Most of the damage was done on Day Four, when ‘the poker brat’ blew away his chip lead in just two hands, finally ending the day with less than half the chips he had started with while others had doubled or even quadrupled their starting stacks.

As a result the 1989 WSOP champion started Day Five with just $700,000 in chips. and although he came out of the block in a hurry, taking consecutive pots of Paul Wasicka and Kirk Morrison to take his stack back up to $1.7 million, it proved too little too late.

But before Hellmuth’s capitulation there were a few other big names to hit the rail, with Roland De Wolfe, who finished third in last year’s tournament, busting out when his A-J fell to Tim Phan’s A-K. He finished 26^th for $92,820.

He was followed to the rail by Paul Wasicka. Like De Wolfe and Hellmuth, the runner-up in last year’s WSOP main-event had started Day Five relatively low on chips, and was looking for an early spot to double up. He thought he had found it when he got it all-in preflop with A-To versus Kirk Morrison with K-Qo, but a king on the flop meant Wasicka was out in 24^th ($92,820).

It was around this time that Phil Hellmuth began to self-destruct. The implosion began when Hellmuth, with pocket kings, allowed Kirk Morrison to draw a flush on the river with As-7s, sending the poker brat into a trademark tantrum: “NO! He did NOT beat the kings,” was just the beginning of his outburst.

A few hands later with the flop showing Kc-8h-7s Hellmuth then became involved in an interesting session of limit poker with Tommy Vu. It began with the poker brat betting $70,000 into a $200,000+ pot, a sum which puzzled Vu, who started asking: “Why so little Phil? Are you testing me? I think you’re testing me.”

With Vu contemplating his next move Hellmuth called the clock on him, and Vu waited until the very last second before min-raising another $70,000. A few verbal barbs later Hellmuth then min-raised another $70,000; this was getting bizarre. Vu continued saying that he thought Hellmuth was testing him, and said he’d have to raise again to see if Hellmuth was bluffing him. The amount? Why $70,000 of course. This time his question got a definitive answer: “I’m going to bust you in the next half an hour,” said Phil, and then threw his hand in the muck!

With his mood decidedly unimproved, Hellmuth then turned his attention to Thomas Wahlroos, (yet) another player with whom appeared to have a running feud. Hellmuth began by raising to $90,000 and was re-raised to $230,000 by Wahlroos. Hellmuth called and then checked in the dark with the flop coming 8c-6s-2h. Wahlroos bet out $300,000, Hellmuth re-raised all-in and Wahlroos insta-called. Aces for Wahlroos, jacks for the poker brat, and that was that; his run for a first WPT title was over. Queue a tantrum about the Wahlroos being a poor player accompanied by a sulky exit from the tournament. He received $123,760 for his 18th place finish.

There followed the eliminations of Richard Anthony (17^th - $123,760), James Worth (16^th - $123,760), Sorel Mizzi (15th - $154,705), Jared Minter (14^th - $154,705), David Levi (13th – $154,705), and Can Kim Hua (12th - $154,705) and Grant Lang (11^th - $154,705), before the surviving players combined for the final table, with Paul Lee holding a substantial chip lead. Also running well was Thomas Wahlroos in second.

Not for long though. . . .  On virtually the first hand of the final table Wahlroos doubled up Carlos Mortensen; moving all-in on the flop of Ah-7d-6d with Ad-4d only to find the 2001 WSOP champion with a set of aces. A seven popped out on the turn to fill up Mortensen’s full house and doubled him up to over $6 million in chips. Wahlroos was knocked down to $4.3 million.

The first bust out came a while later, when Jimmy Tran was unfortunate to have his pocket queens cracked when Paul Lee flopped a set of fives. He was quickly followed by Tommy Vu who fell at the hands of Mortensen, whose A-J was always well ahead of Vu’s K-3.

Next out was Scott Fischman, the CardPlayer columnist and two-time WSOP bracelet winner. He started the final table with the second smallest stack but battled well to accumulate a decent chip count and was on the verge of raking a huge pot when he suffered a nasty bad beat. Getting it all-in with Ad-Ah versus Thomas Wahlroos’s Qc-Qs Fischman started as a huge favourite, but in a cruel blow the board came with four spades and Fischman’s stack was decimated. He was out in eighth a few hands later, collecting $247,552).

The final elimination of the day came in a huge hand that put Paul Lee, who had bled away most of his chip lead since arriving at the final table, way out ahead of the rest. The hand began with Mike Wattel raising to $420,000; Paul Lee called, and then Thomas Wahlroos pushed all-in for a further $4.35 million from the big blind. With the final table bubble awaiting the next elimination Paul Lee made a masssive call with just A-Q, a hand which could easily have been dominated. Fortunately for him Wahlroos only held As-Ts, and it was Lee who was dominating. Wahlroos picked up a flush draw on the flop but the fifth spade never materialised and Lee raked the biggest pot of the tournament so far, pushing his stack into eight figures! Wahlroos was the surprise bubble-boy, picking up $278,465 for seventh place.

Players will start the final table tomorrow with the following chip counts:

Paul Lee - $11,828,000

Juan Carlos Mortensen - $6,501,000

Guy Laliberte - $4,690,000

Kirk Morrision - $4,194,000

Mike Wattel - $2,887,000

Tim Phan - $2,162,000