Phil Hellmuth Stone Bubbles WSOP Super Main $50M Guaranteed Event
Phil Hellmuth stone bubbled the largest guaranteed event in poker history this evening in the Bahamas, an exciting exclamation point on an action-packed Day 2 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise Super Main Event.
207 players advanced to Day 3 of the Super Million Main Event (along with 90 online players), including chip leader Gytis Lazauninkas and other top-ten stacks including Germany's Sirzat Hissou, Spain's Juan Pardo and former PokerStars ambassador Liv Boeree in a rare appearance on the felt.
Others who bagged include Daniel Negreanu, Matthew Wantman, David Peters, Chris Hunichen, Chris Brewer, Alex Keating and chess streamer Alexandra Botez, who has already locked up her biggest tournament cash.
Super Main Event Day 2 Top 10 Chip Count
| TableRank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gytis Lazauninkas | Lithuania | 15,430,000 | 193 |
| 2 | Matthew Belcher | Matthew Belcher | 11,640,000 | 145 |
| 3 | Marcelo Aziz | Brazil | 11,295,000 | 141 |
| 4 | Sirzat Hissou | Germany | 11,225,000 | 140 |
| 5 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 10,740,000 | 134 |
| 6 | Ermo Kosk | Estonia | 10,280,000 | 128 |
| 7 | Gediminas Dirmantas | Lithuania | 9,515,000 | 119 |
| 8 | Chris Klodnicki | United States | 9,450,000 | 118 |
| 9 | Dmitrii Prusov | Russia | 8,310,000 | 104 |
| 10 | Liv Boeree | United Kingdom | 8,275,000 | 103 |
Seiver Cheers as Hellmuth Bubbles
Hellmuth was short four players off the money in the $25,000 buy-in event and folded ace-high in the big blind to survive another orbit. After a few eliminations, he decided to gamble with his last 200,000 — about 2.5 big blinds — against Alex Keating with a better ace-high.
Keating had told Hellmuth earlier that he should even fold aces on the stone bubble. He likely wishes he had listened. As captured by live reporter Adam Lamers, Hellmuth splashed in his final chips with ace-king and couldn't survive a three-way all-in as Keating made a pair of sevens. The Poker Brat had an opportunity to chop a minimum cash as there were three other all-ins, but all ended in doubles. During all of this, reigning Player of the Year (POY) Scott Seiver cheered on the other all-ins in the hope that Hellmuth would be the sole bubble.
It's been quite the day for Hellmuth, who earlier in the day busted a 25-plus big blind stack after calling off with an offsuit queen-deuce (reminiscent of a viral hand against Alex Foxen two years ago).
Another player in the Day 2 field was NBA star Tony Parker, who was eliminated outside the money. Parker spoke to PokerNews on Day 1 about getting bluffed off kings and playing poker with his San Antonio Spurs teammate Tim Duncan.
How Close to $50M Guarantee?
There was some speculation yesterday that the $50 million guaranteed event could come up short by eight figures. But a surge of 254 new entries on Day 2 put that to rest as the event came up $550,000 short of the guarantee.
The $25,000 buy-in event attracted a total of 1,378 entrants across four starting flights and Day 2 entries. Adding that with 600 online players, there were a total of 1,978 entrants for the Super Main Event. They needed 2,000 players to hit the guarantee and fell short by 22 players.
Day 3 action will pick up at the start of Level 17 with blinds of 40,000/80,000/80,000. Each returning player has locked up at least $50,000, while $6 million sits up top for the eventual champion.
Stay tuned as PokerNews will be back on-site at Atlantis for continued coverage of the first-ever Super Main Event in the Bahamas.
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,000,000 | 11-12 | $370,150 |
| 2 | $4,600,000 | 13-16 | $295,000 |
| 3 | $3,600,000 | 17-22 | $230,600 |
| 4 | $2,800,000 | 23-32 | $180,300 |
| 5 | $2,100,000 | 33-48 | $140,900 |
| 6 | $1,650,000 | 49-75 | $110,200 |
| 7 | $1,300,000 | 76-118 | $86,100 |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | 119-188 | $67,300 |
| 9 | $750,000 | 189-297 | $50,000 |
| 10 | $500,000 |