LAS VEGAS — Play slowed considerably at the World Series of Poker today, as the top tier of the field held powerful chip stacks and enough rounders had been eliminated to let players be more picky about their hands.

Some players used the breathing room to tighten their play and only play pots with good starting hands. Others used the extra chips to play more hands, driving up action and leading to big pots for players holding less-than-stellar hands.

Thomas "Thunder" Keller, who won a gold bracelet at the world series in 2004, cracked an opponent's aces and doubled his stack with a king-10 when the fourth and fifth community cards gave him a straight.

"That's officially the worst suck-out I have ever done," said Keller, 27, of Scottsdale, Ariz. "I genuinely feel bad for him."

Tournament professional Gus Hansen was eliminated after calling an all-in bet from 23-year-old Jeremy Joseph holding only a straight draw. Joseph, a poker player from Buffalo, N.Y., held only an ace high, but it was good enough to end Hansen's tournament in 160th place, winning $41,816.

After more than four and a half hours of play Saturday, 70 players had been eliminated, leaving 119 players competing and allowing the average stack to creep over 1 million chips.

Chips have no monetary value, but show players where they stand compared to their opponents. One player will have to win all the chips in play to win the tournament and top prize of $9.12 million.

Tournament officials stopped play late Friday to let the 189 entrants remaining get a good night's rest before returning to the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament. The main event was ahead of schedule with 275 eliminations Friday, and tournament officials were looking to slow the event down.

"Players have a lot of chips, and the blinds are very small relative to how many chips everybody has," tournament director Jack Effel said Saturday.

Players started Saturday with an average of 724,233 in chips, with antes at 1,000 chips and blinds at 5,000 and 10,000 chips. That meant that players had a lot more flexibility in choosing their hands because the minimum bets were relatively cheap.

Phil Hellmuth, the 11-time gold bracelet winner and only former champion left in the field, folded several hands when faced with raises by other players, and even folded a hand he was favored to win because it would have cost most of his chips to call.

With a four, five and six on the board and two diamonds, Hellmuth faced an all-in raise of 399,000 chips from Barry Leventhal, a 44-year-old poker player and cardroom manager from New York.

"I know you got a set," said Hellmuth, as he considered whether to call for several minutes.

"Talk is cheap, Phil. Let's get it in or let's move on," Leventhal responded.

Hellmuth eventually folded a queen and seven, both diamonds, revealing that he had a straight draw and a flush draw. Poker odds say Hellmuth's hand had a roughly 50 percent chance of becoming at least a straight, but the 1989 champion had decided to wait for another hand to risk his chips.

Effel said the roughly 80 players who returned on Sunday would be whittled to 27, with the final nine players to be determined late Monday or early Tuesday.

The last nine players will take a four month break, then return to the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino in November to compete for the title.

Players eliminated Saturday won between $38,600 and $64,333, four to six times their $10,000 buy in.

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