WSOP Day 38 Recap: Hellmuth Lasts One Hour of Main Event after Darth Vader Entrance as Packed Day 2abc Plays Out

Phil Hellmuth may have won the WSOP Main Event before, but his latest bid to take down the title of world champion ended in an inglorious defeat for the record-holding 16-time bracelet winner. On a day of drama in the WSOP Main Event, the Poker Brat was on the wrong side of two coolers to bust early on, but two other former world champions made the Day 2 cut as the chip leader on the day topped a million chips.

In other events, there was a great turnout on Day 1a of the $1,111-entry One More for One Drop event, while the Mixed Omaha event also got underway. That also had a great attendance, with many of poker’s biggest stars gather to boost the turnout in another mixed game this summer.  

Hellmuth Shot Down as Riees and McKeehen win Star Wars

Phil Hellmuth’s WSOP entrance is almost as iconic as the World Series Main Event itself and when the Poker Brat vowed to arrive at this year’s tournament as either Darth Vader or Superman, many correctly guessed that the 16-time winner would be playing the baddie. So when the music to John Williams’ Imperial March started up, everyone knew that poker’s favorite brat was entering the room as Star Wars fans’ favorite baddie.

Hellmuth reached his seat decked out all in black, but he had no time to be moved to the feature table, busting out inside an hour after claiming not to have won a single hand. Others fared a lot better, however, and at the close of play it was Gavin Munroe (1,061,500) who held the lead going into Day 3. He was followed by players such as Karim Rebei (932,000) and Nick Howard (810,500) on the leaderboard.

Other superstars of the felt made the Day 3 cut, with Ryan Riess, the 2013 world champion, emerging with an above-average stack of 275,000. He’ll return on Saturday’s Day 3 looking to crush and so too will Joe McKeehen (118,000), who won the Main Event two years after Riess in 2015.

With players such as Jason DeWitt (529,000), Jeremy Wien (497,500) and Espen Jorstad (463,500) all making it into the top 50 players by the close of play, others weren’t so fortunate, with Bertrand Grospellier, Kenny Hsiung and Chris Brammer all leaving the action on Day 2abc.

One More for One Drop Sees Over 800 entries on Day 1a

841 entrants took on Day 1a of the $1,111-entry One More One Drop event, with just 253 of those hopefuls making it to the chipcounts and Day 2 seat draw, with Renmei Liu (445,500) the chip leader at the close of play. A short distance behind him, other stars of Day 1a included Justin Lee (357,000), Rommel Berges (350,000), Justin Fawcett (348,500), Niko Koop (329,000) and Mateusz Moolhuizen (257,000).

There were a number of big profile poker professionals who made Day 2 of this multi-Day 1-flight event, with Solve for Why’s Matt Berkey (101,500), bracelet winner Brett Shaffer (90,500) and Ladies Event Day 3 chip leader Cherish Andrews (64,500) all making the cut.

Kate Krickl Leads 223 Day 1 Survivors in Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo

A total of 771 entries took part in Day 1 of Event #72, otherwise known as the $1,500-entry Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event, with Kat Krickl (280,500) the chip leader at the close of play. Krickl may have starred, but she mas close company for the start of Day 2 in leaderboard terms, with Mark Erickson (262,000) and David Prociak (244,000) both making the podium on Day 1. Just 223 players survived as the day’s action saw big reputations count for nothing in the popular mixed game variant.

Some huge stars to make the Day 2 seat draw included but weren’t limited to Chance Kornuth (207,500), Dylan Weisman (186,500), Men Nguyen (147,500), Barny Boatman (135,500) and Daniel Negreanu (51,000), while others such as Josh Arieh, Joao Vieira, David Williams, Randy Ohel, David Bach, Phil Hellmuth and Allen Kessler all busted.              

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