WSOP Hand of the Day: Brian Rast vs. Phil Hellmuth

World Series of Poker / Short-Stacked Shamus / 07 July 2011 / Leave a Comment

Rast vs. Hellmuth for the bracelet and David "Chip" Reese Memorial trophy (Photo credit: PokerNews / WSOP.com)

An incredibly exciting finale last night to Event No. 55, the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship, ultimately won by Brian Rast following a lengthy heads-up duel with Phil Hellmuth. (See Matthew Pitt's full report of the final table here.) Three big hands punctuated the end of the pair's heads-up battle, and we'll highlight the last of the three as Wednesday's WSOP Hand of the Day.

Hellmuth had a slight chip advantage when heads-up play commenced, with a little over 10 million to Rast's almost 9.2 million. Hellmuth chipped away at Rast over the next 20 hands, then took a huge 8 million-plus chip pot without a showdown to widen the gap between them to a 2-to-1 edge. Then came another series of small pots for Hellmuth, until he'd built up a 16.3 million to 2.9 million lead over his opponent.

It was on the 44th hand of heads-up play that Rast scored the first of his double-ups, getting the last of his chips in the middle on a 10h-4h-4s flop with Ad-Kh and needing to avoid Hellmuth hitting either a heart or pairing card with his 9h-6h. Percentage-wise, it was almost a 50-50 split here, actually, with Rast's hand only slightly better off with two cards to come. But the Qc turn and 2s river meant he'd dodged elimination.

Just three hands later Rast doubled once more, and once again all of the chips went in on the flop with Rast ahead and Hellmuth looking to fill a flush. This time the board read Jc-4d-Kc, Rast had a pair with Ks-7d, and Hellmuth was looking for a club with his 10c-8c. About a 60-40 split here, with Rast again only a little bit ahead, and after the Kd turn and 6h river Rast had pulled almost even with the Poker Brat.

Over the next three hands, Rast pushed in front of Hellmuth and had about 10 million to Hellmuth's 9 million when the final hand -- the 51st of heads-up play -- took place.

As Rich Ryan reported on PokerNews, the blinds were 60,000/120,000 (ante 30,000) when Hellmuth opened with a largish raise to 400,000 from the small blind/button and Rast called. The flop came Jd-9d-10c, and in response Rast fired a bet of 500,000 (about two-thirds of the pot). Hellmuth then reraised all in, and Rast called.

Rast had flopped the nuts, holding Kc-Qc for a king-high straight, while Hellmuth was again hoping to fill a flush with the 8d-2d.

Preflop play on this last hand is interesting. Hellmuth's large preflop raise with small-suited cards was certainly curious, as was Rast's decision just to call with his big suited connectors. It's almost as though the pair reversed their typical styles for a moment, with Hellmuth trying something daring (and perhaps uncharacteristic) while Rast chose the conservative route from out of position.

Rast's subsequent choice to bet the flop rather than check his straight was inspired. Given Hellmuth's preflop raise he might have thought Hellmuth caught something on that flop and so would call the modest-sized bet. Meanwhile Hellmuth had flopped both a flush draw and open-ended straight draw -- one of the better flops he could've hoped for with 8d-2d -- although he couldn't know the latter was no good to him.

Hellmuth's decision to commit all of his chips and risk his tourney life here was perhaps on the rash side, possibly influenced somewhat by the two previous missed flush draws. Hellmuth's tourney style is such that he generally declines such flips when risking elimination, and prides himself on avoiding all-ins if at all possible. Although it's hard to track such things, by most accounts Hellmuth was never all in and at risk during Event #55 until this final fifth day of play.

In this spot Hellmuth was a little better than a 2-to-1 dog with two cards to come. The turn was the 5h and river the 8s and Hellmuth had scored his third second-place finish of the Series. Meanwhile, Rast picked up his second WSOP bracelet this summer, having previously won Event #15 ($1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em).

It was a truly memorable night at the Rio, and a nifty prelude to the Main Event that starts today. There are still a couple of preliminary events to be completed -- you can watch live streaming from those on WSOP.com today -- but most eyes will be on Day 1a of the ME, coverage of which can be found on PokerNews' live reporting.