LAS VEGAS — The top prize at the main event of the World Series of Poker will be $9.12 million this year, and 666 players will get some piece of a $64.3 million prize pool, tournament officials said today.

More than one-third of the tournament's entrants entered the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament today, the last day players were able to register. The 2,461 players pushed the total field to 6,844 players.

There were nearly 500 more players than last year but far fewer than 2006, when a record 8,773 players entered and Jamie Gold won $12 million.

The top prize of $9,119,517 is the second largest in the main event's history. Last year, California psychologist Jerry Yang emerged from a field of 6,358 players to win a top prize of $8.25 million.

Tournament spokesman Seth Palansky said the number of entrants was what tournament officials were expecting, about equal to the event's average for the last five years.

Participation dipped sharply in 2007, nine months after President Bush signed a law that cracked down on Internet gambling in the United States. The law was blamed for the decline because it meant that fewer U.S. players could qualify for the main event through online satellite tournaments.

"It's inevitable when you play on the global stage that we're on ... that you're going to be subject to different fluctuations at different times," World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said. "The fact that we broke all of the records we set last year is terrific, but there may be years where we're up, years where we're down. Bottom line is that we're here for the long term and we're not going anywhere, and I don't know many poker properties that can say that."

On Sunday, tardy stragglers headed to the booths outside the main tournament room with $10,000 — mostly in cash or live casino chips — to register, get their seats and start playing.

Paul Gourlay of Newcastle, England, said he was delayed in trying to get the money to pay the steep entry fee. He registered with about 20 minutes left in the first level of play.

"I just had to collect a loan from a friend," said Gourlay, 33.

The final player in the tournament called from the airport to say he was on his way just as tournament officials were getting ready to void his entry.

Eugene Yanayt said he had spent the night drinking after a chess tournament in Philadelphia and was delayed because airport officials wouldn't let him on his flight to Las Vegas.

"I kept drinking all night and then they wouldn't let me on the plane," the 24-year-old from Los Angeles said. "I showed them my ticket, it's like 'Come on, I gotta play in the World Series of Poker.' They said, 'No, no, no.'"

"I'm really glad I'm here, I thought I could end up anywhere, I don't know," Yanayt said as he played and drank a beer, his luggage at his side.

Players starting Sunday walked into a gauntlet of elite poker players, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Gus Hansen, Phil Gordon and Men Nguyen.

Hellmuth made a grand entrance during the third hour of play, dressed as an Army general with 11 stars on his helmet, equal to the record number of gold bracelets he has won at the World Series of Poker. He was flanked by 11 girls who marched in with him to ESPN's feature table, exciting the crowd and drawing the attention of the cameras.

Before Hellmuth arrived, the most intimidating person at the table was mixed martial arts fighter Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, but Liddell busted out shortly after Hellmuth arrived.

Large crowds packed the aisles outside the table areas, looking to watch their favorite players sitting nearby.

"You ought to play a slot machine!" 10-time gold bracelet winner Johnny Chan said to laughter as an opponent turned over two 7s to match a third on the board. Chan said it was the second time in a few minutes the player had been dealt three lucky 7s.

Poker professional Phil "The Unabomber" Laak took the opposite route of Hellmuth and others, and tried to stay as unrecognizable as possible.

He wore a prosthetic mask and wig that made him look completely different and said only a handful of people knew about it, including his girlfriend, actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly, and his friend and fellow poker player, Antonio Esfandiari.

"If they see something's funny they don't know it's me, so it's huge," Laak said. "I got a lot more tools."

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