Hellmuth loses $200k on High Stakes Poker
Season 6 of the popular GSN show High Stakes Poker aired on Valentines Day but there was no love for Phil Hellmuth, who lost his $200,000 buy-in within a matter of minutes to be the first player to bust out this season.
Six of the eight players bought in for $200,000 but Phil Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan sat down with half a million dollars each, meaning there was $2,200,000 at the table, a true high-stakes encounter.
Hellmuth lost a couple of pots early on and found himself $50,000 down after battling with 2009 November Niner Phil Ivey. The 11-time WSOP bracelet raised to $4,000 preflop with Ace-Jack and Ivey, holding pocket queens, made it $15,000 to go. Everyone else got out of the way but Hellmuth liked his hand and made a further raise, this time to $40,000 prompting Ivey to move all-in. After much deliberation, Hellmuth folded but said he was seriously thinking about making the call.
A few hands later and disaster struck for “The Poker Brat.” All but one of the players saw a flop reading 7-6-5 with two spades. Dwan lead out for $3,800 with Seven-four, Antonio Estfandiari called with AsQs, as did Hellmuth with Ks2s. When the dealer put the eight of spades on the turn Estfandiari bet 11,000, Hellmuth called and Dwan folded. A harmless ten arrived on the river and again Estfandiari bet, this time $32,000 and Hellmuth simply called with a very expensive second-best hand. The $104,800 pot finding its way to “The Magician’s” stack.
Hellmuth then made another second bets hand that saw him head for the rail with his tail between his legs. On a board reading 6-4-7 with two hearts, Ivey bet $6,000 with Kh9h and Hellmuth made it $26,000 with Jh5h, a flush draw and open-ended straight draw. Ivey asked for a count but elected to just call in the end. The turn brought the king of diamonds and this time Ivey checked, only to see Hellmuth move his remaining $82,300 into a pot of around $60,000. Ivey made the call, being an 88% favourite and claimed the pot when the ten of hearts completed his higher flush.
Ivey continued to dominate proceedings and finished the episode a staggering $330,000 to the good, adding to his already substantial bankroll. In next week’s episode the seven remaining players are joined by Eli Elezra and rumours have it that another player loses his entire stack. Could it be Dario Minieri? Gus Hansen? Daniel Negreanu. Be sure to check back here next week to find out.
