Hands #196-197: Phil Hellmuth TV Bubbles in 7th Place ($152,856)

Level 27: 50,000-100,000, 10,000 ante

Hand #196  -  David Williams raises from the small blind to 350,000, and David Benyamine calls from the big blind. Both players check to the turn on a board of J533, Williams bets 400,000, and Benyamine folds. David Williams takes the pot.

Hand #197  -  Phil Hellmuth moves all in under the gun for 505,000, David Williams calls from the button, and David Benyamine thinks for a while in the small blind before he folds.

Hellmuth shows K10, but he'll need to improve to survive against Williams' AJ.

The board comes 87667, and Hellmuth flops a gutshot straight draw but improves no further. When the river card falls, Hellmuth backhands his iPod against the wall and then smiles, shakes the hands of the other players, and tells them as a group, "Well done."

Phil Hellmuth  -  Out in 7th Place ($152,856)

As he's leaving, Hellmuth tells Eric Baldwin that he's going to ask him later about the hand where Hellmuth folded ace-king. Hellmuth says, "I don't want you to tell me what you had. I just want to know if you had aces or kings."

Hellmuth was one of the last two challengers to Faraz Jaka's lead in the WPT Player of the Year race. Shawn Buchanan is the last player in the tournament with a chance to catch Jaka, and he'll need to win to do it.