Phil Hellmuth Involved In Classic Race At HCL

Phil Hellmuth Involved In Classic Ace-King Vs Queens Against Nikos

There is no better legendary race in poker then Ace-King other wise known as big slick Vs Queens. Will the pot be chopped up after the players both agree to run it twice?

The hand occurred during a special Tuesday night High Stakes stream at Hustler Casino Live. Both of the HCL co-founders Nick Vertucci & Ryan Feldman took part in the episode, alongside regular players & Hollywood actress Arden Cho. It was live streamed on Hustler Casino’s YouTube channel on February 6th 2024. The hand was played between Phil Hellmuth & Nikos with the blinds being $50/$100/ + a $100 BB Ante.

Under the gun Stanley Choi ($70,200) opened the action with a raise to $300 having been dealt AJ. Next to act in the +1 Hellmuth ($9,050) opted to play his AK deceivably by just flatting. In reality his deception of his hand strength would have had no bearing on the outcome as Nikos’ ($25,700) in the +2 woke up with the ladies QQ. His action of choice was to put out a small 3-bet to $775. This was enough to get the rest of the table to fold except for Stanley, the action was now back on Phil.

No More Slow Playing From Hellmuth

Phil’s response was that off aggression, His 4-Bet was large as he announced a bet of $4,700. Nikos Pondered for a moment before Min 5-betting it. Stanley jumped shipped and Hellmuth was left with an easy decision as he moved his remaining $9,050 in the middle. Both players agreed to run the $19,125 pot twice.

The first Run out came down 469, 7, 3 which guaranteed Nikos half of the pot.

On the next run it was a lot more dramatic when 36J, Q Nikos hit a set of Queens on the turn, Hellmuth however was far from drawing dead, he had picked up a hearts flush draw. There was no luck for the 17 time WSOP bracelet winner though, as the K was revealed on the river.

To see the hand play out and Phil’s reaction check out the video below.