Enter Hellmuth

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Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante

Phil Hellmuth - All smiles here on Day 1a

Thirteen-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth just took his seat in the $15,000 buy-in WPT World Championship, fashionably late as always. Hellmuth is sandwiched between Brian Lemke and fellow Wisconsinite Joe Kuether, and is directly across from Jeff Gross. Like the name-dropper he is, he immediately mentioned 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

Hellmuth has nearly $18 million in career live tournament earnings to go along with his collection of gold, but his highest finish in a World Poker Tour event was a third place finish at the WPT World Poker Finals in 2003 for $281,700.

According to the self-proclaimed "Poker Brat," this is the first time he's been in Atlantic City, New Jersey in seven years. The last time he cashed here was also 2003 - he finished third in the U.S. Poker Championships, earning $116,424.

Hellmuth said on Twitter that this is the only event he wants to win as much as a WSOP bracelet: