Yorky Pud

The $1,000 and $1,500 No Limit Hold'em events at the World Series of Poker always attract bumper fields, leading the media and poker community to nickname them “donkaments.” Usually in these events, due to the sheer number of entrants, the latter stages are full of unknown players but Event #45 has one of poker's most recognisable faces in the crowd with just 21 players remaining, Antonio Esfandiari.

A staggering 2,890 players swapped $1,000 for 3,000 tournament chips on Day 1 and almost unbelievably all but 304 players were eliminated by the time ten hour-long levels had been played out. When play resumed earlier today all eyes were on Esfandiari and those that weren't were focussed on Phil Hellmuth who was in the running for WSOP bracelet number 12.

Hellmuth was his usual loud-mouthed self and couldn't help giving an unnamed opponent down despite doubling through him. In the hand the player in the small blind made a move and went all in with ace-three offsuit only to find “The Poker Brat” sitting there with bullets. The final board ran out Js-Qc-Th-5c-7h and Hellmuth's mouth exploded into action. “See, that's just what I do. I play super tight for two days, and then they move in on me when I have the aces,” exclaimed Hellmuth before adding, “I don't let people run me over.”

Just an hour from the end of play and with only 28 players remaining it looked as if a well chipped up Hellmuth was a serious contender for the title until he blew up in a style akin to Mike Matusow. With blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000a, Hellmuth limped in from early position and the action folded around to Jonathan Driscoll in the big blind, who opted to check his option. The flop came down Qd-Ad-4s and Hellmuth checked, Driscoll bet 10,000 only to see Hellmuth min-raise to 20,000. Driscoll then made a min-raise of his own to 30,000 then called when Hellmuth decided to ship in his entire stack with what turned out to be Kd8d, which was up against the AcTs of his opponent. The ace of spades in the turn improved Driscoll to trip aces and the queen of spades in the river was enough to send Hellmuth to the rail. He instantly left his seat but returned shortly afterwards to shake Driscoll's hand, but whilst wishing him all the best he could not help but berate him on his play, before apologising, “It's not you, I'm just steaming right now. I just played perfectly for two straight days and lost it all.”

When play came to an end for the day only 21 players still had chips in front of them and they are being lead by Hellmuth's executioner, Driscoll who has 1,247,000 chips. Although an unknown quantity, Driscoll seems to specialise in large-field tournaments with him finishing 39th in the 2010 Main Event, 10/4,178 and 78/3,175 in two events this year. He is being closely followed by Kenneth Griffin on 1,133,000 and British pro Andrew Teng, a former GUKPT Champion in third with 723,000 chips in front of him.

Play resumes at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino at 1430 Las Vegas time (0030 UK time) and when it does it will be the man in fourth place, Esfandiari who will be main focal point. He already has a WSOP bracelet to his name but he won that seven years ago and one could say he is due another, especially as he is yet to cash at this year's series. Can the man known as “The Magician” win his second bracelet or will Teng be bringing home the bacon for the Brits? Only time will tell.