Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:35 PM Local Time
Hasan Habib had 167,000 chips left, and he shoved them all in first into the pot. Two seats over, Richard Ashby announced the quick call, and the rest of the table ducked out. Habib flashed the accidentally as he asked for one card. Ashby tabled his -- the hand to beat -- and Habib showed his first four: .
Habib was drawing to an eighty-six, and we got to watch a good sweat. Habib scooted down in his chair with his chin to the rail as he counted dots. "It's not a paint!" he said first. He squeezed a little farther and added, "Ooh, shit. Even money." It was a deuce or a trey, and Habib needed it to be the trey. He peeled it the rest of the way, spinning it over on the felt:
That's no good, and Habib's pair is going to send him to the cashier in seventh place. That's good for $40,020, and Habib now has seven WSOP final tables under his belt.
Ashby is now very close to Phil Hellmuth for the chip lead, both men sitting right around 1.1 million.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:27 PM Local Time
Nick Schulman opened from early position for 45,000 and was called by John Juanda from the button and Richard Ashby from the small blind. Each player drew one card and Ashby led out for 115,000. Both Juanda and Schulman opted to lay their hands down and Ashby scooped the pot, bringing him up to 890,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:26 PM Local Time
| Phil Hellmuth | 1,090,000 | 327,000  |
| Richard Ashby | 640,000 | 20,000 |
| John Juanda | 565,000 | -33,000  |
| Nick Schulman | 520,000 | 56,000 |
| Steve Sung | 350,000 | -226,000 |
| David Bakes Baker | 320,000 | -82,000 |
| Hasan Habib | 255,000 | 22,000 |
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:25 PM Local Time
If there's one thing we know about Hasan Habib, it's that it's awfully tough to pry a short stack out of his hands.
Nick Schulman opened the last pot to 40,000 on the button, and Hasan Habib called from the big blind, getting short on chips. Each player took one card, and Habib led out with a shove for his last 62,000. Schulman quickly called, and Habib had the goods. He showed , and Number Three is number one here. The pot and the double-up go to Habib, and he's back to 256,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:22 PM Local Time
Steve Sung opened to 40,000 from the cutoff seat, and Phil Hellmuth defended his big blind. He took two cards, and Sung took one. After the draw, Hellmuth checked, and Sung put out another 40,000. Hellmuth leaned forward across the table and asked, "How much money you have left over there?" Sung had close to 400,000, and Hellmuth made the call.
He showed , and his ninety-eight gave him the pot, pushing him up over a million chips in the process. He's got well over 25% of the chips in play.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:07 PM Local Time
Steve Sung raised to 41,000 from the cutoff seat, and David Baker three-bet shoved for an additional 237,000. Sung spent some time considering before he let his hand go, and Baker moves back up over 300,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 5:01 PM Local Time
David Baker raised to 34,000 to open the pot, and Phil Hellmuth three-bet to 75,000. "Bakes" gave it just a cursory look before ducking out of the way.
Hellmuth is on a tear, up to 920,000 here in the early stages of the final table.
A few hands later, Steve Sung opened to 40,000, and Nick Schulman three-bet to 182,000 total. Sung passed, and we've yet to see any significant action post-draw here in the first few hands.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:41 PM Local Time
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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:29 PM Local Time
Our seven finalists have stepped off for a twenty-minute break before the final table begins. They stack up thusly:
| Phil Hellmuth | 763,000 | 413,000 |
| Richard Ashby | 620,000 | 10,000 |
| John Juanda | 598,000 | -32,000 |
| Steve Sung | 576,000 | 46,000 |
| Nick Schulman | 464,000 | -110,000 |
| David Bakes Baker | 402,000 | -43,000 |
| Hasan Habib | 233,000 | -12,000 |
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:27 PM Local Time
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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:09 PM Local Time
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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:04 PM Local Time
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
Saturday, June 11, 2011 4:00 PM Local Time
| Richard Ashby | 640,000 | -195,000 |
| John Juanda | 630,000 | 155,000 |
| David Bakes Baker | 525,000 | -15,000 |
| Steve Sung | 430,000 | 10,000 |
| Joe Cassidy | 375,000 | -155,000 |
| Nick Schulman | 355,000 | 60,000 |
| Phil Hellmuth | 350,000 | -30,000 |
| Hasan Habib | 245,000 | -230,000 |
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:53 PM Local Time
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.
| David Bakes Baker | 540,000 | 50,000 |
| Phil Hellmuth | 380,000 | -20,000 |
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:49 PM Local Time
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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:47 PM Local Time
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!"
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:42 PM Local Time
From early position, Phil Hellmuth raised the action to 40,000. In keeping with their constant confrontation, Habib made the call from the next seat over and the rest of the table folded.
Each player drew one card and Hellmuth shot out a bet of 60,000. After some pondering, Habib finally laid it down and Hellmuth showed the table and then began talking about his other card, saying that it was an eight.
"If you're going to tell everyone about it why not just show the card?" Schulman asked while laughing. All Hellmuth could reply with was a wry smile.
This pot brings Hellmuth up to 440,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:33 PM Local Time
With the action folded around to the blinds, Phil Hellmuth opened to 30,000, and Hasan Habib called to go heads-up to the draw. Hellmuth patted, and we could see Habib's eyes get wide even through his mirrored shades as he shots a glance next door. He took one card, and Hellmuth checked. Habib squeezed, and checked it back.
"Number two!" Hellmuth announced as he snap-rolled over . It was quite good, but only good for a small pot to move him back to about 400,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:30 PM Local Time
Joe Cassidy opened to 30,000 from the hijack seat, and Phil Hellmuth called for a flop out of the big blind. Both men patted, and Hellmuth checked to the raiser. Cassidy continued out with another 80,000 chips, and Hellmuth wasn't going to call.
"God!" he said. "You made the same play with ten-nine-seven." And with that, he folded.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:25 PM Local Time
The action folded around to Steve Sung in the small blind who raised it to 30,000. David Bakes Baker made the call from the big blind.
Sung drew two cards while Baker only took one. Sung checked the action over to Baker who shot out a bet of 42,000. After some time, Sung made the call only to see Baker table . Sung sent his cards into the muck and Baker scooped a pot that brings him up to 490,000.