Third Time’s a Charm

Date: 2007.03.19 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

I continue my tales of the Premier League in London on my third heat. For those of you just tuning in, the internationally broadcast Premier League invites 12 world-class players to compete in several heats. Ultimately, six players compete in the finale. Four of the final players are chosen based on their scores. Two are chosen from secondary “heats.” Each player took their point total times 10,000 to the six-player finale. Each heat would be broadcast as an hour-long TV show.

On Day 2, I won my first heat, then played in another heat featuring Eddie Scharf, Vicky Coren, Juha Helpi, Kiril Gerasimov and David Devilfish Ulliot. I was the only player to play in two heats in one day. Would the fatigue catch up with me? Would I “donk off” my chips? Or, could I win three in a row? Early on, Devilfish kept raising my blinds, and I told myself that he wasn’t going to run me over, not today! With the blinds at $3,000-$6,000, Devilfish opened on the button for $18,000 with As-8s, and I moved all-in for $70,000 with 7h-5h. The Fish studied a full minute and finally called. Amazingly, the flop was 8-6-4! I had flopped a straight, and I had gone from first one out had I lost the pot — and zero points — to chip leader with $140,000!