16 Feb 10

High Stakes Poker: Hellmuth Busts in First Episode

The first episode of High Stakes Poker Season 6 featured Phil Hellmuth running into trouble one hand after another. It wasn't long before the Poker Brat lost his initial $200k buy-in and silently left the table.

Phil Hellmuth
Picture source: philiveyfan.com
The sixth season of GSN's High Stakes Poker kicked off with Gabe Kaplan doing the now lonesome job of commentating the action from the booth.

Meanwhile, his new co-host Kara Scott interviewed the players, discussing key hands of the episode with them, as well as other topics.

durrrr and Ivey starring in all episodes

In the first episode of High Stakes Poker, Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, Dario Minieri, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Ivey (pictured right), Andreas Hoivold, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu all took their seats.

While durrrr appeared in only three episodes of last season, he will now star in all episodes of Season 6. Ivey will also be present throughout the season, while the remaining players will vary with each subsequent episode.

While durrrr and Ivey may be arguably the biggest stars on the show, it was Hellmuth who was put under the spotlight in the first episode of Season 6. Despite being dealt A-J and A-Q several times, Hellmuth just couldn't find a way to win a pot and soon enough, his initial $200,000 buy-in melted away.


Hellmuth goes broke and retreats

Phil Hellmuth
Picture source: ESPN.com
It was trouble for Hellmuth (pictured right) from the starting point of Season 6. After losing a few smaller pots, he clashed with Esfandiari who landed the first severe blow to Hellmuth's stack.

Poker Brat's downfall continued until he shipped his entire stack to Ivey, thus finding himself down by $200,000 half-way through the first episode.

Hellmuth decided it was time to quit for the day and silently left the table. Even though he had gone broke, Hellmuth's ego was undiminished by this defeat.

While he considers Ivey to be a "triple threat", dangerous in cash games, online poker and tournaments, Hellmuth concluded that luck was on Ivey's side this time:

"The guy has been extraordinarily lucky against me, and I do think that when I have my day against him I will beat him for a million or two."


Here are the two biggest pots which led to Hellmuth's exit:

Pre-flop ($2,800):
Esfandiari calls, Minieri calls, Hellmuth calls, Hoivold calls, Negreanu calls, Hansen calls, durrrr calls

Flop ($7,200): 7d6s5s
Hansen checks, durrrr bets $3,800, Esfandiari calls, Hellmuth calls, Hoivold folds, Negreanu folds, Hansen folds

Turn (18,600): 8s
durrrr checks, Esfandiari bets $11,100, Hellmuth calls, durrrr folds

River ($40,800): Th
Esfandiari bets $32,000, Hellmuth calls

Esfandiari: AsQs (a flush, ace high)
Hellmuth: Ks2s (a flush, king high)
Minieri: 3d3c (folded)
Hoivold: Kc2c (folded)
Negreanu: KhTc (folded)
Hansen: 6h4s (folded)
durrrr: 7h4d (folded)

Esfandiari wins $104,800

$400/$800 No Limit Hold'em

Pre-flop ($2,800):
durrrr calls, Hellmuth raises to $2,000, Ivey calls, Hoivold calls, durrrr calls

Flop ($9,600): 6d4h7h
Ivey bets $6,000, Hoivold folds, durrrr folds, Hellmuth raises to $26,000, Ivey calls

Turn ($61,600): Kd
Ivey checks, Hellmuth bets $82,300 all-in, Ivey calls

River ($226,200): 8h

Ivey: Kh9h (a flush, king high)
Hellmuth: Jh5h (a flush, jack high)
Hoivold: Js8s (folded)
durrrr: 5c2s (folded)

Ivey wins $226,200