Big Hand, Modest Pot for Hellmuth

That's right. We used the words "modest" and "Hellmuth" in close proximity there.

Phil Hellmuth had a terrific start today, boosting his below average stack up to 140,000 within the first two levels. He then settled back around the 120,000-chip mark and has been there for most of the day. We just now caught an intriguing hand in which the Poker Brat was involved.

A player in middle position bet 2,700, and Hellmuth, sitting to his left, made the call. The blinds folded, and the flop came {9-Diamonds}

. The raiser continued with a bet of 4,700, and Hellmuth wasted little time calling.

The turn was the {9-Hearts}

, pairing the board. This time Hellmuth's opponent checked. Hellmuth sat up straight, rechecked his cards, looked to his right at his opponent, then gathered some chips. Finally he tossed out a smallish bet of 4,800, and his opponent called.

The river was the {9-Spades}

, provoking a "oooh" from the crowd. Hellmuth's opponent again checked, and this time Hellmuth pushed out 12,000. His opponent rechecked his cards, then folded.

Hellmuth then flipped his cards face up to the dealer -- {K-Hearts}