Poker Blog: Phil Hellmuth- WPT Championship

OK, I know this is a plug, but it is true. Every morning I get up, eat room service, skip my morning coffee, and then I carry a can of Pro Player Endurance drink (drinkproplayer.com) to the table with me. This is the first tournament that I have ever used Pro Player, and now I'm the chip leader with over $1.8 million in chips! I believed in Pro Player before, but now I'm never leaving home without it!

After another risk-free day, I was a little bit at risk late in the day. Before I describe that pot, let's tell an average pot for the day. Phil raises to $16,000 to go with K-K, Player A studies forever then calls, then Player B pops it up $40,000 more out of the big blind. Phil has a feeling that his opponent has 10-10 or J-J. Phil calls, Player A studies forever, then mucks his J-J (good laydown). Flop comes down 8-8-2, Player B bets out $40,000, and Phil calls. Turn comes a seven and Player B checks. Phil bets $50,000, and Player B calls. River is a 6, Player B checks, Phil bets $120,000, Player B calls, and Phil wins another big pot. Same way almost with my pocket queens, except I only won $90,000 on the super-slowplay.

Late in the day, I raise the button with A-9, little blind reraises, I think I have him beat, but lay it down and show him, saying, "Y'all always underestimate me." Next hand, Player B (whose table I've been drawn to five hours later, opens for $60,000 when the blinds are $5,000-$10,000. Phil calls, flop is K-Q-4, and Player B bets out $70,000. I muck face up saying, "See y'all underestimate me." The very next hand, I open for $20,000 (mini-raise) with 6-6. Player C makes it $80,000, I call saying, "OK, I've got him set up too, don't disapoint me dealer." Player C says, "You've got me set up huh?" Like he has pocket queens or something. Flop is 9 5 2, and I check. Player C bets $120,000, and I think that I have him beat, but I'm confused a bit: I call. The next card is the 4, and now I bet out $90,000, just in case he has K-Q or something. He calls, and the river is the 10. I check, after all, the flush hit, and an overpair is still good. Player C bets $200,000, and now I'm thinking that if I call and lose, that I'll be down to $800,000 or so. Still, I don't believe him, but I'm not confident in my read one way or another. All day long, I knew when people were weak and strong, but this time I'm not sure. I call, and he says, "That's good," and mucks his hand.

Now I stand up and scream (for the first time in 21 hours I screamed), "Yo, don't mess with me y'all, I just called $500,000 with two sixes!" I won the next hand as well, and then they called it a day 11 minutes early because we were down to 54 players, and they thought they would redraw tonight. I missed my big blind because of this, which was nice. Also, I won the last two pots that I played in, and ended the day with the chip lead. I passed Raymond Davis, who was steaming that he didn't have the lead anymore, saying, "That guy juts gave you $500,000!" Not really, Raymond; it was not the easiest call for me to make.

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