Poker professional Robert Salaburu has been ousted from the World Series of Poker main event after a river queen gave chip leader Jesse Sylvia a higher pair.
Salaburu called an all-in test from Sylvia on Monday night with pocket sevens, which looked good initially against Sylvia's queen-five.
But Sylvia hit an unlikely card on the final community card, busting Salaburu from the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.
Salaburu wins $971,360 for eighth place, while the higher finishers will each win at least $1.25 million.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
A 57-year-old poker professional from Sacramento, Calif., was eliminated in ninth place at the World Series of Poker on Monday night, leaving eight players competing for $8.53 million.
Steve Gee was eliminated less than two hours into play at the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event after testing Russell Thomas with a tough wager for the last of his 11.4 million in chips.
Thomas called and showed a pair of queens, better than Gee's pocket eights.
Gee's ouster means he makes no additional money after a break of more than three months. All nine finalists were paid nearly $755,000, the ninth-place prize, after making the final table in July.
Thomas moved to roughly 40 million in chips after the hand, second at the table.
"If I knew he had pocket queens, I would have checked," Gee said after being eliminated. "I'm disappointed. I told myself I wasn't going to play scared."
The six professionals and three amateurs were trying to gamble their way to a seven-figure payday. The top seven players will win at least $1 million each.
The players tested each other from the start, re-raising chips back and forth in moves that will ultimately result in everyone — besides the winner, perhaps — gambling their stacks against one another.
On the first hand of play, Gee bluffed Thomas on a pot worth several million chips, though Thomas held just nine high and wouldn't have been able to consider playing the hand to the end.
Michael Esposito, 44, of Seaford, N.Y., played while uncertain about the status of his waterfront home as Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast.
His son, James Esposito, said neighbors have said the streets are flooded, but the family is focused on the card game in the Nevada desert.
"Odds are likely that it's flooded," he said. "I know I saw a picture of the house three doors down — the streets are totally flooded."
Michael Esposito, a commodities broker, is one of three remaining amateurs at the start of the final table.
They include 21-year-old Jake Balsiger, an Arizona State senior looking to become the youngest main event champion ever, and Thomas, a 24-year-old insurance actuary who's helping Aetna adjust to new regulations passed under President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul.
The chip leader heading into the final table was 24-year-old poker professional Jesse Sylvia, who began the final stretch with 43.9 million in chips, just over 22 percent of the chips in play.
The other finalists are all poker professionals: 33-year-old Jeremy Ausmus of Las Vegas, 24-year-old Greg Merson of Laurel, Md., 27-year-old Robert Salaburu of San Antonio, Texas, and 30-year-old Andras Koroknai of Debrecen, Hungary.
Chips have no real monetary value in tournament poker. Each player at the final table must lose all his chips to lose the tournament, and win all the chips at the table to be crowned champion.
The tournament began in July with 6,598 players and was chopped down to nine through seven sessions spread over 11 days. Play stopped after nearly 67 hours logged at the tables for each player, with minimum bets going up every two hours.
The finalists will play Monday night until only three players remain, then the three top finishers will settle the title on Tuesday.
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Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia
