In the near culmination of the 2011 World Series of Poker, fans and players were all witnesses to the climax of the two-month-long tournament thus far.
In what appeared to be the epic finale to one of the most prolific runs ever at the World Series of Poker, previous 2011 bracelet winner Brian Rast was able to impede Phil Hellmuth‘s pursuit of his 12th WSOP bracelet by defeating him in the $50,000 Players Championship.
Rast, who has now earned his second bracelet of the summer, took home $1,720,328 for the victory, and also stole the pride and hearts of every Phil Hellmuth supporter across the globe.
The player known by many in the online community as “tsarrast” was adamant about his goal of winning a second bracelet, and he was able to dodge flush and straight draws from Hellmuth on multiple occasions to guarantee the victory.
On top of it all, a maligned Hellmuth went into heads-up play with a massive 5:1 chip advantage, yet another statistic that Rast managed to eradicate. For Rast, however, he was only distracted by one characteristic, becoming the first and only two-time bracelet winner at this year’s World Series of Poker.
“The $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em, it’s a great win and my first bracelet. But, it’s not like I really played a whole bunch of top professionals and beat them to win that bracelet,” said Rast, after hinting that this bracelet was more important.
“This bracelet means a lot. It’s an event that you have to go through a lot of top players to win.”
Rast did just that, facing a field of 128 of the best poker players in the world. The Players Championship event frequently brings out the stiffest competition, with both the 8-game format and prestigious $50,000 buy-in guaranteeing that only the most experienced professionals will attend. Also keeping in mind that the winner is awarded with the inaugural Chip Reese Memorial trophy signing — it adds to the legacy that has become the Players Championship since its induction in 2006.
The Californian native was utterly aware of the title’s implications, but admitted that the magnitude of Hellmuth’s 12th bracelet was equally as significant.
“I mean, like, that’s Phil’s thing,” mentioned Rast, after being questioned about the feeling of denying Hellmuth his 12th win.
“I know he’s going for his 12th bracelet. I’m happy for him. I respect that the bracelet means so much but I want to win too.”
So did eight other outstanding players, who Rast had to eliminate on his way to the biggest first place prize at this year’s WSOP. The final table included Scott Seiver, George Lind, the one-time chip-leader Minh Ly, and $10K Pot-Limit Omaha Champion Ben Lamb.
Lamb, Hellmuth, and Rast were all completely aware of the affect the results could have on the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year race, as all three players were in the top 4 during the final table’s launch. After conclusion, Hellmuth now leads the POY standings, with Lamb closely behind, and Rast following up in third place.
In what was eventually deemed a consolation prize, the top spot on the POY leaderboard and $1,063,034 for second place just wasn’t enough to subdue the disappointment for Hellmuth. Understanding the difficulty of winning a bracelet, three second-place finishes this summer have contorted both the emotions of fans, and the “Poker Brat” himself.
“Player of the Year is nice, but I’m after bracelets,” commented Hellmuth.
“I wanted to prove to myself, and just to myself really, that I’m a pretty good player. I hear my critics all the time. My fans have been great to me. I think I put on a spectacular performance at the Series this year. But I’d trade three seconds for a first, any day. This is the number one bracelet that I wanted — I mean this and the Main Event. So to come this close, to taste it, and then fall short, was disappointing.”
Fans and fellow poker pros from around the globe have reached out to Hellmuth, blowing up his Twitter account regularly with empathetic tweets and support. That lists includes several big names, including Liv Boeree and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.
In what may even come as a surprise, Tom “durrrr” Dwan also reached out to Hellmuth, having experienced a similar situation at last year’s WSOP. Despite their nationally televised feud just a few years ago, the Full Tilt pro gave a few words of encouragement.
“I obviously feel for Phil. The same thing happened to me,” wrote Dwan.
Despite the loss, Hellmuth was very congratulatory to Rast, who definitely deserved the victory.
“Congrats to Brian Rast. He played great. All of the entire poker world loves him. He’s a great guy.”
Rast joins a select group of poker players that have won the illustrious $50,000 Players Championship. Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb, David Bach, Michael Mizrachi and the late Chip Reese round out the previous winners.
Brian “tsarrast” Rast has over $1.9 million in tournament earnings in 2011, and overall, has $2.7 million in career tournament cashes both live and online.
The final table results are here:
- Brian Rast – $1,720,328
- Phil Hellmuth – $1,063,034
- Minh Ly – $665,763
- Owais Ahmed – $482,085
- Matt Glantz – $376,750
- George Lind – $300,441
- Scott Seiver – $243,978
- Ben Lamb – $201,338
- Jason Lester – $168,529
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