Day 2 of the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event had the largest guaranteed event in poker history, and players were jockeying for position to be in the running for the sure prize. However, Lady Luck wasn’t on Phil Hellmuth’s side, as “The Poker Brat” stone bubbled out of the guaranteed min-cash of $50,000.
The End of The Poker Brat’s Run
Hellmuth was down to 200,000, or just over three big blinds. The Poker Brat had an AH KC hand from under the gun and action folded around to Paulius Vaitiekunas for a call from the small blind before Keating called from the big blind.
Both remaining players checked through the board of 5C QC 2C 10H 7D. Once the river was presented, everyone waited for the rest of the tables to finish before they revealed the verdict.
Hellmuth only had ace-high and Keating tipped him off that he was holding a pair. When the time came, Vaitiekunas showed his 3S 4S hand, nearly missing out on a straight and Keating showed 7H 6H to take the pot with a rivered pair of sevens.
Three other players in the room were in danger of being on the bubble, and Hellmuth could have picked up a little bit of cash in a split if any of them were knocked out.
Unfortunately, it was not to be as each at-risk player managed to stay alive after finding a double. With the three players squeaking past the threshold, this left Hellmuth as the sole player on the stone bubble in 208th place with nothing to show for it.
While they were waiting to flip over the cards, Hellmuth told Jeff Platt, “All I can say is this… When you’re Phil, you get in hands like this every day. That’s who I am.”
“It does hurt a little bit. I’ve only played five tournaments since June and I almost won the other day,” Hellmuth added, referring to a deep run in the $50K PLO Championship.
“This hurts a little though,” Hellmuth continued. “I went to the bathroom about an hour ago and said Alex is going to get in really bad against me and outdraw me. I said that to myself and I talked myself out of it.”
Who are the Chip Leaders in Day 2 of the Super Main Event?
207 players advanced to Day 3 of the Super Million Main Event (along with 90 online players). Among them is Day 2’s chip leader Gytis Lazauninkas as well as other top-ten stacks leaders such as Germany’s Sirzat Hissou, Spain’s Juan Pardo and former PokerStars ambassador Liv Boeree in a rare appearance on the felt:
| Table Rank | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Gytis Lazauninkas | 15,430,000 | 386 |
| 2 | Matthew Belcher | 11,640,000 | 291 |
| 3 | Marcelo Aziz | 11,295,000 | 282 |
| 4 | Sirzat Hissou | 11,225,000 | 281 |
| 5 | Juan Pardo | 10,740,000 | 269 |
| 6 | Ermo Kosk | 10,280,000 | 257 |
| 7 | Gediminas Dirmantas | 9,515,000 | 238 |
| 8 | Chris Klodnicki | 9,450,000 | 236 |
| 9 | Dmitrii Prusov | 8,310,000 | 208 |
| 10 | Liv Boeree | 8,275,000 | 207 |
The final 207 players will return tomorrow and join 90 online players, making the number of participants in Day 3 to a total of 297 players. The prize pool, which fell just short of making the $50 million guarantee by $550,000, will award $6 million to the winner on Thursday.
