Phil Hellmuth ELIMINATED

[parlaycard]

Phil Hellmuth had a horrible hour at the featured table. He was finally all in with Ad-Qh against Paul "X-22" Magriel's pocket sevens (7h-7d). The crowd was mixed in their support, with some rooting for Phil, and some against him. (Oddly enough, nobody seemed to be for Magriel, just against Hellmuth.)


It was a race situation as the flop came Jc-9h-4c. Hellmuth didn't improve, and was now drawing pretty thin, needing to catch a queen, an ace, or a runner-runner straight to stay alive. The turn card paired the board with the 9s, and the river card was the 5d. Phil Hellmuth, who had an excellent day on Friday, had the bottom drop out after midnight, and was eliminated from the Main Event.


As he was leaving, he said to his wife, "That was the worst hour of poker in my life." The way he said it made it unclear whether he was referring to the cards or the players.

[parlaycard]

Phil Hellmuth has been extremely calm throughout the day at ESPN's featured table. He's been very pleasant, and everyone at the final table seemed friendly.


But in the last 15 minutes or so, he's had a few outbursts. First, there was the hand where he was able to get away from trip aces (with A-K, no less), sensing that his opponent had a full house. He was right, and proudly
described the situation to his wife in the stands.


Then, a short while later, he had another player all in with K-J for $17,000, and Hellmuth had him dominated with A-K. Sure enough, the other player sucked out on him by catching a jack on the river, and now it was Hellmuth who was left with only about $17,000 in chips. He told his wife about this hand as well, but you could tell he was trying to mask his true feelings.


But he couldn't hold it in for long. The bad beat had clearly gotten under his skin, and he went over to his wife to vent a bit, saying things like, "Some of these guys can't even spell the game. It's P-O-K-E-R."


He was clearly displaying symptoms of tilt, but he seemed to realized it. (Admitting the problem is the first step to conquering it.) He got up from the table to recompose himself. He wandered around the ESPN stage for a little while, talking with the cameramen and some of us in the media. He asked to see what I was writing, and as he read it, he said, "You're not gonna mention the jack he caught on the river?" Of course I mentioned it. He just didn't read far enough.


He then left the final table area entirely, walking through the regular tournament area. Of course, ESPN was there, with a mobile camera crew following him. I'm sure they got plenty of footage, and I'm also sure they'll use it.


At one point, Hellmuth stopped to talk to Paul Wolfe at another table. As he was leaving, Wolfe asked, "You gonna win?" Hellmuth replied, "Win? I'm trying to make it to the end of the day!"


Eventually, Hellmuth wandered back into the media area at the featured table, and he learned that Sammy Farha, who had an early chip lead, but then lost most of it, was back up around $100,000 in chips. Phil just nodded and said, "That's the wake-up call I needed." He wandered around a bit longer before saying, "Let's play poker," and retaking his seat with determination.


Here's the question: If Phil Hellmuth is perfectly calm and relaxed for nearly eight hours, and then has one outburst after a bad beat, what footage do you think ESPN will show?


Part of the answer clearly depends on how much time ESPN will devote to Day 1 coverage. But it's likely that Hellmuth will primarily be shown ranting about his bad beat, furthering his image to the general public.


That's not all bad for Phil Hellmuth. He's one of the most marketable players out there, and love him or hate him, he's making a lot of money when he's not even sitting at a poker table.


But for the record, Phil Hellmuth can play for long periods of time like a perfect gentleman. Just don't suck out on him.

[5teamparlay]

Geeze, i wonder if anyone will even be left in the WSOP contest here!!! I'll lokk forward to the video on this on E S P N in months to come.

[revnecro1273]

espn is lame...the main event will not be shown on espn til october 11th

[parlaycard]

all the action with phil will be on espn as he was the only name player at the ESPN featured table. so they got what they wanted.