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The players have just been introduced to the crowd, and Event #16's final table is under way. Everyone here has been here before; there are 19 bracelets among these seven players. This is Phil Hellmuth's 41st career WSOP final table, a record.
Level: 21
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 4,000
Our seven finalists have stepped off for a twenty-minute break before the final table begins. They stack up thusly:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
763,000
413,000
|
413,000 |
|
||
|
620,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
||
|
598,000
-32,000
|
-32,000 |
|
||
|
576,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
|
||
|
464,000
-110,000
|
-110,000 |
|
|
||
|
402,000
-43,000
|
-43,000 |
|
||
|
233,000
-12,000
|
-12,000 |
|
||
The action began when Joe Cassidy made it 30,000 to go. Steve Sung made the call from the hijack and David Baker called from the button. Nick Schulman got out of the way from the small blind and Phil Hellmuth announced a raise. Hellmuth three-bet the action to 140,000 total, only to have Cassidy respond by moving all in.
Sung and Baker mucked their hands and Hellmuth announced call. Hellmuth stood pat and then the suspense began. Joe Cassidy sat pondering over his hand for roughly four minutes before peeling away one card from his hand. He thought about it for another two minutes, toying with the idea of throwing away the one card. Eventually he tossed the one card away and Hellmuth turned up 
"Damn it!" exclaimed Cassidy, telling the table that he threw away a nine-eight low, apparently believing that Hellmuth acting strong had him beat. Cassidy tabled a 
and then the squeeze began. Everyone at the table stood up, seeing if Cassidy would be able to squeeze out a winning three, four, six, nine, or ten.
Cassidy announced that it was a three-across, meaning that he was a 2-1 underdog.
"What's the suit?" asked Hasan Habib
"A bad one" replied Cassidy, throwing up the 
, pairing his seven and sending him home in 8th place.
With the elimination of Cassidy, we're down to our final table of seven players, and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth has become our chip leader with 763,000.
Under the gun, Nick Schulman opened to 30,000, and Richard Ashby called across the table. On the button, Joe Cassidy three-bet to 110,000 total, and that put the decision back on Schulman. His decision was a quick one, grabbing all 389,000 of his chips and shoving them in across the line. Ashby folded quickly, but Cassidy spent some time in the tank before surrendering as well.
Shulman's pre-draw aggression is providing some life to his stack. He's all the way up to 574,000 now.
From under the gun, David Baker raised to 28,000. It folded around to Steve Sung in the big blind who three-bet to 80,000 total. Baker drew one card while Sung stood pat. The action went check-check after the draw and Sun tabled a winning 
.
Baker drops to 445,000 after this hand while Sung climbs to 530,000
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
640,000
-195,000
|
-195,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
630,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
525,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
430,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
||
|
375,000
-155,000
|
-155,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
355,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
350,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
245,000
-230,000
|
-230,000 |
|
|
||
Action folded around to David Baker on the button who made it 28,000 to go. Both Nick Schulman and Phil Hellmuth called from the small and big blinds respectively. Schulman and Hellmuth each took one while Baker opted to draw two.
After the draw, Schulman checked to Hellmuth who led out for 30,000. Baker made the call and Shulman folded.
"Jack-eight." announced Hellmuth, but unfortunately for Hellmuth, Baker tabled . Hellmuth angrily muttered some mix of profanity under his breath before saying "Nice hand, buddy" to Baker.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
540,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
380,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
|
||
Richard Ashby raised to 35,000 in middle position, and he was followed into the pot by a call from Joe Cassidy. Over in the big blind, Nick Schulman was feeling squeezy, and he three-bet shoved for a total of 326,000. That folded Ashby without incident, but Cassidy took about three or four long minutes to soak in the thinking tank before he too surrendered.
It's been pretty silent in here for about a half hour as the arena slowly fills in with spectators. Quiet, that is, until a friend of Hellmuth appeared all the way on the far side of the rail outside of the main stage area.
"Yeah, Phil! Come on, I can smell number twelve!"
