This year had nearly 500 more players than last year but far fewer than 2006, when a record 8,773 players entered, with Jamie Gold winning $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 past 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, stragglers headed to the booths outside the main tournament room with $10,000, mostly in cash or casino chips, to register, get their seats and start playing.

Paul Gourlay of Newcastle, England, said he was delayed in getting 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.