Thursday July 7, 2011 : Late Wednesday night Vegas time all eyes were on event 55: $50,000 Poker Player's Championship, because with just three players left Phil Hellmuth was still in the running to get the elusive and record breaking twelfth WSOP bracelet he has been chasing for so long.
At level 26 on the fifth day of this hotly contested competition the field was led by Brian Rast on 8,225,000, chased by Phil Hellmuth on 6,620,000, with Minh Ly bringing up the rear on 4,355,000, with the next player to be eliminated due a third placing prize of $665,763.
The nine players on the final table of this event were decided on the fourth day, and at the start of Day 5 the following highly experienced players took their seats: Minh Ly holding the chip lead on 5.215 million, Brian Rast on 2,660,000, Matt Glantz (2,535,000), George Lind (2,315,000), Phil Hellmuth (2,245,000), Owais Ahmed (1,425,000), Ben Lamb (1,180,000), Jason Lester (920,000) and Scott Seiver (725,000).
The prospect of a winner emerging before midnight Wednesday has a growing number of railbirds gathering to see if Hellmuth can pull this one off against such strong and capable competition.