Picking up the action on fourth street, Ashby checked to Ellis, who bet. Ashby called, and then on fifth street, Ellis was showing the best hand with a pair of jacks on his board. He led with a bet, and Ashby called.
On sixth street, Ellis' board got even better when he added a queen and was showing two pair. He led with a bet, and Ashby folded.
Ellis, who won this event in 2009 for $373,751 and then placed third in last year's $2,500 version for $59,127, dragged the pot and moved to 102,000 in chips. Ashby was left with 184,000.
On third street Gary Benson brought it in and Phil Hellmuth completed. The action folded back to Benson who called and on fourth Hellmuth bet again. Benson called but folded on fifth when Hellmuth continued betting.
Hellmuth: /
Benson: / --fold
"I had it," Hellmuth said as he tabled his hole cards. Benson mucked and Hellmuth raked in another pot.
On seventh street Tony Cernuto showed two pair against Gabe Kaplan's lower two pair, but he still had one card to turn over. Kaplan sweated the card, but it turned out not to be the right one for him to fill up.
Cernuto had aces and tens and he busted Kaplan, who had eights and sixes showing.
"Don't you guys follow the updates?" Phil Hellmuth just said to the other players at the table.
The other players remained mostly silent and Hellmuth continued, "I follow every single update of every single event," as he scrolled through some of them on his phone.
For now, the updates about Hellmuth himself are very positive as the 13-time bracelet winner peacefully grinds a big stack while we're getting closer and closer to the money.