Saturday, June 30, 2007

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WSOP: Hellmuth thwarted again by 'horrible player'

"I can't even look at the guy in the yellow anymore."

By Christopher Hunt

Despite yet another notch on his expanding World Series of Poker legends belt - this one being his 62nd WSOP cash, extending his own record - Phil Hellmuth's drive for 12 bracelets stalled again today.

Yesterday, as reported by Bodog Beat, Hellmuth's quest for 12 involved the ignomy of a verbal dressing down from young upstart Justin Bonomo and the contemptuous toppling of his chip stack by a wasted Thomas Wahlroos.

Today, it just simply involved getting crippled, then busted, by the "worst players he's ever seen."

After running his stack up to over $200k and about fourth place by the end of the Day 1, things were looking good for Hellmuth heading in to Day 2 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event.

But perhaps the two run-ins yesterday - the one with Bonomo essentially revolving around Phil calling ZeeJustin an "effing amateur," and Justin firing back a call for Phil to stop acting like an amateur himself - lingered overnight, as Hellmuth, despite feeling favorably towards his table assignment, went down in flames again.

This time, it came mostly at the hands of comparative unknowns Thierry Van Den Berg, Nick Van Newkirk and now arch-nemesis Raj Sawant.

It started with a bunch of hands against Sawant, including one in which Raj got his money in with 10-4, leaving Hellmuth unimpressed.

But the big hit came when Hellmuth moved all-in with pocket threes on a board showing 8-3-2.

Phil got the call from Thierry Van Den Berg's Q-Q. Hellmuth's set looked good when the turn came the J, but the Q on the river made it set over set.

Phil's stack plummeted to less than $30k and the whole shebang set off a series of F bombs not for the faint of heart.

Another couple of hands with Sawant, including one with Raj hitting a runner-runner flush with A-3 offsuit to top Phil's set of nines, and Phil was definitively on tilt.

The end came shortly thereafter, with Hellmuth moving all-in with 10-10 and getting the call from Nick Van Newkirk and his A-8.

An ace on the turn killed Phil, ending his day in 31st place and a $13,344 payout, but no more gold for his wrist.

He left the table with little good to say about his tablemates - in particular Sawant, saying "The guy in the yellow shirt is the worst player I've even seen."

Not one to give up his quest for immortality easily, Hellmuth proceeded to buy-in to the 2-7 triple lowball tournament that had already started, and got seated at a table that featured Allen Cunningham, Allen Kessler, and, for a brief time while the Six-Handed No-Limit tournament was on dinner break, Tony G.

You can keep tabs on Phil's quickly re-started run to 12 in the PokerListings.com Live Tournaments Section.

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