Hellmuth fails in 12th bracelet bid

06/05/2010

There will be other opportunities over the next three weeks of World Series of Poker events, but for now poker maven Phil Hellmuth will be disappointed with his 15th placing in the $1 500 NLHE competition, which denied him his 12th bracelet and another all-time record.

Eliminated on Day 3 by Scott Vener, Hellmuth was made more vulnerable in costly exchanges with Max Steinberg earlier in the day that depleted his stack after he made a promising start among the chip leaders.

His 15th place finish was worth $25,472 and is a record-setting 76th WSOP career cash for the high profile ace.

The competition started with an entry field of 2 341 players, generating a prize pool of $3,160,350 and guaranteeing a winner’s prize of $568,974. The event failed to reach a final table on Day 2, sending 25 survivors into Day 3.

When InfoPowa went to press there were still 10 players active and the event had still not reached a final table, showing every sign of developing into another wee-small-hours-of-the-morning endurance test before a winner emerges.

The after dinner chip leaders were Pascal LeFrancois, who holds a convincing chip lead on 4 million, Kevin Howe (1.7 million) and David Aue (1.3 million). Hellmuth’s nemesis Max Steinberg is fourth in chips with 900 000.

In Level 25 the blinds were 20,000/40,000, Ante was 5,000 and the average stack $1,053,450