Hand of the Week: My $220,000 Pot at the WSOP

Date: 2012.11.07 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

In 2002, after maintaining a great positive attitude through a terrible WSOP, I was ready to win the Main Event and the accompanying $2 million prize.  Monday and Tuesday (Day One and Day Two) I played as good as I could play, and I caught a lot of big hands as well.  I went smooth, Cadillac smooth in fact, from $10,000 right up to $127,000 without ever being low on chips or close to all-in.  I really thought that moving from 130 players down to 45 players on Day three would be a piece of cake.  And then…

…Hello, Meng La!

Wow, I had never met Meng “over the top” La before, but he was seated just to my left on Day Three and, believe me, this guy made Stu Ungar look like a slow player!  Meng proceeded to raise or re-raise like a mad man over the course of the day.  He raised, re-raised, or moved all-in almost twenty times in the first two hours.  This guy never folded his hand once he put a chip in!  How he survived that first two days playing that fast is a mystery to  me.