Phil Hellmuth fell just short of an 18th World Series of Poker bracelet with a third-place finish in the $2,500 Mixed Omaha8/Stud8 event on Wednesday night at his first final table of the summer.
Jason Daly was the winner, picking up his second bracelet and $244,674. His first was two years ago in the $3K Limit event.
Hellmuth's near-miss was still good for $112,360 and it was the eighth cash of the summer for the 17-time champ. He was among 27 runners who returned for the decisive Day 3, sitting just outside a top 10 led by Germany's Tobias Hausen and West Coast legend Shirley Rosario.
Stacked field fades
Benny Glaser was there, too, looking for his third bracelet of the series, while Shaun Deeb returned with a chance to avenge a near-miss of his own in the $1,500 Razz tournament. It did not work out for either of them, with Glaser leaving in 16th and Deeb in 12th. It also did not work out for Brian Rast, who had a top-ten stack at the beginning of the day and a 22nd-place payout at the end of it. Rosario joined the payout line in 15th.
It was a different story in the early going for Hellmuth, who hit the ground running and stacked up chips until he had the lead for the final table. The final nine chip counts had Daly within a single bet of Hellmuth and Kevin Choi in third.
Final table trouble
Day turned to night and Hellmuth's luck broke bad in early final table play with cracked aces, but he stayed in contention into the big limit swings of the end game. It wasn't without a few quiet rants, but the big blowup from the Poker Brat never materialized.
Meanwhile, Day 3 chip leader Hausen entered with the short stack and finished fourth and Christopher Claassen picked up some final table points for his fantasy owners with a seventh-place score.
Fellow fantasy draftee Jon Kyte finished fifth after stealing a double from Hellmuth and the top three stacks from the beginning of the finale made up the final three. Hellmuth mounted a comeback but the big limits and bad cards kept him from sustaining the pressure and Daly eventually had almost all of the chips in three-handed play. The 17-time champ bowed out in third and Choi was on his heels out the door in second to give Daly his second WSOP bracelet.
$2,500 Mixed Omaha8/Stud8 final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Daly | $244,674 |
| 2 | Kevin Choi | $163,085 |
| 3 | Phil Hellmuth | $112,360 |
| 4 | Tobias Hausen | $78,825 |
| 5 | Jon Kyte | $56,327 |
| 6 | Alexander Orlov | $41,013 |
| 7 | Christopher Claassen | $30,439 |
| 8 | Ruiko Mamiya | $23,036 |
| 9 | William Flachsbart | $17,784 |
