LAS VEGAS —  David "Chino" Rheem was eliminated from the World Series of Poker final table, leaving the top six jockeying for position Sunday with a $9.15 million prize going to the champion.

Rheem was a clear favorite to double up with ace-king when he gambled his tournament life, but Peter Eastgate hit a queen on the flop to take away the advantage from the 28-year-old poker professional.

"I put my heart into it and my heart is broken," a visibly upset Rheem said. "This one really hurts."

Rheem, the most well-known player coming into the final table, won $1,772,650 for seventh place.

Eastgate, a 22-year-old professional from Odense, Denmark, took an 8 million chip lead over Dennis Phillips on the hand for second place. He was 11 million chips behind the leader, Ivan Demidov.

The players left the table for a 90-minute dinner break shortly after Rheem was eliminated.

Two players were eliminated in back-to-back hands at the Texas Hold 'em main event on Sunday. Each bust out brought higher guaranteed paydays to the players remaining and inched them closer to poker's richest crown.

Kelly Kim, a big underdog because of his severely low chip stack coming into the final table, held out one hand longer than Craig Marquis and was rewarded with an extra $387,547.

"You play this game, you take the abuse and you give the abuse," Kim said. "I hung on as long as I could."

Marquis, a 23-year-old former college student from Arlington, Texas, lost with three sevens to Scott Montgomery, who drew a straight on the turn and river to send Marquis home in ninth.

"You got to try to win the tournament," Marquis told Kim as the first two players eliminated from the final table greeted each other away from it.

Ylon Schwartz started the day in the middle of the pack and quickly moved to the top with aggressive raises. Dennis Phillips, the top stack entering the tournament, fell to eighth before doubling up through Rheem. By the time Rheem was eliminated, Schwartz and Phillips were essentially tied in chips, an indication of the big swings in the seesaw battle for the top of the poker world.

Phillips, who started the day with 26.3 million _ roughly 19 percent of the chips in play, held only 9.8 million chips by the first break.

The 53-year-old trucking account manager mostly folded hands as play started, and 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 tried to 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.

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.

The final players at the World Series of Poker resumed play Sunday morning 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.

Phillips tipped his baseball cap and lifted his hands in the air to greet roughly 300 of his friends, who were flown to 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.

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