By the final day of play the 309 player field was reduced to just 18. The tournament attracted the most stacked field of any tournament thus far at the WSOP. The final table had the likes of Barry Greenstein, winner of this event in 2008, Brandon Cantu, Scott Fischman, mixed game specialist, Don Zewin and eventual winner, Phil Hellmuth.

The first one to be eliminated on the final table was Jeff Misteff. Misteff was drawing dead going into 7th street to the 9-low of Brendon Taylor. Next to go was Michael Chow when he got involved in a hand with Hellmuth. On fifth street Chow fired out another bet, seeing that Hellmuth was showing a pair of aces. But Hellmuth immediately raised him, forcing Chow to commit the rest of his chips. On 6th street Hellmuth made 9-low which meant Chow needed an Ace to beat Hellmuth. It was a 3 instead, sending him home in 7th place. Former Razz champ, Barry Greenstein would exit the table next when he was eliminated by Brandon Cantu. Greenstein needed an 8 on seventh street, but would get a 6 instead and finished 6th. Brendon Taylor would see the rail next, mucking his hand knowing he was gone by the last street to Brandon Cantu. Scott Fischman would be eliminated in 4th when he got it all-in on 6th street with a 9-low draw. Don Zewin had a 6-low working and made the call. Zewin flipped over a 10 on seventh street, giving him a 10-low. Fischman needed to complete the 9-low to survive. However, it did not happen and Fischman was gone.

Not too long after that Hellmuth and Cantu got involved in a hand with Cantu getting it all-in. Cantu could not beat the 8-low of Hellmuth and was sent packing in 3rd place. Cantu was nursing the short-stack all day long and played it to perfection, but ultimately couldn’t seem to overcome it. With that elimination Hellmuth would take a large chip lead going into heads up play with Zewin. The two battled for a long time before we had the tournament ending hand. Hellmuth got Zewin to commit the rest of his chips and his tournament was on the line. Hellmuth had completed a Jack-low and Zewin had some drawing outs. However, the last card didn’t help and Hellmuth would take down the title and his record 12th bracelet. This was the first bracelet he has won in a non-hold ‘em event. Hellmuth’s 12th bracelet puts him 2 ahead of Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson and 4 ahead of Phil Ivey. With the win Hellmuth also collected $182,793 in prize money, no doubt not the most important thing to Phil though.

More to come at the WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP