Hellmuth's WPT routine: arrive late - leave early

Phil Hellmuth followed his normal routine on Day 1a of the Bay 101 Shooting Star; "The Poker Brat" arrived late to the World Poker Tour (WPT) tournament and was knocked out soon after. David Williams tops the field after the first day with $188,900 in chips.

Complaining about bad beats and lousy opponents is another part of Hellmuth's busting-out routine, but this time he didn't have much to say.

Hellmuth moved all-in with A-K and was called by pocket aces, and silently left the table even before the community cards were dealt.

The player who knocked Hellmuth out received a $5,000 bounty prize, and a number of other players collected some extra money as well when "Shooting Stars" such as John Hennigan, Vanessa Rousso, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Tom McEvoy, and David Pham were eliminated.

David Williams came close to being busted as well: At one point he was down to his last $9,000 in chips. Williams, however, managed to turn things around, and ended the first day as chip leader with $188,900.

Other big names who made it past Day 1a include Peter Feldman, Sean McCabe, J.C. Tran, Joe Sebok, Bill Edler, Scotty Nguyen, Allen Cunningham, J.J. Liu, Kenna James, and the defending champion Nam Le.

Day 1b of the $9,600 WPT Season 5 event starts at 11:15 a.m. (PDT) at the Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, Calif. You can follow all the action at PokerListings.com, in the Live Tournaments Section.

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