We've got 14 players left, and among them are spread a whopping 33 bracelets. That's right. Thirty-three. Hellmuth and Chan are responsible for the lion's share of those with 11 and 10 WSOP titles, respectively. That whole table, though, is awfully gilded. In fact, everyone at Table 280 has at least one bracelet with Brandon Cantu (2), Steve Sung (1), Hasan Habib (1), Nick Schulman (1), and defending champion David Baker (1) all sitting together in the WSOP's VIP section.
Of our 14 remaining players, only Benjamin Parker, Chino Rheem, Bertrand Grospellier, and Joe Cassidy are still hunting for their first bracelet.
During the break, Phil Hellmuth was pacing around in between the tables, alone with his thoughts. Alone, that is, except for the single railbird who was still sweating the break. From the far corner of the tournament area, he yelled:
"You got 'em right where you want 'em, Phil. And when you win that bracelet, all them No-Limit Hold'em haters can stick it up there asses. Number twelve, baby!"
A smirk came across Hellmuth's face as he continued to pace in silence.
Brandon Cantu made it 15,000 to go from early position and was called by Phil Hellmuth from the hijack and David "Bakes" Baker from the small blind. Each player drew one card and the action was checked by both Bakes and Cantu.
Hellmuth fired out a bet of 52,000 and Bakes made the call. Cantu got out of the way and Bakes tabled . Hellmuth shipped his cards into the muck and and Baker scooped a pot that brought him up to 365,000. Hellmuth has fallen down to 80,000.
Nick Schulman raised to 15,000 from under the gun and was called by Phil Hellmuth on the button and Steve Sung from the big blind. Each player drew one card.
Sun checked to Schulman who bet 41,000. Hellmuth got out of the way and Sung called only to see Schulman turn over the winning .
We caught up with the action to see Benjamin Parker three-bet to 50,000, only to have Greg Raymer announce that he was all in. Parker made the call and said he would stand pat.
"I guess my unbeatable hand is beat" said Raymer, deciding to draw one card and throwing away a ten face up.
Parker turned over showing that Raymer made a good decision, but unfortunately for the Fossilman, he pulled the . Parker doubled up to about 210,000 while Raymer fell to 160,000.
Parris Holmes raised to 18,000, and Greg Raymer three-bet shoved. Holmes was the shortest stack in the room, and Raymer had calling chips to spare, announcing his intentions and standing pat. Holmes patted as well, and he was going to be eliminated.
Holmes showed , and that's all we saw. Raymer turned over a ninety-eight, and Holmes has left the building.
That's 15th place, and it came simultaneously with the previous elimination. That means we don't even have to bother with the pesky hand-for-hand play as our 14 survivors are now safely in the money.