LAS VEGAS (AP) - The favorite among fans watching in person and at home to win the World Series of Poker's ultimate championship has fallen short.
Poker pro Daniel Negreanu, a six-time bracelet winner nicknamed "Kid Poker," who has gotten close but never close enough to making the final table, ended his run in 11th place, the same place he landed in 2001 when he tried against a field of 613 entries.
Negreanu gambled the last of his chips on an ace, four and appeared to be in the clear when chip-leader Joe McKeehan called showing a jack, three. But McKeehan slowly but surely amassed a straight as the cards on the table were flipped one by one. It was the last one, a queen, that did Negreanu in, sending him to the floor with his hands covering his face.
Ten players remain in the running for the tournament's top prize.
Marathon sessions of bluffing, betting and reading opponents for any hints at their cards will soon be over at the World Series of Poker main event, when the last nine players claim at least $1 million each and a spot at the final table in November.
Shortly after midnight, the field shrunk to a single table with players representing the United States, Germany, Belgium, Israel and Italy.
McKeehen of Pennsylvania had become the runaway chip leader of the World Series of Poker no-limit Texas Hold "em main event amassing nearly 55 million in chips before knocking out Negreanu. That amount was more than twice the chips that five other players at his table, combined, had stacked in front of them.
Negreanu had many fans, among them a fellow player he knocked out. David Peters, 56, a construction defect attorney by day who makes a living by reading people, called Negreanu a "fine man."
Peters bet the last of his chips Tuesday on a pair of sevens, but Negreanu's luck got the best of him when the poker star's ace found a pair on the final card of the hand.
Peters won $325,034 for 17th place and said he had no regrets.
The battle started with 6,420 players each paying $10,000 to enter. After seven sessions of gameplay spread over 10 days, the players left standing in the no-limit Texas Hold "em tournament will each be paid more than $1 million in ninth-place money, with a chance for more at the final table that starts Nov. 8 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The winner will claim $7.7 million and the event's coveted gold bracelet, joining poker legends like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan as series champions.
Pierre Neuville has been in the lead for much of the event. The 72-year-old Belgian is a retired executive for board game company Hasbro.
Closely watched player Justin Schwartz, wearing a hoodie and a bandanna across his face for most of the night, lost the last of his chips on a gamble with three cards on the table giving him a three-of-a-kind of threes. What he didn't know what that Joe McKeehen had three sixes. Schwartz grabbed his bag and walked off the stage before the last card was flipped on the felt.
Who also won't be at the final table? No prior main event champions, or any of the nine men who reached the finals last year. Most of poker's biggest stars are also gone.
There are no women among the remaining players after Kelly Minkin from Arizona was knocked out Monday in 29th place. The lawyer and poker player won $211,821, advancing the furthest a woman has gone in the main event in three years.
Also out is 94-year-old William Wachter of Carmel, New York, who still managed to do what thousands of other players couldn't, earning a profit by placing 524th and winning $19,500. The World War II veteran broke a record for being the oldest player to win money in the event's 46-year history.
Among others whose dreams were dashed: the winner of the tournament's ladies-only event, last year's $10 million main event winner and celebrity players including film actors James Woods and Jennifer Tilly and the stars of television show "Everybody Loves Raymond" Brad Garrett and Ray Romano, who provided comic relief at their tables when they weren't playing. Director of "The Notebook" Nick Cassavetes also tried, as did actor Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad."