Poker Blog: Phil Hellmuth - WPT Championship

Day 5

I went in today with $738,000 in chips, and a great feeling. I went to my room last night at 7 pm, and never left. I slept a ton, and felt energized, plus I know why I had a bad feeling going in yesterday: My game plan and tactics missed the "Supertight gear" that I use so easily. On the way in today, I knew that supertight was the way for me to go. I got up, sunned at the Caesars Palace pool for 14 minutes, and ran in to the tournament area. It was a good thing that I didn't stop to sign autographs, because I arrived at my table right before the last two cards were dealt off of the deck. Thus I was literally one second away from my hand being declared dead. I looked down at pocket tens, and made it $65,000 to go. Grant Laing made it $86,000 to go, and I called. The flop was A-Q-10, and I checked. Laing bet out $100,000, I raised $100,000, and Laing called. The turn was an ace, and we both checked. The river was a five, I bet out $250,000, and Laing insta-called with A-K. One second away from not winning $500,000!

The very next hand, I called a raise with K-Q the flop was K-4-2, and Kirk bet out $150,000, then $150,000, then he checked, and I rolled over my K-Q. The very next hand I raised it up to $65,000 to go with A J, Paul Wasicka called, and the flop was A-A-8. I bet out $70,000, he called. Then an 8 came and I bet out $80,000, and he called. Then the river was a king, and I bet out $110,000 and he called. Take it, Phil. Two hands later Kirk Morrison limped from the small blind, and I checked A 2 from the big blind. The flop was A J 4, Morrison bet out $60,000, and I called. The turn was an ace, and he bet out $90,000, and I called. The river was a 10, and he bet out $150,000, and I called. Morrison showed J-9, and I had over $2 million in chips, in like 8 minutes!

Then I slowed down a bit, until Morrison raised it up and I smooth-called him with K K. The flop was 653. Morrison bet out $100,000, and I called. The turn paired the 3, Morrison checked, I bet out $120,000, and he called. The river was the 2, so both the straight and the flush hit, and Morrison bet out $225,000. I insta-called, and he showed me the A7 for the nut flush (where was the K on the river?). Things seemed to change right then and there. I lost $300,000 with Q-10 off suit, in a hand that I didn't have to play vs. Mike Wattel. (I was in the big blind and had an easy preflop fold.)

Pretty soon I was back in supertight mode, and then we reached the final 18 players. I picked up Q Q, and Laing raised it up to $100,000 to go. I looked at him carefully, and thought that if I raised it up, then he would move all in. I kinda thought that he might have A-A, K-K, or A-K. The flop was J 9 8, and we both checked. The turn paired the jack, and Laing checked, and I bet out $100,000, and he folded, claiming A-K. The very next hand I picked up J-J, and made it $90,000 to go. Thomas Walhrus made it $230,000 to go, and I called. The flop was 8-6-2, and I checked. Walroos bet out $300,000, and for the first time in five days, I moved all in. Imagine that! In five days, not only was I never called all in, I never even moved all-in! Walroos insta-called, showed pocket aces, and I hit the door. It was 100 percent my fault. Only 20 minutes earlier I had heard that Walrous was all in with 9 6, on the turn, vs. a set of nines. Walroos hit his flush to survive. This influenced me. I thought, "Is this guy crazy, playing a big pot with 96 for his last $1.5 million in chips?" Still, I can dodge bullets baby, and this was a relatively easy laydown for someone like me to make. It was a relatively easy bullet to dodge. It is 100 percent my fault, and it makes me sick.

Here is a funny thing that I said in line on my way to getting onboard my plane ride home. My son Nick was on the phone, and everyone seemed to know who I was, as evidenced by the autograph requests. In any case, I'm on my cell, and I say, "The bad news is that I lost a $3 million dollar pot, the good news is that I am taking you on your field trip tomorrow morning." Everyone in front of me started busting out laughing. Immediately I saw the absurdity of the statement, but I miss my kids so much that I didn't laugh. By the way, I have to get up at 8 a.m. to drive my son on his field trip, and this will be painful. I cannot imagine that I'll sleep well, not after losing a roughly $3 million pot.

Who knows what the universe (or God or whatever your beliefs are) had in store for me? Things were going pretty smooth the last five days. I mean, I had an easy laydown. If I make it, then who knows how many chips I may have ended the day with? I could have flopped a set or two, or had aces, or made a flush. I would have played small pots with all of them. Maybe I would have ended the day with 10 million in risk-free chips… Maybe I could have gone on to win this thing. Oh well. I blew it!

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