We’ve now passed the half-way line in this year’s WSOP and some of the most exciting events are almost upon us, such as the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship, and tomorrow’s much anticipated $5,000 Heads-UP NL Hold’em Championship.
Event #27: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. The many $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments are proving enduring popular, with 2,315 players making this the third biggest tournament this year. A final table was completely shorn of big-name star players made for a much more friendly and relaxed atmosphere than usual, and David Stucke was the man who adapted best, beating Young Cho to take down the $603,069 first prize.
Event #28: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Phil Hellmuth made his second final table of the 2007 WSOP, but his quest for a 12th WSOP bracelet has hampered by the fact that he started with just $213,000 in chips compared to the $1,076,000 of chip leader Dustin Holmes. Plenty of top pros still turned up to watch, and with Phil Ivey busy making prop bets on just about anything Hellmuth set about trying to make history twice in two weeks. He got off to a great start, doubling up twice in the first two hours, and despite some rocky patched Hellmuth was up to over $600,000 in chips by hour five of the final table. During that time Hellmuth had been all-in a number of times, but always with the best hand (or the equal best hand – such as when he and Beth Shak moved all-in and both tabled AA!)
Hellmuth had racked up quite a bill in the process, as he regularly took out insurance with Phil Ivey when he had all his chips in the middle and then ended up winning. But his run at the bracelet finally ended when Hellmuth for once got all his chips in the middle with the worst hand. Beth Shak was the lady responsible, opening the betting on a Q-T-6 flop by moving all-in and inducing a call from Hellmuth with just A-T. Hellmuth missed his outs and was eliminated in 6th place, but he will be back – there are 24 more events in the 2007 WSOP and you can be sure Hellmuth will play almost every single one!
With the distraction of Hellmuth now gone the remaining players got down to business, and Beth Shak and Shankar Pillai proved the best two players there. A win by Beth Shak would have made history as the first time two women had won bracelets on the same day, as earlier Katja Thater had won Event #29, but Shak in the end fell just short. On a T-8-3 board Shak once again opened the betting by moving all-in, forcing Pillai into the tank. Pillai took over a minute to make his decision, but finally decided to call, turning over the same hand that Phil Hellmuth had when Shak busted him: middle pair with an ace kicker. This time however it proved a masterful call, as Beth Shak turned over K-8, for a slightly worse kicker. Pillai’s A-8 held up and he walked away with the $527,829 first prize.
Event #29: $1,500 Seven Card Razz. Katja Thater became the first women to win a bracelet at this years WSOP when she took down the Razz tournament. The German pro beat Larry St. Jean to collect the $132,653 first prize and one of the professional’s most coveted bracelets.