The one thing that has eluded Hellmuth throughout his poker career is a WPT title. With three final table appearances to his credit, he has always managed to fall short of the trophy, finishing fourth in the Gold Rush event for $34,000, third at Foxwoods for $281,000, and sixth at the L.A. Poker Classic for $229,000.

Hasan Habib joins Hellmuth on his quest for a WPT title and is fourth in chips. Much like Hellmuth, Habib is no stranger to running deep in the WPT circuit, previously finishing second, third, and seventh at circuit events for over $2 million in earnings.

Joining them are Matt Keikoan (World Series of Poker bracelet winner), Mclean Karr (who battled his way back from 10 big blinds), Dan O’Brien (guy with Irish last name), and internet pro Andy “BKiCe” Seth, who sits atop a decent chip lead. O’Brien finished 11th a year ago in this very tournament, a potential story of vindication which has Disney inspirational movie plot written all over it.

A rant regarding the poor play of Europeans, how the aggressiveness of internet players is bad for the game, or “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d win every one” from Hellmuth has yet to be heard. With blinds at $8,000/$16,000 and a $2,000 ante, there is plenty of room for play, one of which will hopefully knock Hellmuth’s ego out of orbit so it comes crashing back down to a felted reality like a shooting star.

Here are the payouts and current chip stacks:

First place: $878,500
Second place: $521,200
Third place: $292,800
Fourth place: $234,300
Fifth place: $175,700
Sixth place: $117,000

(1) Andy Seth – $2.1 million
(2) Phil Hellmuth – $1.4 million
(3) Dan O’Brien – $1.1 million
(4) McLean Karr – $1.1 million
(5) Hasan Habib – $455,000
(6) Matt Keikoan – $371,000

It’s time to drop your britches and get some riches. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is making its inaugural visit to the Midwest in March, introducing the Hollywood Poker Open, a new 28 event series at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The tour will culminate with a no-limit hold’em $10,000 WPT Championship Main Event from March 20th-24th with final table action being filmed for broadcast on Fox Sports Net in June.

With an estimated first prize of over $1 million and as always, a $25,000 paid entry into the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas, the winner will be in hog heaven—literally.

The recent addition of a Midwest circuit marks the newest US destination on the tour in years, after much time was been spent expanding the brand internationally during the first leg of Season VIII — including new stops in exotic locales like Cyprus, Moracco, Venice, and Bratislava, Slovakia. Expanding internationally seems like the smartest venture for the WPT when a US-dominated tour schedule became bloated and watered down like an overworked plow ox. This was evidenced by the removal of the North American Poker Championship at the Fallsview Casino in Canada as well as the spring visits to Foxwoods in Connecticut  and the Borgata in New Jersey shortly after the international dates were announced. There are still currently 12 stops in the US, 1/3 of which take place at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Located just minutes from Cincinnati, Ohio, the Hollywood Poker Open gives Midwestern residents their first opportunity at poker fame without having to take a flatbed full of chicken coops across the country to find it.

That noise you’re hearing isn’t the dinner bell—it’s destiny.

On the plus side, the final table included Gus Hansen, 2007 Aussie Millions champion and poker legend. He was also set to take out the title, coming into the final table as the chip leader.

Afetr knocking out Cory Carroll, the second in chip counts, Gus rocketed to an almost unstoppable lead. In heads-up play, David Chiu held approximately 4 million chips, where Gus was sitting pretty on 23 million. The title was all but his.

Well, after a lengthy heads-up match including several double-ups, David Chiu came back to win the title and over $3,300,000. On the final hand, Gus had a ten and eight for two pair, where David held a pair of Aces with a flush draw. Gus moved all in on the turn, and David called. The river was another Ace, and David eliminated Gus Hansen in second place!

Congratulations David and Gus!

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

The final hat was chosen to be this nifty number, complete with a giant purple feather and fruit. How can he be nervous when he looks as stupid as that!

He won’t be going home anytime soon, either – at the conclusion of Day 1B, Durrrr sits near the top of the chip counts with 120,000. Good luck!

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

The whole bracelet theme seems to be pretty popular, so the World Poker Tour decided to jump on the bandwagon. In a ceremony on April 21 (coinciding with the current WPT Championship), the WPT is going to award a bracelet to each of its winners over six seasons, coming to 96 players.

Getting bonus stuff after already winning a WPT event would be very cool. On the other hand, the WSOP bracelet is such an iconic symbol in poker, it’s hard to associate the same jewelry item with the WPT.

The bracelet winners will probably be quick to throw on their new prized possession and hit the tables at the 2008 $25,000 WPT Championship, starting on April 19.

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

I don’t envy the remaining 18 players over at the 2007 North American Poker Championship in Niagara Falls, Canada. October 31 was forced to become a “day off” when enough players were eliminated to reach the final 18 on Day 3 of the tournament. The schedule of play wasn’t expected to move along so quickly, but a few brazen shots during Day 3 action caused the bubble to pop extremely quickly.

When the field reached 47 players, hand-for-hand play began. The top 45 places will all finish in the money, so naturally at this stage the focus would be to stay in the game and survive! Money bubble play can sometimes extend for hours, but within 15 minutes two players were eliminated and the rest are guaranteed to walk home turning a profit. Every time the payout cutoff increases, players become that little bit more cautious, given the opportunity to score several thousand of dollars more, guaranteed.

By the time the day was officially called to end, 18 players were drawn to two tables with play set to resume on November 1. The final table was always scheduled to be played on November 2, and regardless of speedy earlier stages, this is exactly what will happen.

Speedy play is always a key advantage when competing online, and for those who have the nuts to make it all the way, CarbonPoker offers regular Satellite tournaments which can lead all the way to World Poker Tour live events! We can certainly accommodate the strongest of players in our online rooms and on the world circuit and ease the pressure of making the big time.

So, what to do on the day off? Sure, the professionals might be used to the action, but there’s no denying it’ll be an eerie situation over at the hotel for the top 18. Don’t walk the halls alone!

– Phil @ Carbon Poker