2012 WSOP Week 3 Recap – Hellmuth Wins 12th Bracelet and Ivey Fails Twice to Win #9

Week three at the 2012 World Series of Poker provided numerous big moments and a new all-time record. Phil Hellmuth extended his bracelet total by winning his 12th WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Razz Event. Phil Ivey took his shot this week at bracelet #9 and had two opportunities, making the final table in the $10,000 PL Hold’em Event and the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Event. Let’s take a quick look at the big stories of this past week.

Phil Hellmuth wins bracelet #12.

This past Sunday was definitely the most exciting night of the 2012 WSOP and maybe one of the most exciting nights in WSOP history. Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey both made the final table of their respective events and were chasing history. Hellmuth was looking to win his 12th bracelet and extend his all-time mark and Ivey was looking to tie Johnny Moss on the all-time list and win his 9th bracelet.

Ivey made the final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em World Championship and while among the chip leaders, he still had quite a field to navigate through. Shaun Deeb, Hoyt Corkins, Andy Frankenberger, and Ali Eslami all made this final table and we knew that this one could take a while.

As the night progressed, it seemed that Andy Frankenberger and Phil Ivey were destined to play it out for the bracelet, and ultimately that is exactly what happened. Ivey started heads-up play with just a 50k chip lead on Frankenberger. The Thunderdome final table area was packed as the two battled back and forth for the bracelet.

The final hand between these two started with Frankenberger with a slight lead and the two saw a flop of As-5d-4h. After a Frankenberger bet of 130,000, Ivey potted all-in for his tournament life and Frankenberger made the call with Ah-Jd. Ivey turned over 7d-6d for an open-ended straight draw. A four or an eight and Frankenberger would be crippled. The turn fell a 5 and the river the same to give Frankenberger his 2nd career WSOP bracelet and over $445,000 in prize money.

Phil Hellmuth made the final table of the $2,500 Razz Event and while he had a tough final table in his own right, he had a bit of an easier path to heads-up. He went on a bit of a rush early and build a nice chip lead, one that he would take all the way to heads-up play against Don Zewin.

While Zewin is a well known player and a solid one at that, he did not have the aggression needed to make a comeback in this one. Heads-up started with Zewin holding 1 Million chips to the 1.32 Million of Hellmuth. However, that is as close as it go. Hellmuth quickly took nearly half of that stack and while Zewin would take some pots here and there, they were not enough to counter Hellmuth’s smart play.

Hellmuth used solid play and took advantage of Zewin’s tight nature in spots to win pots when he was behind or weak and to get out of most hands when Zewin had the advantage. Ultimately, Zewin was down to 300k in chips and with limits of 50k and 100k, he had to pick a hand and go.

Zewin made what seemed an odd move when he put the last of his chips holding a 3-9-6-K on fourth, but Hellmuth had A-4-A-2. Fifth street brought Zewin a Jack, completing a king-low while Hellmuth caught a jack as well to give him a draw to a jack. Hellmuth paired his four on sixth street while Zewin paired his three. Hellmuth had to catch and hope Zewin did not improve to take the bracelet.

The final card for Hellmuth was a 10 and Zewin squeezed his final card to reveal that he had paired his nine to finish with a king-low. Hellmuth’s jack-low was good enough to give him his 12th career bracelet as well as $182,793 in prize money.

Hellmuth and Frankenberger were not the only players to add to their career bracelet totals on Sunday. Matt Matros won his 3rd career bracelet in the $1,500 NL Hold’em Six Handed Event on Saturday, giving him his 3rd bracelet in as many years. His other bracelets are in Mixed Hold’em and Limit Hold’em.

Phil Ivey had another shot at bracelet #9 on Wednesday in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Event and held the chip lead for much of the final table. However, during three-handed play with Scotty Nguyen and Joe Cassidy he took a huge blow to his stack and could never recover. Ivey wound up finishing in 3rd place and took home $136,046. Cassidy would then go on to defeat Scotty Nguyen earlier Thursday to win his first WSOP bracelet.

Twenty-eight events have already kicked off at the 2012 WSOP and this weekend promises a couple of big events. The Seniors World Championship kicks off on Friday and there is always a chance that this field could be a record setting field as has been the case the last two years. Also, the $10,000 HORSE Event kicks off this week as well as the $5,000 PL Omaha Six-Handed Event.

There is still plenty of action remaining at the 2012 WSOP, and we will keep you updated on the big stories throughout the summer.