LAS VEGAS — The chip leader at the World Series of Poker main event says his lead means little as players take a break from the felt today.

"I'm doing good, but I know it's still a long way to go," Amir Lehavot told The Associated Press. "One step at a time, I guess."

Lehavot, a 34-year-old online player from Weston, Fla., said he's looking to do more than just cash in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament that returns to action on Friday.

"The amount of chips I have right now doesn't really mean much," said Lehavot, who recently launched a poker Web site where he is tracking his progress in the tournament.

The 34-year-old online poker player from Weston, Fla., says he was lucky to survive the tournament in his first session but consistently chipped up on Wednesday to amass some 620,000.

"I played pretty badly the first couple levels," Lehavot said. "I got involved in a few big hands that didn't go very well."

Lehavot said he went down to 7,000 chips, but got lucky and was able to get back to his starting 30,000 chips by the end of his first day.

Chips have no monetary value in the event. One player who wins all the chips by outlasting 6,493 others will win a top prize of $8.55 million.

Lehavot said his second session on Wednesday went far better.

"My stack was going up the whole night at a pretty solid pace," Lehavot said. "The last level, I really had a big run."

Lehavot said he won most of his chips during his last two hours of play, and won his biggest pot by busting a player with roughly 250,000 chips. The opponent had top pair with an ace kicker, but Lehavot held a set of threes.

The roughly 2,100 players remaining in the tournament were to play simultaneously on Friday for the first time. Tournament officials were expecting longer sessions and said players would likely reach the money on Saturday, with 648 expected to take home part of the $61 million prize pool.

"I think last night was the last of the early evenings," said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "We may have some late nights, but that wouldn't be the first time at the WSOP."