Phil Hellmuth Wins Lucky No. 13

“I’m going to win this right here.”

That’s what the ever-confident Phil Hellmuth told himself after he snap-called Sergii Baranov’s all-in with A 10 and saw that he was well ahead against his opponent’s A 4 and a solid favorite to win the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe main event. The board ran out J 9 5 A 3, and the six-and-a-half foot tall “Poker Brat” leaped repeatedly into the air with his fists thrust above his head.

With that he raised the bar as the all-time WSOP gold bracelet leader to 13 and also earned €1,022,376 for his latest bracelet win. The 1989 WSOP main event champion is now the first to ever win both the flagship WSOP championship in Las Vegas and the WSOP Europe main event.

The Poker Hall of Famer has continued his torrid year in which he has earned nearly $4.3 million and climbed into fourth place in the Card Player Player of the Year race. Arguably the greatest no-limit hold’em tournament poker player in history, Hellmuth will surely be a factor down the stretch in the POY race.

Europe’s Most Prestigious Event

A total of 420 players posted the €10,450 in the second largest WSOP Europe main event in the series’ six-year history, building a €4,032,000 prize pool. As in previous years, the young but prestigious affair drew the games biggest names, many of whom survived to make the money including Daniel Negreanu (43rd – €20,150), defending champion Elio Fox (39th – €21,250), Joe Kuether (24th – €26,611), Andy Frankenberger (22nd – €26,611), Liv Boeree (18th – €26,611), David Benyamine (15th – €32,256), Kyle Julius (14th – €40,320), Toby Lewis (13th – €40,320), Steve Dannenmann (12th – €52,416), Scott Seiver (10th – €66,528) and Tim Adams (9th – €66,528).

After four days of play, the final table of eight was decided. Hellmuth sat in pole position to take home the title with a solid chip lead, but he had plenty of tough competition including 2010 WSOP main event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason Mercier.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the final table:

Rank Player Chip Count Big Blinds
1 Phil Hellmuth 3,434,000   143
2 Sergii Baranov 3,339,000   139
3 Joseph Cheong 1,966,000 82
4 Stephane Albertini 1,162,000  48.5
5 Christopher Brammer 851,000   35.5
6 Stephane Girault 664,000   27.5
7 Jason Mercier 652,000   27
8 Paul Tedeschi 543,000    22.5

Mercier was the first to hit the rail when his A Q ran into the A K of Sergii Baranov. The young American was unable to come from behind and exited his second WSOP Europe main event final table in 8th place with €84,672.

Baranov, Hellmuth and Joseph Cheong each took their turn eliminating players until they were down to the final four with Baranov in the lead and Hellmuth close on his heels. During the long stretch of four-handed play, the two leaders butted heads over and over again, building a civil, but heated, rivalry.

In one key pot, Baranov raised to 120,000 from the small blind and Hellmuth defended from the big blind. The flop came 9 8 2 and Baranov lead out 120,000 again, only to have Hellmuth raise to 240,000. The turn brought the 4 and both players checked. The 3 hit the river and Baranov checked again, only to have Hellmuth fire 220,000. After a minute in the tank, Baranov announced, “I think you have jack-ten,” as he slid in the call and rolled over K Q for only king-high. Hellmuth could only produce the J 10 for jack-high, and the pot was shipped to Baranov.

One might think that this was an interesting hero call against Hellmuth, who is often thought of as a tight and solid no-limit hold’em player. But it seems that many pros found him to be implementing a very different style throughout this main event. ESPN3 broadcast the final table online, and their statistics put forth that Hellmuth had played approximately 45 percent of his hands up through four-handed play.

“I’m shocked by the hands he’s playing and the way he’s playing them,” said Antonio Esfandiari, who commentated on the final table with Lon McEachern. “This makes the internet wizards look like Allen Kessler.”

“Internet Wizard” David Sands concurred. “Have to give him a lot of credit for executing an unorthodox game plan [with] great effectiveness.”

It was not long until Hellmuth was able to exact some revenge. Short stack Stephane Albertini opened to 100,000 from the button and Baranov three-bet to 200,000. Hellmuth called from the big blind, Albertini called and the three players saw a flop of 9 2 2. Baranov led out for 275,000 and Hellmuth called. Albertini folded and the Q was dealt on the turn. Baranov led out for 500,000 and Hellmuth called almost instantly. The 10 completed the board, and Baranov fired out with a 1,000,000-chip bet. Hellmuth went into the tank for roughly three minutes before finally sliding out a stack of plaques to make the call with J J. Baranov mucked his 8 6 and Hellmuth overtook the chiplead by picking off an absolutely huge bluff.

The two large stacks continued to pull away. Joseph Cheong got the last of his money in with A Q on an A K 6 bard against Baranov’s K Q, only to have the Ukrainian complete his flush on the turn. Cheong earned €292,320 for his fourth-place finish.

Albertini also got the last of his chips in as a favorite with J J ahead of Hellmuth’s 7 7, but the board ran out K 5 4 Q 7 to give Hellmuth a rivered set and send Albertini to the rail in third with €423,360.

Hellmuth took a roughly 3-to-1 chiplead into heads-up play and never looked back. In a matter of minutes, he was shaking hands with Baranov and accepting his record-furthering 13th WSOP bracelet. Baranov notched €632,593 for his runner-up finish.

“I’m humbled by this. I’m still trying to figure out if this is real or not,” said Hellmuth during his bracelet presentation ceremony. “This was the best poker I have ever played in my life, I know that for certain. I played as good as I could possibly play and caught a few breaks, and here I am. I’m very thankful.”

Here is a look at the complete payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Phil Hellmuth $1,331,031 1,800
2 Sergii Baranov $823,572 1,500
3 Stephane Albertini $551,172 1,200
4 Joseph Cheong $380,571 900
5 Christopher Brammer $270,337 750
6 Paul Tedeschi $194,223 600
7 Stephane Girault $141,730 450
8 Jason Mercier $110,234 300

This was Hellmuth’s second bracelet of 2012, having won the $2,500 WSOP razz event this summer for his first non-hold’em WSOP title. He also made two other final tables, including a fourth-place finish in the $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop more than $2.6 million. ♠

Phil Hellmuth’s 13 World Series of Poker Bracelets