TOURNAMENT
REPORT
After chasing tournament
chip leader Phil Hellmuth
for most of the day, Texan
T.J. Cloutier finally took
the chip lead at the final
table, but then stumbled
a couple of times again
before eventually winning
the $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit
Omaha event at the Bellagio
Five Diamond World Poker
Classic.
Cloutier, who has won more
money in major poker tournaments
than any other player in
the history of the game,
said, �The only other time
Phil and I were heads-up
was in the World Series,
and he won that one, but
now we�re 1-1,� said Cloutier.
�He�s a great player. We
have been good friends for
years.�
The
real chip shuffle happened
when it was down to Cloutier,
runner-up Hellmuth and third
place finisher Barry Shulman.
After taking the lead from
Hellmuth, Cloutier lost
a $40,000 pot to Shulman
and then another big pot
to Hellmuth, dropping to
around $25,000 of the total
$264,000. But soon after,
Hellmuth eliminated Shulman,
and the Cloutier-Hellmuth
heads-up rematch began with
the 38-year-old Hellmuth
in command with $202,000
in chips and Cloutier with
only $62,000.
�Barry
played very well, and Phil
always plays great,� explained
Cloutier. �When it got down
to heads-up, I was pretty
low on chips, but I started
winning the big pots, and
Phil was winning the small
pots.� Hellmuth was struggling
in the heads-up match, but
nearly made a miraculous
comeback. His chip stack
was down to the cloth at
one point but fought his
way back to around $100,000
before finally succumbing
to the 63-year-old four-time
WSOP bracelet winner.
Hellmuth,
the 1989 WSOP world champion,
added, �I thought Barry
played very well, and T.J.
always plays great poker.
I wish I could have won
it, but I like T.J. a lot,
and I�m happy for him. It
was a great match.�
Cloutier
earned $51,216 and the first
place trophy while Hellmuth
of Palo Alto, CA, took $29,449
for second, and Shulman
(Las Vegas) got $15,365
for third, followed by fourth
place David Rabbi (Las Vegas)
$8,963, and fifth place
Jim McManus (Kenilworth,
IL) $7,042.
Robert
Williamson (Dallas, TX)
was sixth, George Paravoliasakis
(Athens, Greece) was seventh,
Humberto Brenes (San Jose,
Costa Rica) finished eighth,
and Roger Easterday (Las
Vegas) was ninth.
A
total prize pool of $128,040
was generated by the field
of 88 players.
��
Jim Sherwood
