Poker : The Ace That Had Me on the Floor

By Phil Hellmuth and UltimateBet Poker. Play with Phil at UB Today.

Back at the World Poker Tour's Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament final table, with the blinds at $10,000/$20,000, I managed to get $800,000 into the pot before the flop with pocket queens. At the time, there were six players remaining with $870,000 in prize money going to the winner but only $120,000 to the next one out.

Here's how the hand played out.

I limped in with my big pocket pair from the small blind. My opponent, a kid in the big blind, raised it up $55,000 into the $50,000 pot and I reraised an additional $200,000. No more slow playing this hand for me. My big over-raise sent a strong message, right? Pot over, send the chips to me.

Nope, the kid moves all-in for $800,000. I quickly call and he turns over Ac-Jc.

Are you kidding me? The kid had been playing with me for two days; he knew that I never played a big pot. I suddenly ship $255,000 into a smallish pot and he thinks his A-J is good? Come on, that's the world's easiest laydown!

The flop came K-6-5 and a ten hit on the turn. The kid could only beat me with one of three aces or one of two queens on the river to win the pot. I was so close to the chip lead -- just one card away. I'd been playing so well that I deserved the win.

And the river card was . . . an ace!

I sat stunned for almost a minute. Surely the "Old Phil" would have told the kid what the score really was. That Phil would have given the kid a lecture about what a horrendous move he had just made, and how he wasn't even in the same Zip code skill-wise as him.

It didn't happen, though. Instead, I was the perfect gentleman, but that loss really was a huge test for me.

I slowly rose from my chair, shook everyone's hand at the final table, and I wished them good luck. And then I lost it. Overcome with emotion, I walked to a dimly lit corner and literally fell to my hands and knees. Another minute later, I realized that the cameras were probably still focused on me. Though I wanted to stay down and lick my wounds, I knew I had to act like a man and get up and do my exit interview.

I signed a non-stop stream of autographs while waiting for my payout until I was called back to the stage by tournament director Matt Savage.

"Phil Hellmuth, please come back to the final table area," said Savage. Great, I thought, this is the Shooting Star tournament and now I have to sign a T-shirt for the kid that knocked me out -- the same kid who actually told me just an hour earlier that he was a better player than me.

I somehow managed to put a smile on my face. I told myself to stop whining and act like the poker champion that I am. Well, as I entered the room, the crowd greeted me with a standing ovation. I signed the T-shirt, "Good luck, Phil Hellmuth Jr.", and then received yet another warm round of applause. I felt as if the poker world was truly embracing me.

As far as the hand is concerned, some internet posters referred to it as a cooler but I completely disagree. A cooler would have been pocket kings against my pocket queens. But that's really beside the point.

The real news is this: Look out World, the new-and-improved Phil Hellmuth has arrived!

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