(Jul. 17) 7 p.m. -- It's down to four players at the final table of the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas.

The chip leader is Jerry Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist from Southern California who won the first two hands when play began after noon and has been riding a hot streak ever since.

He's vying against South African grandfather Raymond Rahme, Vietnamese Canadian Tuan Lam and Russian Alex Kravchenko for the $8.25 million top prize.

A field of more than 63,000 players & women poker players began tournament play on Jul. 6 at the Rio hotel-casino.

(Jul. 17) 2 p.m. -- The final event in the month-long World Series of Poker began Tuesday afternoon at the Rio. A group of relative unknowns are vying for the top prize of $8.2 million. One player's been eliminated. So it's now down to eight. Play is expected to continue into the night.

Poker pro Lee Watkinson and computer engineer Lee Childs became the second and third players eliminated Tuesday from the final table of the World Series of Poker, falling to a surging Jerry Yang in the tournament's main event.

Both Watkinson, a 40-year-old animal rights activist from Cheney, Wash., and Childs lost a head-to-head all-in bets against Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist from Temecula, Calif., who vaulted to first with 62.5 million chips before a mid-afternoon break.

"I was playing for the bracelet," Watkinson said after his hand of ace and seven lost to Yang's ace-nine. "I wasn't going for third, fourth or even second. I wanted to make a play and be a contender."

Childs a 35-year-old computer engineer from Reston, Va., won $705,229 for his seventh-place finish, and Watkinson earned $585,699 finishing eighth. Six players continued play for an $8.25 million top prize. Download poker wallpapers.

First to fall was Philip Hilm, a 31-year-old Dane who lives in England, who won $525,934 for his ninth-place finish after the day's 15th hand.

Childs, who quit his job a month ago to play poker for a living, said he thought his choice to go all-in against Yang was the right decision.

"My goal when I came in to the tournament was to trust my instincts, make the right decision and hopefully not get unlucky," he said. "I was that close to doubling up."

Childs needed a king or a club on the last card to match his king of hearts and jack of clubs, with the flop showing two clubs. Yang won when an eight of clubs came up on the turn to give him a pair of eights and Childs got no help when the river card was a nine of diamonds.

Yang, a Hmong psychologist who says he uses his read on players as a weapon, was among an eclectic group of finalists who include a grandfather from South Africa who vowed not to be bullied, and a Vietnamese Canadian who once couldn't get hired as a dishwasher but read through a bluff by former champ Scotty Nguyen on his way to the final table. Poker.

Play began shortly after noon and was expected to continue well into the night. The finalists ranged in age from 22 to 62, and hailed from five nations: the U.S., Canada, Russia, England and South Africa. By birthplace, players also were from Laos, Vietnam and Denmark.

"The final table says a lot about the globality of poker and the globality of our fans," said Jeffrey Pollack, World Series of Poker commissioner for event owner Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

Hilm's collapse was dramatic. He needed a win to stay alive, and bet his pot on a straight draw. With the king and jack of diamonds showing, Hilm needed a diamond to match his eight and five. The final, or river, card turned out to be a six of clubs.

Hilm had held a narrow lead as play began, with 22.1 million, followed by Tuan Lam, a 40-year-old online poker player from Mississauga, Ontario, with 21.3 million. Also near the top was Jon Kalmar, a 34-year-old pro from Chorly, England, with 20.3 million.

With the blinds and antes adding 630,000 in chips to the pot before every hand, however, one hand could change the order very quickly.

After an interview a confident Hilm gave three weeks ago, Danish newspaper, BT, published a headline on its rising star: "Philip Hilm: 'I'm going to win the main event."'

After busting out Tuesday, he said he was satisfied with his play.

"Of course I'm disappointed," he said. "But I feel I played the cards right. If I'd won that hand, it would have been him down, instead of me."

The nine players who began the day were all that remained from a field of 6,358 players that began to play down in stages July 6. Everyone paid or won $10,000 to enter the main event, the biggest poker tournament of the year.

The millionaire's club begins at fifth place, which pays $1.26 million. The winner will walk away with $8.25 million.

Each finalist brought a different set of tools to the table.

Yang said he used his professional training to pick up tells at the felt. Winning the day's first pot of 3.4 million chips after Kalmar folded brought him to 11.9 million. He also won the second pot.

"I spend a lot of time studying my opponents very carefully," he said. "I try to create a mental image of my opponents and use that as a weapon. If I have to fire big bets, I'll do it."

Raymond Rahme, a 62-year-old former bed and breakfast inn owner from Johannesburg, demonstrated his ability to make crucial calls against big-bet bluffs late Sunday, setting him up to start the day with 16.3 million. Play $500 match poker bonus.

"I won't let them intimidate me," Rahme said.

Watkinson's exit left Alex Kravchenko as the only one at the table with a World Series bracelet.

Watkinson won a pot-limit Omaha event last year, while Kravchenko, a 36-year-old businessman from Moscow, became the first Russian to win a bracelet with the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low event this year. They started the day with 9.9 million and 6.6 million in chips. Childs started with 13.2 million.

Hevad Khan, a 22-year-old Internet pro from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said he expected the action to be "very aggressive." Play online poker.

Khan has played as many as 43 tables of poker on the Internet at once, but said with 9.2 million in chips at the final table, he'd have to wait for the cards to come to him.

"I'm hoping that I get the decent rush of cards that I'll need to maintain a level of aggressiveness, so that I don't get run over by the table," he said.

Poker News Source: Las Vegas Now