Hellmuth is 50, Kornuth Wins Bellagio Cup, Phua Arrested

Phil Hellmuth Turns 50

The Poker Brat himself, Phil Hellmuth turned 50 years old on Wednesday, July 16.

He took to Twitter via @phil_hellmuth to say, “This is what it feels like to be 50 years old? Hmmm… Feels like nothing’s changed!”

He slept until noon. then hopped on a pontoon boat to lunch. He mentioned that he was spending the day with family, first on a lake in Minocqua, Wisconsin with his wife and sons. Later, he went to Mama’s Restaurant in that town for his favorite pizza with his wife, two sons, parents, brother, three sisters, and their children.

Chance Kornuth Wins Bellagio Cup X

The Main Event of the Bellagio Cup X started in Las Vegas on July 10, just as the WSOP Main Event was beginning to wind down. The $10K buy-in NLHE tournament attracted 175 entries for a prize pool of $1,697,500.

The top 18 players made the money with minimum payouts listed as $19,521. Players like Daniel Stern, John Hennigan, and Jeremy Ausmus claimed some money for their efforts. Barry Shulman cashed in tenth place, just off the official final table.

Ultimately, heads-up play saw Chance Kornuth with a solid lead over David “Doc” Sands, and he turned that into a victory and more than $526K. The final results were:

1^st place: Chance Kornuth ($526,224)

2^nd place: David Sands ($305,550)

3^rd place: Salman Behbehani ($195,213)

4^th place: Paul Dlugozima ($137,498)

5^th place: Sorel Mizzi ($106,094)

6^th place: David Zemel ($80,631)

7^th place: Lee Markholt ($62,808)

8^th place: Ankush Mandavia ($46,681)

9^th place: Guiseppe Pantaleo ($33,101)

Paul Phua Arrested in Vegas Betting Sting

Many poker players know of Paul Phua, a high stakes gambler who often players in the biggest poker games in Las Vegas and Macau. He has also final tabled High Roller tournaments at WSOP Asia-Pacific, APT Philippines, and EPT Monte Carlo.

Phua, whose legal name is Wei Seng Phua, was arrested last weekend as part of an illegal betting operation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He was one of eight people taken into custody and accused of accepting illegal World Cup wagers. The FBI raided the operation at a Las Vegas Strip casino.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, authorities claim that Phua is linked with a well-known Chinese crime syndicate called 14K Triad, which specializes in drug trafficking, illegal gambling, prostitution, and loan sharking. His son was arrested in the sting as well.