Phil Hellmuth had the button. Minh Ly limped in and Scott Seiver checked his option in the big blind. The flop came down and Seiver checked. Ly bet 100,000 and Seiver made the call.
The turn was the and Seiver checked. Ly checked behind.
The river was the and both players checked again. Seiver tabled the and Ly mucked his hand.
Hand #9
Owais Ahmed had the button and action folded to Brian Rast. He raised to 125,000. Phil Hellmuth reraised to 250,000 saying, "You reraise weak, I'll reraise weak." Rast called to see the flop.
The flop came down and Rast was first up. He led for two million. And yes, that's not a typo. Hellmuth splash-jammed his chips into the middle for an all-in bet of 2.03 million. Rast called the extra little bit.
Hellmuth:
Rast:
Hellmuth walked over and draped himself over the rail in front of his wife. The turn was dealt the to give Rast two pair, but it didn't matter as Hellmuth still had a set. The river completed the board with the and even though Rast filed up, Hellmuth made a higher full house.
He gave his wife a high five, a kiss and a big hug. He then came back to the table to collect his chips and said, "I've never been so afraid."
Matt Glantz had the button, Phil Hellmuth opened to 130,000 from under the gun, and all players folded.
Hand #6
Brian Rast had the button, Matt Glantz opened to 150,000 from the cutoff, and all players folded.
Hand #7
George Lind had the button, Minh Ly opened to 125,000 from middle position, Brian Rast three-bet to 355,000 from the cutoff. Ly called.
The flop came down . Both players checked.
The turn was the , and both players checked again.
The fell on the river, Ly checked a third time, and Rast fired 735,000. Ly tanked for nearly three minutes, grabbed enough chips to call, and slid them in the middle.
Scott Seiver had the button to start the hand. Matt Glantz opened with a raise to 150,000 and everyone folded.
Hand #3
Minh Ly had the button. Action folded to Scott Seiver in the cutoff seat and he raised to 100,000. Interesting to see the difference in opening raise sizes as Glantz made it three times the big blind on the last hand and Seiver made the minimum raise. Everyone folded and Seiver won the pot.
Hand #4
Ben Lamb had the button and Scott Seiver opened to 100,000 for the second hand in a row. Minh Ly called from the cutoff seat and Brian Rast called from the big blind.
The flop came down and action checked around to see the land on the turn. Action checked around again.
The river completed the board with the and action checked around a third time. Seiver showed the and Rast showed the . Those two chopped up the pot.
Phil Hellmuth called in the cutoff, Ahmed raised to 185,000, and Minh Ly three-bet to 440,000 from the small blind. Hellmuth mucked, Ahmed moved all in for 1.21 million, and Ly tank-folded.
You cannot wear headphones when you're in the money at the World Series of Poker, yet Phil Hellmuth is sitting down with his Bose Headphones over his ears. The green light is on - indicating that the headphones are turned on - but we're not sure if he's actually listening to music.
We're sure he'll be asked to removed them when play begins, but for the moment Hellmuth is getting in the zone.
Minh Ly raised, Jason Lester re-raised, and Ly called. The flop came down , and Lester got the rest his chips in the middle. Ly called.
Lester:
Ly:
Lester held a commanding lead, that is until the spiked on the turn, giving Ly two pair. Lester slapped the table in disgust, and now needed either a jack or a king to survive.
The river was a meaningless however, and Lester is our ninth place finisher.
The players are now on a short break so that the production crew can set some things up for the official final table!
Once again, we're unsure about the action or any of the cards because everything went unannounced and the television screens didn't display anything but rotating "2011 World Series of Poker" and "Jack Link's Beef Jerky" signs. We can tell you that Jason Lester doubled up in a hand of Limit Hold'em.
Apologies for the inconvenience, we're working on a solution.