Poking Fun at the POY Leader
T.J. Cloutier -- who played Day 1a and made it through with a below-average stack of 16,000 -- has come over to visit the players at the secondary feature table.
"You'd think some star is on this table or something," said Cloutier with a smile, momentarily ignoring Phil Hellmuth who looked on. "I see Mimi is here," he added, referring to Mimi Tran.
Finally he went over to Hellmuth and mentioned something about how the Poker Brat currently leads the WSOP Player of the Year race. "I shouldn't say I don't care about it, because I do," answered Hellmuth. "But I want a bracelet!"
"Can't say you haven't had your chances," cracked Cloutier, and the table broke up.
Cloutier was referring, of course, to Hellmuth's three second-place finishes this summer. While Cloutier has won six WSOP bracelets, he also knows something himself about the pain of finishing second, having been runner-up not once but twice in the WSOP Main Event (1985, 2000).