Hecklers' Week recap

By Dennis Oehring

What a week it was! Bringing together six of the premier trash talkers in the game resulted in one of the most entertaining matches in the history of Poker After Dark. After all, when you have a table comprised of Gavin Smith, Sam Grizzle, Jean-Robert Bellande, Mike Matusow, Shawn Sheikhan, and Phil Hellmuth, what else would you expect?

Matusow got into trouble early on Day 1 when he raised preflop with pocket 9s, only to have Hellmuth reraise with pocket kings. Matusow moved all in and Hellmuth made one of his patented "can't get the chips in the middle fast enough" calls. A king on the flop all but assured a visibly upset Matusow's fate, and he was left with only $6000 in chips while doubling Hellmuth up. Then on Day 2 Mikey found pocket 9s again and moved in preflop with his short stack, only to be called by Shawn Sheikhan with pocket queens. Sheiky hit a set on the flop just like Hellmuth did, and Matusow was eliminated in 6th place for the 4th consecutive time.

The five remaining players all made it to Day 4, with Sheikhan enjoying the chip lead and Grizzle on the short stack. The two would tangle when Sheiky opened the pot with a raise to $1600 holding the Kc 10d, and Sam moved all in for his remaining $7050 with Ac 5d. Shawn called, spiked a 10 on the flop, and when Sam didn't improve, he was out in 5th place.

With the blinds at $400/$800, Gavin Smith limped in from the button with the Ah 2h, and Sheikhan checked from the big blind with pocket 4s. An action flop of Ad Kh 4h gave Smith top pair and the nut flush draw, but still behind Sheiky's set of 4s. Smith would move all in after being check-raised by Sheiky, who called, having Smith covered. The Jc and Kc on the turn and the river were no help to Smith, and he was eliminated in 4th place.

The first hand of Day 5 was the last for Jean-Robert. Hellmuth moved all in with As 4c from the small blind and Bellande called holding Ac 8s for his remaining $12,900 hoping to double up. Ironically, Jean-Robert began saying how unlucky he was in situations like this, despite having Phil dominated. The flop came 4h 6d 8c, giving each player a pair, and causing Bellande to comment even more about how unlucky he is. As if on cue, the 4s hit the turn, giving Hellmuth trip 4s and leaving Bellande to hit a 2-outer to survive. But the river bricked, and a visibly upset Jean-Robert was the next to visit with Marianela. If anyone didn't know what a "cooler" was, they do now as Sheiky had mucked the 4c preflop.

This set the stage for a lengthy seesaw heads-up battle between Sheikhan and Hellmuth that saw some very interesting hands. Sheiky held a $76,000 to $44,000 chip lead to begin play, and quickly ran his stack up to more than $100k by winning the first 7 hands before Phil finally won a pot. Hellmuth would eventually take the chip lead on a hand where he flopped trip 9s and made quads on the river, with Sheiky chasing a flush that never materialized. But Sheiky pulled even in an all in pot when Phil's pocket 7s were counterfeited on a board of Ah Ks Ac Kd Jh with Sheiky holding Qh 9d, setting off one of Phil's famous rants.

Shawn held an $84k to $36k chip lead when he limped in with pocket kings and Phil moved all in with Ah 4h. Sheiky confidently called, but Phil turned the Ad to double up. On the final hand, Hellmuth moved all in with Qc 2d and Sheiky looked at one card only, the As, and called. A deuce on the flop and another on the turn left Shawn drawing dead with the As Jd, and Phil Hellmuth claimed his second consecutive PAD victory.