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July 28th 2006
WSOP Update: Hellmuth ecstatic with 10th WSOP win
Phil Hellmuth might just be the happiest man in Las Vegas. For the last year Hellmuth has been the nearly man of the World Series of Poker. He has been the man with nine WSOP bracelets, one less than Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. Well not any more.
Earlier in this year’s WSOP when Hellmuth came second in the $5000 NL Hold’em it looked like his chance of equalling Chan and Brunson’s record might be gone. With most events pulling over 1000 competitors the odds of Hellmuth (or anyone for that matter) getting to another final table were pretty slim, and it seemed second place might be as close as he got.
But to dismiss his chances (as a number of high profile commentators did) would be to underestimate the determination of this highly skilled tournament poker player. Sure enough, not long after that second place finish Hellmuth clocked up another final table, though this time h was unable to improve on his previous performance.
But cometh the hour cometh the man and the hour came on Tuesday night sometime after midnight.
The final table of the $1000 NL Hold’em with re-buys began with Phil Hellmuth leading the pack, with $750,000 chips, fully $300,000 ahead of second placed Elio Cabrera.
A few hours later it appeared that Hellmuth might simply cruise to victory, as he had eliminated three of the first four players to leave the table, including one incredibly lucky suck out.
The victim of that suck out was Elio Cabrera, who had trapped Hellmuth beautifully after flopping the nut straight, inducing Hellmuth into making a large bet with just top pair, so large in fact that he was priced in to call Elio Cabrera’s all-in re-raise. Hellmuth had virtually no outs, but he hit a miracle runner runner flush for an extraordinary win.
A disgusted Cabrera left in second place, but Hellmuth demonstrated his finer qualities by grabbing the microphone to congratulate Cabrera on outplaying him in the hand, saying Cabrera deserved to win and acknowledging how lucky he ad been.
There was more difficulty for Hellmuth when the tournament became three handed. Juha Hellpi and in particular Daryn Firicano caused him all sorts of problems, and between them they ate away at Phil Hellmuth’s chip lead until it was no more.
Eventually however, someone had to go, and it was Firicano who pulled the short straw. He had been playing extremely aggressively, making lots of all-in re-raises in an effort to nullify Hellmuth’s post flop skills, but eventually that strategy caught up with him. Juha Hellpi had been waiting for his opportunity and it came in the form of A-8. Firicano raised all-in with K-Q and Hellpi called. The board blanked and Firicano was a gonna.
That was not great news for Hellmuth, as it meant Hellpi had a 2:1 chip lead going into the heads-up stage. With Hellpi dominating the early stages Hellmuth was going to need some help. It came in a nail biting hand with Hellmuth all-in holding pocket fives, and Hellpi calling with Ad-6d. The 5-K-J flop gave Hellmuth a set, but it also contained two diamonds, offering Hellpi numerous outs. The queen of diamonds was one of them and when it fell on the turn Hellmuth was crushed. He would need the board to pair or else his dream was over, again. Well this was clearly his day, as another queen on the river gave him the full house he needed to double up and draw almost level in chip counts.
25 hands later and Hellmuth took a lead he would never relinquish. Raising preflop with K-K he was delighted to see Hellpi push all-in with A-T. He called, the board blanked out, and he had almost al the chips in play. A few hands later the crippled Hellpi was forced to move all-in with A-9, and was dominated by Hellmuth’s A-J. Another uneventful board and history had been made.
Congratulations Phil!
(Hellmuth won $631,863 fro first place, meaning he has won more money than any other player in the history of the WSOP. Hellpi received $331,144 for second.)
Submitted: 28/07/2006 09:12:42
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