Heads-up legend and notorious trash talker Phil Hellmuth got a taste of his own medicine on the second day of WSOP Event 38 on Saturday. Hellmuth, famously nicknamed “the Poker Brat,” immediately started Day 2 with some of his signature slurs but after hours of back-and-forth the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner had had enough of his own game. While Hellmuth never got to test his heads-up card skills, he did get to match wits with Mike Thorpe at his first table and Alex Keating at his second. Rumor has it that Hellmuth started the beef with Keating but couldn’t finish it—eventually calling the floorman and then demanding to speak to Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director.
The playground antics continued into the Top 20, with both Keating and Hellmuth fueling the flame and then complaining of favoritism. While the feud got the duo plenty of crowd attention, the floor simply advised that they “act like grown ups” and play the game. The antics proved too much for several other players at the table, and when they took a break from the action Mike Thorpe stepped in with a quick snipe. Ultimately troublemaker Thorpe went out first followed quickly by his new nemesis Phil Hellmuth. Much to Hellmuth’s chagrin, he was taken out by none other than Keating who despite the sideshow still kept his focus on the game.
Proving that nice guys don’t always finish last, it was the quiet Dutch pro Marc Naalden that finally took Keating out of the event on Sunday and later claimed the Limit Hold’em bracelet and a cash prize of $190,770. This was Naalden’s fourth WSOP tournament and first WSOP bracelet win since going pro in 2005.

