World Series of Poker

At the end of Day 5 there were 79 players remaining.

Thank Goodness for the Color-up

As we admire the enormous chip stacks of players like Mark Vos, Tiffany Michelle, and current chip leader Mark Ketteringham, it's interesting to think that they could have been a whole lot bigger. On Day 1, these players each started with 20,000 in tournament chips which were a total of 29 "actual" chips in front of them. The chip denominations were as follows: Two orange (T5,000) Seven yellow (T1,000) Four light blue (T500) Eight black (T100) Eight green (T25) There have been a total of three color-ups or "race-offs" thus far in the event, during which the green, black, and light blue chips were taken out of play and replaced with larger denomination chips. Currently, the largest chip in play is the dark green (T25,000.) In the later stages of the tournament a T50,000, T100,000, and for the first time ever, a T250,000 chip will be introduced. There are three more color-ups remaining, the next one scheduled for the completion of level 24 early tomorrow afternoon. While somewhat trivial, it's interesting to note that if there were no color-ups, there would be roughly 2,420 (over 24 racks) individual chips in front of each player in the tournament right now. If that weren't insane enough, when play reached the final table, each player would sit behind an average of 22,052 (220 racks) individual chips making play physically impossible.

Hellmuth Ends the Day With a Blow-up

Cristian Dragomir opened with a raise to 80,000 before Hellmuth made it 255,000 to go from the small blind. "I hope he doesn't have aces," said Hellmuth as Dragomir asked for a count. After a few moments, Dragomir made the call. They saw a flop of and Hellmuth checked to Dragomir, who thought for a moment before firing a healthy bet of 300,000. Hellmuth sighed in disgust before folding face-up on the table. Matusow laughed and said to Dragomir to show the bluff, and Dragomir flipped ! Matusow and the crowd roared in hysterics as Hellmuth jumped out of his seat and stormed around the room berating his opponent for calling his reraise with ten high. "Listen buddy, you're an idiot!" screamed Hellmuth. "This is the Main Event and you are the worst player in history!" he continued as the crowd was loving every moment of the blow-up. Dragomir's entourage continued to cheer as Hellmuth continued the barrage. The TD stepped in and issued a warning to Hellmuth to settle down before Dragomir stood up out of his chair to put Hellmuth back in his place with a cry of, "Enough is enough!" Fortunately for both players the clock ticked over to the end of the level, and the end of the day's play to settle both players down. They eventually shook hands and began to bag up their chips as Mike Matusow summed up the situation best as he shouted, "Thank God for Phil Hellmuth! Thank God for Chris Moneymaker!" What a way to end the day!

Extra! Extra! Hellmuth Starts Day 6 in the Penalty Box

Everyone thought Phil Hellmuth ended the day just with a blow-up and a warning, but that's not the case. He continued to berate Cristian Dragomir for several minutes after the last hand we described and after floor person Robbie Thompson issued him a warning. That prompted Thompson to summon supervisor Steve Frezer to the feature table. Frezer listened to Thompson's description of the situation and then assessed Hellmuth a one-orbit penalty to start Day 6. Never a dull moment when Hellmuth's around.