Hellmuth Has To Wait For Bracelet #12

WSOP Europe / Matthew Pitt / 09 October 2011 / Leave a Comment

Phil Hellmuth: The 12th bracelet eludes him

Allain made it 17,000 to play from the button and Hellmuth three-bet to 45,000 from the blinds. The Frenchman then four-bet to 100,000 and Hellmuth started to talk. "This is so sick. This is the third time you bluffed me, but the fourth time I will have aces. Nice bluff kid."

Phil Hellmuth came frustratingly close to winning his 12th World Series of Poker bracelet not once but twice at this summer's WSOP, finishing as a runner-up in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Low, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball and the $50,000 Poker Players Championship events and he has come very close again, this time at the WSOPE.

The eyes of the poker media were fixated on Hellmuth during the final day of Event #1 the €2,680 Six-Handed as he started second in chips, from 12 players, with a massive stack of 401,000 chips but within the first half hour of play he was back down to below average.

Hellmuth's Demise Begins

The slide began when Hellmuth raised to 18,000 (blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000a) and then instantly called when Adrien Allain moved all in for 123,000. The 11-time WSOP bracelet winner turned over 9s9d and found himself up against his French opponents AcTh, a typical coinflip scenario. The dealer got busy putting out the Td-Tc-Kd flop, which left Hellmuth drawing very thinly indeed and when the turn and river were the 4d and 8h respectively, he dropped to 280,000 chips.

Allain was a constant thorn in Hellmuth's side and he seemed to have the measure of the "Poker Brat," constantly attacking him. In one hand Allain raised to 17,000 and Hellmuth three-bet to 54,000 with 170,000 behind. Allain moved all in and Hellmuth said, "I don't think I can can," and mucked his hand. Shortly afterwards the pair clashed again, which prompted a rant from Hellmuth.

In the hand in question, Allain made it 17,000 to play from the button and Hellmuth three-bet to 45,000 from the blinds. The Frenchman then four-bet to 100,000 and Hellmuth started to talk. "This is so sick. This is the third time you bluffed me, but the fourth time I will have aces. Nice bluff kid." When he had finished teaching his opponent he folded and showed Ah8c.

Hellmuth Blow-up

There are many modern day poker players who say Hellmuth has a very questionable style of play and he has done himself no favours if the live reports on PokerNews are anything to go by. There were a series of hands that seem so wrong and they are all going to be written here. In one hand Azusa Maeda opened to 18,000 from under the gun and Hellmuth three-bet to 54,000 from the big blind. Maeda then moved all in and Hellmuth quickly folded despite only having 72,000 chips behind.

Shortly afterwards his nemesis, Allain, opened to 21,000 from the button and Hellmuth called from the big blind. Hellmuth checked the Kh-8d-5d flop and then folded to a shove from Allain, again despite only having 60,000 chips. The strange plays continued as the action folded to Hellmuth in the small blind and he open-limped then folded to a raise, before calling another raise from Allain and folding to a shove on a Th-9c-9s flop.

Yet another questionable play occurred soon after when everyone folded to Hellmuth in the small blind and despite having 5,000 invested in the small blind and only having 15,000 chips behind, he folded! He finally got his minuscule stack in after a Maeda limped in and Marton Czukzor moved all in. Hellmuth called and showed KsJh when Maeda folded and was up against Ac4h. The final board ran out 6c-Qh-6d-2d-4s and with that Hellmuth was eliminated in seventh place, a finish worth €24,183.

Hellmuth's next chance of adding to his 11 bracelets, the last of which he won in 2007, is in Monday's €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha event. Tune in during the week to see if he does add another piece of poker jewellery to his collection or if he blows up at the vital stage of the tournament like he did earlier today.

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