Phil Hellmuth's willingness to engage in table talk appears to be directly correlated to his current chip count, and during his Round 2 match, the "Poker Brat" is already talking up a storm.
On a recent hand, Hellmuth said just enough to earn a few thousand extra chips from his opponent. With the board reading , Hellmuth led out for 1,500 and said "I have to fire here, right?" while staring across the table.
Apparently this bit of gamesmanship worked, because Hellmuth's hoodie-clad opponent made the call, and after they both checked the river , he mucked to the Brat's for ace-high.
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Faraz Jaka had the button. He opened with a raise to 1,600 and AP Phahurat called.
The flop brought and the action went check-check. Fourth street saw the fall and both players tapped the table once more. The hit the river and Phahurat checked a third time. Jaka fired 1,900 and Phahurat snapped him off, showing .
Jaka flashed two paint cards before mucking his hand.
We noticed Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger stand and stride past us, signalling that his Round 2 match against Micah Raskin has come to an end.
According to Raskin, who made sure to couch his assessment by telling us "Andrew's my friend and I respect him," the young online whiz kid was simply unable to get any traction in the contest.
"I won every hand, I called him when he bluffed ... I steamrolled him," Raskin told us, before departing to prepare for his Round 3 match later tonight.
The board read when we saw Steven Silverman move all in (with two lammers still unused). David Peters called and tabled for two pair. Unfortunately for Peters, Silverman rolled over for a turned better two pair.
The board bricked out with the and Peters was forced to ship double up chips across the table. Silverman now has a slight lead in the match.
Phil Hellmuth made quick work of his Round 2 opponent, and the last hand of the contest speaks to Hellmuth's uncanny ability to goad other players into making mistakes.
After limping in with , Hellmuth watched his opponent jam it all-in preflop, and all-time leader in WSOP bracelets made the call. Facing , Hellmuth's ace-high was ahead, and when the final board rolled out , Hellmuth secured a ticket to the next round.
, Hellmuth led out for 1,500 and said "I have to fire here, right?" while staring across the table.
, he mucked to the Brat's 
for ace-high.
on the 
board, while D'Ambrosio won with 
after pairing up against an unpaired 
.
fall and both players tapped the table once more. The 
hit the river and Phahurat checked a third time. Jaka fired 1,900 and Phahurat snapped him off, showing 
when we saw Steven Silverman move all in (with two lammers still unused). David Peters called and tabled 
for a turned better two pair.
and Peters was forced to ship double up chips across the table. Silverman now has a slight lead in the match.
, Hellmuth watched his opponent jam it all-in preflop, and all-time leader in WSOP bracelets made the call. Facing 
