Just 14 Players Stand Between Phil Hellmuth and Bracelet No. 14
On Thursday, the 2014 World Series of Poker Event #15: $3,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em began with 810 players, of which 144 returned for Day 2 action earlier today. After ten one-hour levels of play, just 15 players remain with Heinz Kamutzki best positioned to make a run at the $508,640 first-place prize with his stack of 841,000.
Another man eyeing up the title is Phil Hellmuth, who was denied his 14th bracelet when he finished runner-up to Ted Forrest in Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz. Hellmuth is the biggest name in the field and will take 491,000 into the final day of play.
Others who will be there include Davidi Kitai (815,000), Pratyush Buddiga (760,000), Gordon Vayo (483,000), Ryan Olisar (444,000), Vladimir Geshkenbein (178,000), and Tony Ruberto (98,000).
The day kicked off with 54 players needing to hit the rail before the money was reached, and one of the first to go was 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, who ran pockets tens into the kings of Matt Marafioti. Before long the Canadian had company on the rail including Blair Hinkle, Dani Stern, Eric Baldwin, Peter Jetten, and Adam Bernstein.
Bernstein was actually the victim of a cooler to burst the bubble, which happened in Level 12 (600/1,200/200). It happened when Bernstein limped under the gun and action folded to Artem Metalidi in the big blind. He raised to 3,600, and Bernstein simply moved all in for 58,600. Metalidi snap-called.
Metalidi: 
Bernstein: 
It was a cooler hand, and Bernstein was on the bad end of things. With a minimum payday of $5,041 on the line the dealer ran out the board — 
. There would be no miracle for Bernstein and he became the bubble boy in particularly brutal fashion.
From there the in-the-money finishes came at a rapid pace and included Joe Tehan (89th - $5,041), Michael Mizrachi (86th - $5,041), Tony Dunst (75th - $5,484), Sorel Mizzi (68th - $5,484), Jesse Sylvia (63rd - $5,970), Andrew Lichtenberger (52nd - $7,098), Paul Volpe (47th - $7,938), Bryn Kenney (41st - $9,066), and Brandon Cantu (32nd - $10,614).
Cantu, who began the day as a big chip leader, fell when he opened for 12,000 from the button only to have Hellmuth, who he battled against at aforementioned razz final table earlier in the week, three-bet to 25,000 from the big blind.
Cantu responded by four-betting all in and Hellmuth snap-called.
Cantu: 
Hellmuth:
Cantu had picked the wrong time to shove as the "Poker Brat" had the best hand in poker. Cantu, who began the day as a big chip leader, wouldn't get so much as a sweat as the board ran out 
. With that, Hellmuth, who notched his 102nd WSOP cash in this event, eliminated his “frenemy.”
Day 3 action will see the remaining 15 players return at 1 p.m. on Saturday to play down to a winner. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all the updates. Be sure to check back then, but in the meantime check out this video where Hollywood actor James Woods talks about his start in poker: