[benkahuna]

I had the privilege of being there and oh, what a show. I got into the room around 4:00 p.m. just before the 3000/6000/500 level. I stayed until it ended at the 10000/20000/3000 blind level.

The person that gave Hellmuth a really hard time was Corkins, not Matusow. Matusow did a little bit too, particularly after Phil complained about his somewhat weak tight strategy not working. He waited most of the night to trap Hoyt who raised him in almost every hand he was in when he had position.

Then, when Hoyt raised with a ridulously shaking hand (which I can't believe Phil didn't see--easier for me to see because the camera was focused on it), Phil all in reraised him with AQ and got called by AA.

The back and forth action between the three was very well balanced for some time, basically over the course of 2 levels.

The hand that actually made the big difference and stopped the equilibrium was Matusow calling with AQs versus another Corkins all in overbets. Hoyt had AKo. Matusow spikes a king on the turn and gets 850k of the 1.140 million chips in play. Based on Hoyt's earlier play, Matusow really couldn't lay that hand down and it turned out to be very fortuitous that he didn't.

I think given the excellence of the play in this event, the good table banter between Mike and Phil, and a number of interesting hands, this will be a very enjoyable production.