World champs Phil Hellmuth and Jamie Gold took on a table full of Commerce Casino pros who qualified to compete in a “Beat the Legends” livestreamed sit n’ go that aired Tuesday on YouTube.
The winner, JT Nunez, received $12,000 for beating out seven others, while Vincent Dong took home $5,000 for second place. But the livestream brought in viewers due to the headliners and the entertaining table talk they always bring to a game. Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks from PokerGO handled the commentary duties on YouTube.
Gold and Hellmuth Take on the Commerce Qualifiers
As part of the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) series at Commerce in Los Angeles, the qualifier sit n’ go had eight players — six qualifiers — all starting with 20,000 chips.
Both poker legends started off a bit slow, folding preflop most hands due to a lack of being dealt premium cards. Gold would pick up a straight flush draw on the turn in a hand against Fernando Gonzalez, who had nine-high, which was actually the best hand at the time. But the inferior hand that had plenty of equity bet the turn and took it down.
Gonzalez was an early chip leader, but he’d eventually bust in sixth place. About 30 minutes into the session, the blinds became a factor, and it created some intense action. Rey Roca was sitting atop the leaderboard for a bit, but only by a small margin. Dong and Nunez, the top two finishers, were among the smallest stacks. But Dong would win a 15,000 chip pot with a pair of 3’s against a missed draw, the largest pot to that point, and it was the start of his climb.
Still with eight players in the game, Hellmuth won a monster pot all in preflop with AxKx against the AxQx Gonzalez had in the hole. The 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ would then make an exceptional fold with A♥J♥ against Gold, who jammed all in with A♦K♥.
Gonzalez, down to around 10 big blinds shortly after the hand against Hellmuth, doubled up with AxQx against AxJx to bust Sungsik Eum in eighth place. Hellmuth then ran into some bad luck with AxKx when he moved all in preflop and received a call from the slightly bigger stacked Tigran Manukyan, who had AxJx. But a Jx landed on the flop, sending the “Poker Brat” home.
Gold would bust in sixth place moments later, ending any possibility of a “legend” winning the match. Gonzalez and Peter Chi would bust in succession.
Early in four-handed play, there were only 42 total big blinds in play. Manukyan, with just three big blinds, would quickly bust on the bubble. After a few all in and fold hands, Roca was all in preflop for his final few big blinds with A♦7♣. Nunez made the call with A♣7♦, and it appeared a chop was in store. That is exactly how it played out. But Nunez would clip Roca, who received $3,000 for third place, on the next hand by winning a 60/40 situation.
Nunez had nearly a 4-1 chip advantage when heads up play began. The match lasted exactly one hand as Dong, holding Q♣9♣, would lose to 6♦5♦ after the board ran out 5♣2♣2♥A♦7♥, and that brought about the end to the WSOP Circuit Beat the Legends sit n’ go at Commerce.