Last week at the US Poker Open, Phil Hellmuth won Event #5, his first victory outside of the World Series of Poker since 2019.
The Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas hosted the $10,000 PokerGo tournament on March 28 and 29. Hellmuth was one of the 88 players that signed up.
After finishing in 12th place in Event #3 of the US Poker Open for $18,600, the self-proclaimed Poker Brat had high hopes for Tuesday’s Event #5.
Phil Hellmuth wins the US Poker Open for the 71st time.
Hellmuth’s performance against a challenging final table more than lived up to the hype. He was in fourth place at the beginning of the session, but he utilized his “reading talents” to quickly move into first place.
After that, he stopped caring about his past. Hellmuth managed to avoid all but one of the shots fired at him by 2023 PSPC Warm-Up champion Jesse Lonis and multiple PokerGo event winner Jeremy Ausmus.
Final tally for US Poker Open Event #5
$211,200 went to Phil Hellmuth.
1 49 600 $: Jeremy Ausmus
$105,600 for Jesse Lonis.
$80,000 was allotted to George Wolff.
$70,400 for Aram Oganyan
Allan Le – 52,800 dollars
To Darren Elias, $44,000
$35,200 for David Stamm
Andrews, Cherish – $35,200
When Ausmus limped from the button with Q 10, the penultimate hand saw Hellmuth catch a cheap flop from the large blind with 6 2. In the dark, Hellmuth found that the board totaled 10 5 4.
After the flip, Ausmus made a wager and Hellmuth raised. Hellmuth re-raised after Ausmus’s re-raise, and then went all-in. Ausmus called, but when the turn 3 handed Hellmuth a straight flush, his hand was dead despite holding clubs as outs.
The 2 ended the hand, giving Hellmuth a complete chip advantage. He held the majority of the chips in play and was the new US Poker Open champion.
That’s quite a feat, and so is winning the US Poker Open and its $211,200 first-place reward. The fact that Hellmuth won a tournament anywhere other than the WSOP is the most interesting thing about his 71st victory.
Again, Phil Hellmuth triumphs (but not at the World Series of Poker).
The claim that Hellmuth can no longer beat the greatest players in live tournaments is one of the most common ones leveled against him. His play style is ideal for the WSOP’s large-field tournaments, which attract a lot of casual players.
Yet, he struggles while competing against the best in $10,000+ tournaments offered by PokerGo, the WPT, and other groups. According to official records, his latest open competition victory occurred in 2019.
In a heads-up tournament for $1,590 at the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, Hellmuth defeated a total of 64 competitors. Since then, he’s had a few little victories here and there.
In 2021, he won an unprecedented 16th World Series of Poker bracelet in addition to a string of invite-only victories on High Stakes Duel. By winning the US Poker Open against such a strong field, Hellmuth has silenced his detractors.
In his farewell interview with PokerGo’s journalists, Hellmuth was as courteous and assured as ever.
The capacity to read is something I possess. And a large portion of today’s youth just doesn’t get it. They see me make these decisions and are all like, “That’s a horrible move.” It’s not a good play if they can call, but if you know they can’t, it’s brilliant. Phil Hellmuth has claimed that it’s “sort of pleasant” to win since “they don’t give me enough credit” at times.
Source: www.cardschat.com