DAY: 7 (Officially known as Day 3).

BIG NEWS: A flurry of eliminations at the World Series of Poker on Thursday brought players tantalizingly close to finishing in the money in the $10,000 to buy-in main event.

Play was expected to slow as the day went on and tables began playing hand-for-hand, meaning each table would play only one hand, then wait until all other tables finished before dealing another.

The process ensures tournament officials pinpoint the person who goes out in 667th place — one spot away from winning at least $21,230 in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.

The final 666 players represent the top 9.7 percent of a field of 6,844, all gunning for a chance at the title and the $9.12 million top prize.

STUD OF THE DAY: Poker pro Vanessa "Lady Maverick" Rousso, who found several good spots to go all-in and improve her short chip stack. At one point, she pushed in all her chips while holding pocket jacks with a two, four and six showing on the board. An opponent called with a suited 7-4 but did not improve, and Rousso moved up to 78,000 chips.

BUSTED OUT: 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker, eight-time gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel, two-time bracelet winner Jennifer Harman-Traniello.

UP NEXT: The remaining field of roughly 650 players will play 10 hours of poker Friday to try to position themselves toward the final table, having already guaranteed themselves money in the tournament.

POKER TALK: Monster: A very big hand or a player who has accumulated an enormous amount of chips in a tournament. Brian Schaedlich began Thursday as a chip monster, with 801,000 in chips and a 270,000 chip lead over the next closest player. But he lost more than 306,000 chips when Jeff Kimber turned over a monster hand, pocket queens for three queens on a board showing a queen, three and five. Schaedlich lost holding a pair of aces.

HE SAID WHAT?: "I know he's got nothing and I've got nothing. Those cards are going right there." — Barry Leventhal, 44, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who went all-in during the first level of play Thursday for 35,200 in chips, and began a long monologue directed at the player seated next to him, who took several minutes before folding.