Phil Hellmuth Captures Bracelet #13, Defeats Sergii Baranov At World Series of Poker Europe Championship Event

Phil Hellmuth‘s going to have to add another finger to his promotional materials.

History was made tonight – or extended, depending on your viewpoint – as 1989 World Champion Phil Hellmuth captured Bracelet #13 in defeating Sergii Baranov to take down the victory at the World Series of Poker Europe Championship Event in Cannes, France.

The final eight men returned to the felt this afternoon at the Hotel Majestic Barriere to determine the “last man standing” from the 420-player field. Hellmuth started off the day as the chip leader, holding 3.434 million in chips, but there were several challenges that he had to face. Baranov was right on his heels with his own 3.339 million chips, while former “November Niner” Joseph Cheong, France’s Stephane Albertini, Christopher Brammer, Paul Tedeschi, Stephane Girault and a short stacked Jason Mercier all were looking to take Hellmuth down.

It only took about fifteen minutes after the start of action before the players began mixing it up. After a raise from Hellmuth, Cheong made the call to see Brammer push the remainder of his stack to the center. Hellmuth dropped out of the action, but Cheong made the call and tabled an A-K. Eliminating the drama, Brammer popped up his own Big Slick and, after an uneventful board, the duo split the pot up.

Cheong would pick up another A-K to take against Hellmuth, taking a small pot, and would also cut some chips from Baranov to move over the two million mark and solidify his third place position. The remainder of the level would play out with no other significant action, but Hellmuth would extend his lead over Baranov as the eight men kicked the stakes up another notch.

With the raise in the blinds and antes, Mercier was in “push” mode to attempt to get back in the event. It would work one time but, the second time, Mercier shoved his A-Q and was called by Baranov’s cooling A-K. The Jack high flop did nothing for Mercier, but the King on the turn opened up some straight outs. Those wouldn’t come home as a lowly deuce hit on the river, giving the knockout to Baranov and sending Mercier home in eighth place.

Cheong would once again bedevil Hellmuth to move over the three million chip plateau, but Hellmuth didn’t waste any time to get those chips back. After Cheong opened the action, Hellmuth made the call on the button. Sitting in the small blind, Girault decided to make his stand and put his stack in the center. Cheong stepped out, but Hellmuth made the call to see his pocket fives ahead of Girault’s suited A-J.

“I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” Hellmuth commented to the table, but the flop apparently didn’t hear him. It came 7-A-8 to push Girault to the lead, but the turn six kept Hellmuth alive for the hand. Like a lightning bolt, a four came on the river to give Hellmuth the runner-runner straight and eliminate Girault in seventh place.

On the very next hand, the fireworks would once again go off. Baranov would make the first action, pushing out a 60K bet, to see Tedeschi make his stand and move all in from the cutoff. Cheong, after a quick look at his hand, surprisingly just made the call and Baranov decided to let Cheong take on the fight. Once the hands were exposed, it was obvious that Cheong had wanted to see Baranov come along.

Tedeschi’s A♦ J♦ was in a race against Cheong’s pocket Queens and the flop only heightened the drama. Coming down 9♦ 8♦ 6♥, Tedeschi now had the flush draw to go along with his one over card, but it wasn’t to be. The 3♠ eliminated any potential for a straight and the river was red…but it was the 2♥, eliminating Tedeschi from the tournament in sixth place.

Brammer was rather quiet throughout the early action, but it was coming time for him to make a move if he was going to stay viable in the tournament. He rivered a flush against Hellmuth to get up to 900K in chips but, just as quickly as they came, those chips went away. After Albertini (another quiet player early on) moved all in from the small blind, Brammer made the call in the big blind and tabled an A-6 against the K♥ 4♥ to hold the lead. An Ace came on the flop, but it also contained two hearts. He would dodge the turn 10♣ to maintain the lead, but Albertini found a J♥ on the river to take the hand and devastate Brammer’s stack. On the next hand, Brammer would be eliminated by Baranov in fifth place.

At this time, the final four men – Hellmuth, Baranov, Cheong and Albertini – had to take an unusual pause. The plans were for the penultimate action of the tournament to be shown on live television throughout Europe; as such, the players took a four hour break until 10PM (Central European Time, 5PM Eastern) to allow for the television broadcast. After the players came back to the felt, the “Hellmuth Show” took center stage.

Although Baranov would take a good stack of chips from Hellmuth (with the appropriate verbal diatribe from “The Poker Brat” for doing it) to take over the lead, Hellmuth never backed off his aggression at the “Final Four.” He cut chips from both Cheong and Baranov to climb back into the lead and, after Baranov eliminated Cheong in fourth place and Hellmuth dumped Albertini in third, the heads up fight would begin with Hellmuth holding over a 3:1 lead against Baranov.

Heads up play would only last all of sixteen minutes. Highly untypical for him, Hellmuth constantly pounded raises in on Baranov, forcing the Ukrainian to give up a million chip pot on a four heart board when he couldn’t call a big Hellmuth bet. On the final hand, Baranov changed up with a limp from the button, but Hellmuth would have none of it. He raised 300K and Baranov moved all in. “Call,” Hellmuth fired out, “I’m going to win this right here.”

Hellmuth’s A-10 was way out in front of Baranov’s A-4, but there was potential for a chopped pot. The J-9-5 flop did nothing for either man, but the Ace on the turn cracked the door a bit further for a chop situation. It wouldn’t come home for Baranov, however, as the trey on the river missed him and put yet another jewel of the poker tournament world in the hands of Phil Hellmuth.

1. Phil Hellmuth, €1,022,376
2. Sergii Baranov, €632,593
3. Stephane Albertini, €423,360
4. Joseph Cheong, €292,320
5. Christopher Brammer, €207,648
6. Paul Tedeschi, €149,184
7. Stephane Girault, €108,864
8. Jason Mercier, €84,672

With the victory in Cannes this evening, Hellmuth continues to add to what can only be called a “Hellmuthian” legend. The only double bracelet winner of the 2012 WSOP (Greg Merson may have something to say about that later this month), Hellmuth is in control of the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year race (Merson must win later this month to unseat Hellmuth), an award that eluded him last year. The victory in France is Hellmuth’s thirteenth bracelet, putting another measure of distance between him and his closest competitors, fellow poker legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan (both with ten), and Hellmuth makes WSOP history by becoming the first player to win both the WSOP Championship Event in Las Vegas and the WSOP Europe.

Surprisingly, however, this is only the second time that Hellmuth has made a seven figure payday in a poker tournament. The first time came last year in the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship when he finished as runner up to Brian Rast.

With the closure of the festivities of the WSOP Europe, the final act for this year’s WSOP activities comes later this month with the resumption of the Championship Event “Octo-Nine” final table. But it is without a doubt that, even though what happens there may be big, it will be difficult to overshadow another outstanding performance from Phil Hellmuth on the tables in France.