Thu, 09/01/2011 – 06:42 – PokerPages Staff

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event advanced to Day 4 in the latest episodes aired by ESPN on Tuesday evening. Chip leader Patrick Poirier and Sam Barnhart were among those who sat down at the eight-handed secondary feature table.

However, it was Phil Hellmuth who got the action off to a fast start. The ‘Poker Brat’ flopped a nut flush to take down a sizable pot and chip up to 115,000. Humberto Brenes was the first player to depart. The veteran pro ran his pocket Kings into Mike Ellis’ A-A to end his hopes of a third WSOP bracelet win.

Sam Barnhart then made his mark on proceedings after extracting maximum value from Poirier with a premium hand before locking horns with John Wilson. The recent WSOPC National Championship winner called down a flopped shove from his opponent with two pair and neither the turned 2 nor the rivered 9 could improve Wilson’s top pair as Barnhart snared the 321,000 chips.

Hellmuth eventually saw his hugely successful WSOP come to a close. Hellmuth got his last 20 big blinds in the middle post flop with pocket threes but his modest pair was dominated and the final two streets changed nothing. “We’ll let history be the judge of the World Series. I mean three seconds, it hurts a lot. But I know, on some levels, I did phenomenally well,” Hellmuth said to Kara Scott in an interview.

The money bubble burst during the second episode only several hands after Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu found himself all in. Luckily for ‘Kid Poker,’ his top pair, top kicker prevailed but it was not such good news for Reza Kashani who departed when his pocket Kings failed to hold up against Joseph Cheong’s set of queens.

The PokerPages Tournament Database is a great resource for a reminder of the 2011 WSOP results.