LAS VEGAS - A pair of eliminations at the World Series of Poker main event on Saturday pushed the seven remaining players closer to the title and a US$8.55 million prize.

Kevin Schaffel, a 52-year-old cash game player from Coral Springs, Fla., was eliminated in eighth place with the best starting hand in no-limit Texas Hold 'em after he took out London pro James Akenhead in ninth place.

Schaffel got all his chips in the pot with pocket aces against 30-year-old Eric Buchman of Hewlett, N.Y., who called with pocket kings - the game's second best starting hand.

A king on the flop put Buchman in the lead, and the fourth king on the turn made it impossible for Schaffel to win the hand.

"There was nothing I can do. It was a sick flop," Schaffel said. "It's just poker. That's just the way it is."

Schaffel won $1.3 million for eighth place and made each of the seven players remaining at least $104,000 richer.

The win pushed Buchman within a few million chips of Darvin Moon, a 46-year-old Maryland logger who started the day as chip leader with about 30 per cent of the chips in play. Moon later lost his lead when he folded to an all-in bet from Steven Begleiter, who leapfrogged Moon slightly in chips. Both were behind Buchman.

Buchman, who began the day in second, was hurt early in the day by a bad beat against James Akenhead, who was later eliminated in ninth place.

Akenhead found a miracle queen on a hand against Buchman to delay elimination and triple his chips, but he lost most of the stack on two hands to Schaffel. He busted out when his pocket pair of threes couldn't improve against the pocket nines held by Schaffel.

"That made it a bit more harsh," Akenhead said. "I'm very disappointed to be out."

He took home $1.26 million for ninth place, nothing beyond what each final table player was awarded in July when they made it to the top of a field of 6,494 entrants in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.

French professional Antoine Saout started the day short on chips but found himself with a healthy stack after doubling through Moon, who pressured Saout with an all-in bluff while Saout held two pair.

Akenhead's triple-up and Saout's win dramatically altered a session that began slowly at the Rio All-Suite Hotel&Casino, with hands rarely going to a showdown where players needed to reveal their cards and only sporadic contested wagers.

Phil Ivey, a 32-year-old poker professional widely recognized as the best player alive today, started the day in seventh place but he had the shortest stack at the table two eliminations later.

But Ivey manoeuvred his way for a few million chips, winning three all-in bets uncontested and picking up three million chips from Begleiter in one hand after the 47-year-old former Bear Stearns Cos. executive folded to a bet on the flop. He held nearly 15 million chips at the dinner break, about seven per cent of the chips in play.

Play was expected to run Saturday night until two players remain, who will then go head-to-head on Monday night for the title and gold bracelet.