Phil Hellmuth Plugging Away at WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic with 11 Left
The "Poker Brat" himself, Phil Hellmuth, is no stranger to running deep in World Poker Tour Main Events, though it remains an elusive title for the all-time leading WSOP bracelet winner to capture. Since signing onto the WPT talent team as "Raw Deal Analyst" back in the fall, Hellmuth has made a couple of those runs at a title, both times falling short.
At the WPT Legends of Poker at the Bike in Los Angeles back in August, he final tabled and finished runner-up to local high-stakes cash grinder Art Papazyan, who would go on to win not one, but two WPT titles in the same season.
Missing out on the title in his fifth WPT final table didn't deter the longtime pro, and six months later, he made yet another deep WPT run. Back in his home court of L.A. again, Hellmuth powered through a field of 493 to make it to the final two tables, only to bust in 15th place to eventual winner of the tournament Dennis Blieden.
Day 3 of WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic
In the final Main Event of the season, Hellmuth is still in action on Day 3 of the $10,000 WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic being held at the ARIA in Las Vegas, with 11 players remaining. In typical Hellmuth style, he arrived fashionably a day late, hopping into the field on Day 2. Also in classic Hellmuth fashion, he grinded his 30,000-chip starting stack up to 211,000 to finish the day 11th of 20 and in the money.
The third day of the tournament (his second) started off somewhat rough for the Poker Brat, and he vented some of his frustration with PokerNews on the second break of the day.
"Some of these players are just getting their money in in these really, really bad spots. That's OK too, because that's why I'm so rich. That's why I have so many titles."
"I'm kind of f****** steaming right now. I've lost a lot of hands. It's a little frustrating for me. My nines held up when a guy moved in with ace-four [takes a deep breath]. So that's good because it was a 200K pot. I'm just losing a lot of hands. I keep folding top pair, folding top pair. Then, when I have aces with an eight kicker, they have ace-king. It's just bizarre. But that's how I survive. I give myself all these lives and then all of a sudden, they put 150K in dead against me, and that's how it happens. I'm just not used to going this cold for this long."
The hand he referred to as having aces with an eight kicker was against Kitty Kuo just before that second break, where he found himself value betting an ace-high board only to be called down by Kuo with the dominating ace-king. When asked about some banter that had transpired with some of his opponents, top tournament pro Joe McKeehen among them, Hellmuth had some choice words.
"Joe's a fabulous player. I'm waiting for Joe... he's been very lucky against me in our lives thus far. His eight-fours always seem to somehow win. But, I'm gonna get Joe. It's just a matter of time. But I don't have a problem with the way he plays. Some of these players are just getting their money in in these really, really bad spots. That's OK too, because that's why I'm so rich. That's why I have so many titles."
Not long after the chat with Hellmuth, just before the third break of the day, Hellmuth was in the big blind with around 30 bigs and found a critical double-up against another seasoned WPT player, Ralph Perry. Action folded to Perry in the small blind and according to the WPT live updates, Hellmuth ripped it in. Perry made the call to put Hellmuth at risk, but had him just barely covered by one big blind.
It was a flip — a big one, Hellmuth's A♣J♣ versus the pocket fives of Perry. The flop came 8♣10♣2♥, a good one for the Poker Brat with the flush outs to go with his overs. The 9♠ turn provided even more outs for Hellmuth adding the straight draw, but it was the J♥ on the river to make him a pair of jacks that saved his tournament life, leaving Perry on fumes.
At the time of writing, Hellmuth is hovering around 300,000 chips with blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000 as the remaining 11 players close in on the official final table of six that will play out Wednesday, where someone will win $387,580 and a WPT title. Keep it at PokerNews for continued feature coverage through the Bobby Baldwin Classic and the WPT Tournament of Champions that will immediately follow May 24-26.
UPDATE: Phil Hellmuth finished seventh for $57,935, bubbling the final table.
So bummed out to finish @WPT $10,000 buy in @AriaLV in seventh place! Six come back tomorrow to play on the… https://t.co/JnCEMK5XS1
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth)
Reporting from Mo Nuwwarah contributed to this article.
Photos courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT
