Day off in the main event of the World Series of Poker

Monday, July 16, 2007 | 9:33 a.m.

DAY: 11 (Officially a day off)

BIG NEWS: Nine players made it to the final table of the $10,000 buy-in main event of the World Series of Poker. Philip Hilm, a 31-year-old Dane making a living playing poker online in England, was the chip leader with 22.07 million. Toronto poker pro Tuan Lam, 40, had 21.31 million and British poker player Jon Kalmar, 34, had 20.32 million. Others with a chance to make millions were Raymond Rahme (16.32 million), Lee Childs (13.24 million), Lee Watkinson (9.92 million), Hevad Khan (9.2 million), Jerry Yang (8.45 million) and Alex Kravchenko (6.57 million).

STUD OF THE DAY: Ron Kluber, a 46-year-old U.S. intelligence analyst in South Korea, said his $285,678 prize for finishing 29th would go toward putting his two teenage daughters through college. "It's perfect timing," he said.

POKER TALK: Limp: When a player enters a pot before the flop simply by calling the amount in the big blind. A limp is considered a weak play with a marginal hand. It also can conceal a monster hand like pocket aces. Jeff Bryan of Fort Calhoun, Neb., limped for 80,000 in chips and was reraised to 320,000. Bryan decided to go over the top with 1.375 million with a jack and 10, indeed a marginal holding, and was called by a player with the ace and king of hearts. Although Bryan made two pair when a jack and 10 came as the last two cards, a queen on the flop gave his opponent a straight. Bryan finished 27th.

UP NEXT: Nine players will sit down at noon Tuesday at the final table and go until there is a winner, who collects $8.25 million. Second place is worth $4.84 million and third gets $3.04 million. It will take a fifth-place finish to become a millionaire at $1.25 million. The first player to bust gets $525,934 for finishing ninth.

HE SAID WHAT?: "When you're playing good, you get too cocky and too confident and you give players no credit." - Scotty Nguyen, fan favorite and the main event champ of 1998, who busted two places short of the final table after having as many as 15.5 million in chips but lost three huge pots.