Las Vegas resident Ben Lamb finishes 9th at WSOP Main Event

Numerous spectators waited in line for more than an hour at the Rio Convention Center to watch the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Ben Lamb’s stay at the final table didn’t last nearly that long.

Lamb, a Las Vegas resident, was the first player eliminated from the Main Event final table Thursday, hitting the rail in ninth place and collecting $1 million.

”Honestly, I had so much fun in this tournament,” Lamb said. “With ninth place, obviously disappointed. And I think a week or two from now it will kind of set in that I had a chance to win this tournament, which you don’t get many chances to win this tournament.

“I was happy with all my plays. I thought I played very well, so I’m not going to beat myself up about any of that. … It was a great ride.”

Scott Blumstein owned a commanding chip lead late Thursday, as the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship continued until six players remained.

The tournament resumes at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Rio and is expected to play until three players are left. ESPN will broadcast the Main Event on a 30-minute delay beginning at 6 p.m.

Lamb was making his second career appearance at the final table of the Main Event after he finished third in 2011.

His stay this time lasted four hands and 15 minutes.

Lamb entered play Thursday with the shortest stack of the nine competitors and went all-in from the big blind with ace-9. Jack Sinclair, the initial raiser, quickly called and rolled over ace-queen.

Neither player paired their hole cards, sending all of Lamb’s chips to the Englishman.

“I didn’t really come in with any necessities to do better than ninth place,” said Lamb, who has more than $7.2 million in career WSOP earnings. “I went for the win. I was going to go for the win. I just didn’t get the opportunity to build that stack up.”

The Main Event final table returned to July after being contested in late October/early November since 2008.

The format change helped create a lively environment inside the intimate confines of the Brasilia Room.

Outside, a line of fans 50 deep gathered well after play started hoping to see the action.

”I actually prefer this as a player,” Lamb said. “Basically with the November Nine, you have all this time and you’re thinking about something like what just happened — like, you’re out in five, six hands or whatever — happening for three months, and it just kind of haunts you a litle bit. With two days, I didn’t even have enough time to even realize I was at the final table.”

The action Thursday got off to a thrilling start, as Englishman John Hesp, 64, showed a bluff on the first hand against Frenchman Antoine Saout, causing several players to jump out of their seat with excitement.

Hesp, the fan favorite, was the most active and entertaining player and had the lead for a large portion of play.

But he lost a massive pot to Blumstein after 3½ hours of play to give the poker pro from New Jersey nearly half of the chips in play.

France’s Benjamin Pollak doubled his chip stack from the start of the day and was in second place late Thursday.

England’s Jack Sinclair was eliminated in eighth place ($1.2 million) late Thursday.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.