WSOP Event #28 - Helmuth attempts to win 12th bracelet

All eyes once again were on Phil Helmuth just a week after he broke the all time bracelet record by winning his 11th bracelet he was now at another final table attempting to win his 12th.

In fact he had already taken a step towards making more WSOP history as this final table appearance equals the record help by T.J Cloutier for the most final table appearances at the World Series of Poker.

It was for this reason that they brought everybody to the TV table early when there was still 10 players left so that they could record the moment when Helmuth made this piece of history as the 10th player was eliminated. That moment came when Luke Vrable went out in 10th place and Helmuth got his moment of history and his TV time.

Going into the final table the line-up was as follows:

• Seat 1: Phil Hellmuth — 213,000
• Seat 2: Ben Fineman — 272,000
• Seat 3: Dustin Holmes — 1,076,000
• Seat 4: Jason Song — 284,000
• Seat 5: Brett Richey — 738,000
• Seat 6: Daniel Corbin — 210,000
• Seat 7: Shankar Pillai — 371,000
• Seat 8: Perry Friedman — 723,000
• Seat 9: Beth Shak — 740,000

9th place finisher was Daniel Corbin when his move with his K-9 did not connect with the board and was well beaten by the two pair of Shankar Pillai. Corbin collected $21,456 for his 9th place finish.

The next elimination marked a very exciting hand. A three way pot developed when Brett Richey raised in early position with and then Beth Shak moved all in with . Helmuth who was on the button jumped up and announced all in as well and he was also holding . The board improved no ones hand and Richey was cruelly eliminated in 8th place winning $42,227.

Next to go was Perry Friedman when he made his move with and was called by Helmuth holding . When the board came Helmuth made a straight and eliminated Friedman in 7th place worth $57,063.

The fairy tale story of Helmuth then came to an end when Helmuth raised under the gun with and was called by Beth Shak who held . The flop came down and Shak moved all in which Helmuth called. The turn of and river were no help to Helmuth and he was eliminated in 6th place with no bracelet but a consolation prize of $76,464.

Next to go was Ben Fineman who made a move with Q-3 and was called by Jason Song who held pocket 9’s. Fineman left in 5th place and took home $100,431.

Chip leader going into the final table Dustin Holmes started to take a few dents to his stack and eventually it was him who left next when even though he was well ahead going into the hand with A-4 against the A-2 of Pillai, he managed to lose out when Pillai hit a straight to eliminate him in 4th place with a prize of $141,516.

Jason Song, who started the final table as one of the short stacks had lasted well throughout this final table but he was eliminated in 3rd place when his Q-5 was well behind to the pocket aces of Pillai. Song left with $212,274.

Heads up between Pillai and Beth Shak and the decisive hand came when Pillai raised on the button to 180k and was re-raised by Shak to 735k which was called. The flop came down and Shak moved all in for 1,575k. Pillai called after some deliberation and turned over which was ahead against Shak’s . The turn brought no help with the and when the came on the river it was all over and Shankar Pillai had won the bracelet and the 1st place prize of $527,829.

The final standings for Event #28 of WSOP 2007 were:

1. Shankar Pillai — $527,829
2. Beth Shak — $328,683
3. Jason Song — $212,274
4. Dustin Holmes — $141,516
5. Ben Fineman — $100,431
6. Phil Hellmuth, Jr. — $76,464
7. Perry Friedman — $57,063
8. Brett Richey — $42,227
9. Daniel Corbin — $30,814

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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