Phil Hellmuth at 2011 WSOP: If I Were You, I'd Tip that Dealer a Million
It’s not easy being Phil Hellmuth (pictured). The 11-time bracelet winner nearly captured what would have been a record-setting 12th piece of hardware three times during the 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP), but finished second each go-around. In his latest runner-up showing, Hellmuth fell heads-up to Brian tsarrastRast in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship and then muttered, “If I were you, I’d tip that dealer a million.”
Check out all of our WSOP coverageof online poker players, brought to you by 24hPoker. You can play on 24hPoker, an Entraction Network site, in three easy steps. Just click hereto head to 24hPoker, take advantage of your 100% first deposit bonus, and then register an account. It’s that easy. Learn more.
Hellmuth was slightly more hospitable on Twitter, telling his 83,000 followers, “Bright side: three second place WSOP finishes in 1 year might be a record!” It might, Phil. His latest second place finish was worth just over $1 million and he now has nearly $8 million in career WSOP earnings.
In addition to the Poker Player’s Championship, Hellmuth placed second in the Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better Championship for $273,000 and the 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship for $226,000. The latter events had $10,000 buy-ins and contributed to five in the money finishes for “The Poker Brat” this year. The final table of the Poker Player’s Championship was played entirely as No Limit Hold’em.
Hellmuth and Rast (pictured) were about even in chips entering heads-up play before the former scooped a pot worth eight million to take a 2:1 lead. Rast ultimately dug a 5:1 hole before mounting the comeback of a lifetime. Rast doubled up with A-K against Hellmuth’s 9-6 of hearts when the money went in on a 10-4-4 two-heart flop. Two black cards that didn’t pair Hellmuth came on the turn and river and Rast clawed to within 5:2.
Rast then doubled up once more, this time after moving all-in on a board of J-4-K with two clubs holding K-7 for top pair. Hellmuth called and tabled 10-8 of clubs for a flush draw, but again whiffed on the turn and river to reset the chip counts back to even.
In the final hand of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship at the 2011 WSOP, the flop came 9-10-J with two diamonds and fireworks went off. Rast bet, Hellmuth shoved, and Rast said, “I’m sorry Phil, I have the nuts. I call.” Rast showed K-Q for the nut straight, while Hellmuth flipped up 8-2 of diamonds for another flush draw.
On the third straight critical hand, Hellmuth’s flush failed to come through and Rast became the first dual bracelet winner of 2011. His victory was the 21st by members of PocketFives.com this year. Learn more.
On losing a 5:1 chip lead heads-up for bracelet #12, Hellmuth told the media, “You never count the victory. I mean, I’ve already had two seconds, so believe me I didn’t count the victory. I believe that if I hit any of those three flush draws, I win the tournament. I just missed three of them and, you know, I proved a lot to myself.”
On competing against Hellmuth with a $1.7 million first place prize and a gold bracelet on the line, Rast commented, “I know he’s going for his 12th bracelet. I’m happy for him, but I don’t really care though. It doesn’t matter for me that he gets his 12th bracelet for the poker world. I respect the fact that he cares so much… He definitely gets frustrated, but I never feel like it’s personally directed at me.”
Attendance in this year’s Poker Player’s Championship grew 10% year-over-year and PocketFivers followed the final table in earnest in a Live Poker thread. There have now been multiple bracelet winners in the last 11 cycles of the WSOP, dating back to 2000. In 2009, five players won multiple bracelets, the most of any year.
Here were the results of the 2011 Poker Player’s Championship:
1. Brian tsarrast Rast – $1,720,328
2. Phil Hellmuth – $1,063,034
3. Minh Ly – $665,763
4. Owais oerockets Ahmed – $482,085
5. Matt Glantz – $376,750
6. George Jorj95 Lind – $300,441
7. Scott Seiver – $243,978
8. Ben Benba Lamb – $201,338
Moments before the Main Event began on Day 1A today, the tournament ticker showed 840 players entered. WSOP officials told PocketFives.com that they expected 900 to show up on Thursday. Last year, over 1,100 players started on Day 1A and 800 survived to see Day 2A.
On our WSOP Twitterpage, many PocketFivers were looking forward to the most prestigious tournament in poker beginning. Among them was McLean pureprofitfour Karr, who Tweeted, “World Series of Poker Main Event 2day! I am talking about the best tournament in the whole universe!”
Chirping about his last-minute decision to enter the Main Event on Thursday was Faraz The-Toilet Jaka: “Was playing #WSOP Main Event Friday or Saturday, but felt super focused after my hike and casterboarding session, so registered 4 today last-min.”
Finally, Terrence TChanChan (pictured), who is more commonly known as Unassigned in the poker world, wished everyone luck on their Main Event journeys: “Good luck friends, acquaintances, horses, backers, pros, & amateurs. Today you’re on the biggest stage of our game, so play good!”
View our complete 2011 WSOP coverage of online poker players.
