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#181 – WSOP #30 – Phil Hellmuth is $35,000 Underwater
I spent the day today watching Phil Hellmuth at the final table of the $3,000 NLHE. His attempt to win his 12th bracelet was a valiant one and he played beautifully. Circumstances beyond his control made it impossible for him to finish better than 6th, earning $74,000. I then spent two very bizarre hours with Phil trying to interview him for this blog and for a cover story BLUFF hired me to complete on him in two days. Then I drove 5 hours to get home.
I have lots to tell you about Tuesday, as well as my late, late, late night on Monday.
Most of it will have to wait for my to sleep, reintroduce myself to my family, and write it all down. I’m in Scottsdale until Friday so I expect to have an opportunity to do just that. In the meantime, let me tell you this sick fact:
Phil Hellmuth lost $35,000 during the $3,000 NLHE tournament, during which he made the final table. It started when he was all-in and could have gone out in tenth place. He had aces against 7-4o off-suit and negotiated “insurance” with Phil Ivey, who was watching the final table. Hellmuth paid $20,000 against Ivey paying $90,000 if the aces got cracked. They held up and Phil H. paid off. This happened repeatedly and because Hellmuth got in with the best of it each time, his debt to Ivey mounted.
It seemed to me that Ivey was offering Keno odds. Andy Bloch was hanging around the tournament area until the last moment before his heads-up match because he wanted to bid on Phil Hellmuth’s action in the event that Ivey didn’t offer the insurance.
When it was over, Phil Hellmuth finished in 6th, earning $74,000 and owing Phil Ivey a total of $109,000. Hellmuth also mentioned repeatedly that Ivey has won over $500,000 of him in Chinese Poker and is ahead $300,000 in bets made on the putting green in the VIP suite.
Even Mike Matusow thought Hellmuth’s insurance bets were “sick”. And it’s really bad if Mike Matusow thinks you are a sick gambler.
More over the next few days as I get the opportunity – I have a good chance of catching up, so good that I’m not even going to make an insurance bet with Phil. I’ll give you an idea of some of the things I want to try out during the second half of the Series.
