Schaedlich went all-in with a queen, three and five on the board, and Kimber immediately called and flipped over pocket queens for three of a kind. Schaedlich turned over pocket aces, the best starting hand in poker, but did not catch a third ace as the dealer showed the final two community cards.

"I'm not going to get away from that hand," Schaedlich said as he stewed over doubling up Kimber for 306,300 chips in addition to an already sizable pot. "What can you do?"

Thursday was the first day every entrant left in the tournament played at the same time. The field was so large that the first session was split over four days and the second session was played over two days.