Just how much can a guy take before he breaks? – this must have been the question foremost in everyone’s minds as they watched Hellmuth miss the gold bracelet yet again. This is Hellmuth’s third final table appearance, his third time managing to make it into heads up play, his third time to walk away without a bracelet snugly wrapped around his wrist. Then again, one could suppose that the money – roughly $1.6 million – is enough compensation for this. But Hellmuth is well past the stage where money is what matters. What he’s after now is a shot at history, his record-breaking 12th bracelet. Unfortunately for him, fate seems intent on playing with him. Brian Rast, winner of the $1,500 pot limit hold’em, denied Hellmuth of his 12th bracelet despite the odds. He took home the grand prize of $1.72 million, the bracelet, and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, which is widely hailed as the most prestigious prize given in any poker tournament.
The Final Table
As the Final Table took shape, one thing became very clear: Hellmuth was ‘in it to win it’. He doubled up, ironically, through Rast and took a solid chip lead which would carry him over all the way to heads up. Ben Lamb, on the other hand, who was the chip leader at one point in the tournament, was the first one to go in the final table, hitting the rails at eighth place. Lamb collided against Scott Seiver who, incidentally, was the next one to go at seventh place. Seiver had clashed against Rast, who held pocket Aces, easily trumping his pair of eights. Next to go was George Lind, eliminated by Minh Ly. Then Matt Glantz exited at 5th place, courtesy of Ly as well. Then, it was Owais Ahmed’s turn to be eliminated, this time courtesy of Phil Hellmuth. Finally, it was Minh Ly who was eliminated at third place, leaving Hellmuth and Rast to battle it out at heads up.
Heads up between Rast and Hellmuth
Entering heads up, Hellmuth actually had a 6:1 chip lead over rast. That, dear friends, is a huge lead. Everybody was thinking that this would be all Hellmuth’s. However, Rast was pretty determined and managed to double up to stay alive. Shortly after that, he doubled up again, this time back to even. With the playing field leveled, Rast really started putting the pressure on Hellmuth. He chipped away at Hellmuth’s stack quickly, giving himself a big fighting chance for getting the gold. Sure enough, both players went all in at a hand. Hellmuth held 8D 2 D, while Rast had KC QC. Hellmuth raised to 400,000 at the button, while Rast called. The flop was JD 10S 9D, to which Hellmuth went all in, with a flush draw now in his hands. However, the turn was revealed to be 5H and the river 8S, both of which were completely useless to Hellmuth. Just like that, the Poker Brat saw the bracelet slip out from his hands for the third time this year. He took home the second place prize of $1,053,034 – but I highly doubt that even that much money will be great comfort to Hellmuth, who just really wants his 12th bracelet. He still has a shot at the Main Event, though. Who knows, maybe Hellmuth was just really saving it for a big bang.
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