Heartbreak Again for Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth was denied his 12th bracelet for a third time this summer as Brian Rast pulled off a shocking comeback heads-up to win the $50,000 Players Championship on Day 37 of the 2011 WSOP.

Phil Hellmuth Denied Yet Again

The final table of the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship kicked off with Minh Ly leading, but as expected, the story was all about Phil Hellmuth.

Hellmuth started the day 5th in chips, but the game was now No-Limit Hold'em and Hellmuth would have his time to shine.

Hellmuth did indeed shine at this final table. In practically no time, he managed to double into the chip lead against Brian Rast.

Hellmuth held that lead until about four-handed play when Rast jumped into the lead for a while.

However, once heads-up play was reached between Hellmuth and Rast, Hellmuth once again held a slight advantage.

He then proceeded to chip away at Rast and when he led 16 million to 2.9 million, it seemed that Hellmuth had #12 sewed up.

Rast would then go on a run similar to John Juanda in the $10,000 2-7 Lowball Championship, and after a couple of double-ups the two were about even.

Rast had pulled out to a slight lead when the final hand of the event went down.

On a flop of Jd-10s-9d, Rast had flopped the nuts with Kc-Qc and Hellmuth amazingly shoved all-in with 8d-2d and only a flush draw.

Rast obviously made the call and had to fade a diamond. The 5h on the turn and 8s on the river failed to fill Hellmuth's flush and he has to settle for yet another runner-up finish.

Rast is the first multi-bracelet winner of 2011 after taking down the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship and $1.7 million in prize money.

Max Lykov Wins $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Bracelet

Almost lost in the shuffle of the $50k event was the final table of the final $1,000 NL Hold'em Event of the year.

Max Lykov took a dominating lead into the final table with Dror Michaelo closest behind him.

Lykov never trailed at the final table. In fact, the closest it came to getting tied late was when Lykov pulled within a million chips with three players left.

From there, Lykov would reestablish his dominating lead and by the time heads-up was reached with Michaelo, he led 9 million to 4.6 million.

Michaelo had about half that stack left when he went all-in pre-flop with Kc-5d. Lykov found Ah-Ks waiting for him and he made the call.

The Ac-Qc-Qd flop put a vice grip on the bracelet for Lykov and the turn 7s ended Michaelo's run.

In addition to taking his first career WSOP bracelet, Max Lykov wins $648,880 in top prize money.

Gavin Smith Leads $1.5K NL and Apocalypse Looms in $5,000 PL Omaha Hi-Lo

The second day of action in the final $1.5k NL Hold'em Event of the series started with 463 players and that field had been cut down to 42 by the end of the day.

Gavin Smith is the chip leader going into the 3rd day with 864k. The final table will be reached but chances are the event will play to a bracelet on Friday.

Day 2 of the $5k Omaha Hi-Lo began with 173 players and worked its way to 25 players by the end of the day.

Nick Schulman will return as chip leader on Thursday with 772,000. Allen Kessler is currently in 2nd with 568,000, meaning that the apocalypse watch is back on at the WSOP.

For those unaware, many in the media say that the end of the world will happen if Allen Kessler wins a bracelet.

Also, the 2011 WSOP Main Event kicks off on Thursday as the first of the Day 1s descend upon the Rio.

For more coverage from the WSOP, check our WSOP blogs from PokerJunkie blogger compncards.