WSOP Event #15 - Helmuth rewrites the record books
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | Adrian Milewski
The build up of excitement was clear for all to see and the whole of the Rio were buzzing with anticipation with the news that Phil Helmuth had the chance to take the lead in the “bracelet race”.
Before this event poker legends Phil Helmuth, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan were all tied with 10 bracelets each in the all time leaderboard for the WSOP.
Going into the final table Helmuth had already broken his own record by taking his total number of cashes in World Series of Poker events to 59.
The final table lineup was as follows:
- Seat 1: Rick Fuller - 1, 779,000 chips
- Seat 2: Scott Clements - 1, 232,000 chips
- Seat 3: Morgan Machina - 834, 000 chips
- Seat 4: Fabrice Soulier - 344, 000 chips
- Seat 5: Ut Nguyen - 624, 000 chips
- Seat 6: David Simon - 880, 000 chips
- Seat 7: Andy Philacheck - 446,000 chips
- Seat 8: Phil Hellmuth - 1, 482,000 chips
- Seat 9: Taylor Douglas - 259, 000 chips
The crowd were left in even further agony as the final table was once again hidden away in the Bluff tent as it was one of the scheduled live broadcast events where the final table would be broadcast with an hours delay over the internet.
After all the build up to this final table the players were pleased to get under way and the action started quickly with the shortstack Taylor Douglas finishing in 9th place with $38,025. He confidently moved in with Q- 10 but Scott Clements’ A- Q had him dominated and there wasn’t a suck out in sight!
Ut Nguyen was the second to leave the table when this time it was Scott Clements who held Q-10 versus the K-Q of Nguyen, but this time the worst hand came from behind and Clements hit his 10 to send Nguyen out in 8th place with $48, 427.
The 7th place finisher was Fabrice Soulier who really had not picked up any cards at the final table and eventually made a move with Q-3. The two big stacks at the table Helmuth and Rick Fuller called to try and eliminate another player. Hellmuth held 7- 5 and managed to catch a straight while Fuller also hit a set meaning that Soulier was well beaten and eliminated with a prize of $64, 570 in his pocket.
After a short while, there were only four poker players left after Fuller and Helmuth started to take control. Rick Fuller eliminated David Simon in 6th place and Hellmuth did the same thing to Scott Clements in 5th place.
Down to four players and Phil Hellmuth was the clear chipleader and the record 11th bracelet was looking more and more likely.
- Phil Hellmuth 4,450,000
- Andy Philacheck 1,550,000
- Rick Fuller 1,500,000
- Morgan Machina 430,000
Shortstack Morgan Machina decided to make a stand with 
and didn’t scare anyone away as the whole table joined the pot. With Helmuth holding 
, Philacheck 
and Fuller 
. The flop of 3-8-A and the turn of a jack left Philacheck in the lead and he bet forcing Helmuth and Fuller out of the hand. The turn card was a deuce which would of made Helmuth’ set if he had stayed in the hand, but Philacheck won the hand and Machina finished in 4th place with a prize of $161, 425.
Fuller was the next player who left the table when his second pair of sevens were no good against Helmuth’s top pair of Kings and Fuller was eliminated in 3rd place taking home $247, 518.
Going into heads up it seemed like a foregone conclusion as Helmuth held a 6-1 chiplead over Andy Philacheck and it didn’t take long for Helmuth to finish the job when Philacheck moved all in with A-10 followed by a call with Helmuth’s A-3.
The flop paired Helmuth’s three and Andy Philacheck never caught up, crowning Phil Helmuth with his record 11th World Series of Poker bracelet and he was rewarded with his two rivals Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson presenting him with the bracelet.
With plenty of events still to go at the 2007 WSOP, the question now is can Brunson or Chan win their 11th bracelet to bring the race back all square?
The final standings for Event #15 of WSOP 2007 were:
- Phil Hellmuth - $637, 254
- Andy Philacheck - $394, 594
- Rick Fuller - $247, 518
- Morgan Machina - $161, 425
- Scott Clements - $112, 997
- David Simon - $82, 506
- Fabrice Soulier - $64, 570
- Ut Nguyen - $48, 427
- Taylor Douglas - $38, 025
There’s still time to qualify for the WSOP main event by winning one of the many satellites taking place on Pokerstars.
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- WSOP Event #28 - Helmuth attempts to win 12th bracelet
- Helmuth Movie - Christensen to play Lead Role
- US Law change affect on WSOP 2007 Player numbers
- WSOP Event #13-Cunningham enters the record books
- WSOP Events #49 to #54 - Final Events summary
