Posted by Andrew Feldman
12:35 a.m. ET: It was a great dinner for Phil Hellmuth. No, I have no idea where he went, but when he returned to his table, he was still hungry … for more chips. OK, that was terrible, but you get the point. Hellmuth won a nearly $400,000 pot when his set of kings defeated his opponent's set of nines. The flop was A-K-Q, and Hellmuth bet. His opponent called to see what he thought was his miracle card, a nine, on the turn. All the chips hit the center, and Hellmuth, his chip stack and his ego, increased once again. Hellmuth finished 45th in the main event in 2008, and while a big chip stack means a lot right now, there's a lot of play left before we even consider him to make an equally impressive run.
WSOP
John Juanda was eliminated during Level 13.
Another player on the way up after dinner is Joe Sebok, who said he simply loves his table. Most of Sebok's chips came in a pot with $150,000 after the turn. Sebok moved all-in on the river with a full house for $11,000 more, and both his opponents folded. Wow. Although he's been fighting being ill for a couple of days, Sebok now has some chips to play with, and that can make anyone feel a little better.
During Level 13, Owen Crowe became the first player to eclipse the $1 million chip mark. Crowe is one of those players we don't always talk about but definitely should be on the radar. In last year's main event, he finished in 15th place. More recently, Crowe finished fifth in Event 51 here at the 2009 WSOP. He's an extremely talented player who has proved he can make a deep run. Bertrand Grospellier also hit the million-chip mark later in the level.
Continuing with his theme of, as he said, "spinning his wheels, getting to the top of the mountain and falling back down," Tony Cousineau is hovering around $50,000. He was up to $90,000 when he opened a pot with A-J and was called by the big blind. The flop was J-4-4, and his opponent let out. Cousineau checked, and his opponent moved all-in. Believing he was beat, Cousineau folded and is back grinding … exactly what he is known for. Unfortunately, Cousineau is sitting a couple of seats away from Greg Mueller, who is getting the longest massage in WSOP history. Maybe not really, but his shoulders have been massaged for at least seven and a half hours so far today.
WSOP hopes that were ended during this level: John Juanda, Robert Mizrachi, Nam Le, Dutch Boyd and Raymond Rahme.
Small blinds: From my seat right now, I have a pretty good view. Dan Harrington, Chris Ferguson, Mueller, Cousineau, Dennis Phillips, Hevad Khan, Tom Franklin, Antonio Esfandiari and Joe Sebok. … Hellmuth and Josh Arieh are at the same table. … Number of iPods at Orange 72: four. … What do you think the toughest tournament of the year is? Vote below. You also can view a video interview with Jeffrey Pollack if you look at the recent tab. … The floor staff has been coloring up chips during play. I thought that only happened during breaks. … We're at fewer than 1,000 players left. … There are seven Phillips lookalikes on the rail. And one at his table. He's looking a bit tired, though. … Joe Hachem also looked tired at the feature table, but he was able to gain some chips off Jeffrey Lisandro anyway. … Mike Sexton is at more than $430,000.
Poker
