ONLINE POKER CHAMP'S BRACELET NO. 11 FOR HELLMUTH

15 June 2007

Poker ace carves a unique niche for himself in WSOP history

The possibility that American poker ace Phil Hellmuth would be the first to achieve the unique honour of holding 11 World Series of Poker winner's bracelets was the hot topic at last year's championship, but the record was only achieved this week when a delighted Hellmuth took the $637 254 winner's check in Event #15, the $1 500 No Limit Hold 'Em.

In a typically torrid WSOP competition that attracted a starting field 2 628 hopefuls, Hellmuth prevailed to jubilantly hold up an index finger on each hand signifying his 11th hard earned piece of jewellery. The only other two ten-bracelet champions, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan briefly left their own WSOP games to congratulate Hellmuth on his achievement.

It was a tough road for Hellmuth against players like Berry Johnston, David Williams, Kido Pham, Nam Le, Mike Sexton, Per Ummer, Matthew Hilger, John Juanda, David 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Erik Seidel, Lee Watkinson, Amnon Filippi, Paul McCaffrey, Freddy Deeb, Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, Shannon Shorr, Richard Lee, Burt Boutin and Arnold Spee.

Day 1 action was fast and furious, with several big names hitting the rail early on. Bowing out of the event early were Men the Master, J.C. Tran, Williams, Gavin Smith, Minneapolis' Jim Meehan, Juanda, Barny Boatman and Phil Gordon.

Day 2 saw the field down to 160 players, all in the money in the giant competition. 1989 World Champion Phil Hellmuth hit the record books again with his second cash of this year's World Series, extending his own record for career WSOP cashes to 59 as he played brilliant poker in his quest for that 11th bracelet.

By Monday afternoon the final table was set as nine survivors came to the felt with Hellmuth second on chip count (1 482 000) behind leader Rick Fuller (1 779 000) Scott Clements was the only other final tabler close to them with 1 232 000, and the low man on the chip list was Taylor Douglas on 259 000.

To the frustration of spectators, loudly expressed by Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, the table was held privately in the Bluff Tent in order to be webcast on a one hour delay.

Taylor Douglas was first man down, an early victim of Clements, and not long after that Ut Nguyen went to the rail in position 8 after a bad beat, again to aggressive play by Clements. Exiting in position 7 was French poker star Fabrice Soulier who ran into the two big stacks at the table, Phil Hellmuth and Rick Fuller, moving in with only a Q-3. Hellmuth tabled 7-5 and Fuller put up pocket sixes for battle and, after Hellmuth caught the straight and Fuller a set, Soulier pushed back his seat and left the table in position 7.

Rick Fuller eliminated David Simon in sixth place shortly after that as the action-packed game developed, then it was Scott Clement's turn to head home when Hellmuth put him away as the fifth to exit. By now Hellmuth was way ahead in chips at 4 450 000, with his nearest rival Andy Philacheck on 1 550 000 as the game entered four handed play after a dinner break.

Shortly after the resumption Morgan Machina was defeated by Hellmuth and ushered out of the Bluff Tent in fourth place, worth $161 425, and the champion went on to eliminate Fuller as well a few moments later, leaving the player in third place with $247 518 in prize money when he flopped top pair of Kings against Fuller's second pair of sevens.

Heads up, the final moments of the game were between Hellmuth and Philacheck, with the former holding a 6-1 lead. Philacheck moved in with A-10 and Hellmuth made the call with his A-3. The 9-3-4 flop was what Hellmuth wanted and, after the turn and river blanked for Philacheck, Hellmuth made World Series history.

Philacheck took home $394 594.

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