Negreanu and Hellmuth entered Day 4 at different ends of the chip stack spectrum with Kid Poker holding one of the big stacks and Hellmuth on the short side.
Hellmuth made some progress and chipped his way up to over 300,000 at the ESPN feature table.
It was around that point that Negreanu joined the table. That seating arrangement set the two star players on a collision course that would eventually lead to Hellmuth’s demise.
Negreanu Wins Massive Coin Flip Against Hellmuth
In his final hand Hellmuth opened to 20,000 from late position and one player called from the small blind.
Negreanu raised to 56,000 from the big blind. Hellmuth moved all-in for 295,000 and that chased the small blind.
“I think we have the same hand,” said Negreanu as he called.
Both players flipped over their hands:
Daniel Negreanu: A♣ K♣
Phil Hellmuth: Q♠ Q♥
Negreanu was wrong.
Instead both players had about the same odds to win the hand, which meant that it was a 650,000-chip coin flip between two of the game’s most famous players in the biggest tournament of the year.
The flop came K♠ 9♥ 3♠ which put Negreanu firmly in the lead with top-pair. Hellmuth’s prospects looked very bleak when the turn hit J♣.
The river finished with the 5♣ to eliminate Hellmuth in 417th place for a relatively minor cash of $21,000.
Negreanu admitted he felt slightly bad afterwards:
Bitter sweet. Just busted my buddy @phil_hellmuth with AK against his QQ. He is a fun guy to play with. Good for poker when he goes deep.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) July 12, 2015Considering Phil Ivey busted on Day 2, Daniel Negreanu is the only player of the game’s so-called Big Three who is still standing.
The Canadian is looking very good in the Main Event with over 800,000 chips.
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