In a conversation with ESPN columnist Andrew Feldman today, he correctly predicted that Philip Hilm would be mixing it up a little too much and would be busted early.  After remembering how often I saw Hilm defend his blinds and play big pots out of position, I thought Andrew's reasoning was sound.  But I never thought he would be gone in such an abrupt fashion.

Jerry Yang raised to 1m and Hilm called in the small blind.  Hilm check-called a 2m bet on a KJ5 flop.  Hilm again checked the 2 flop, Yang bet 4m. 

Now here's where things get wacky.  Hilm decides to move all in--into the only player who has him covered.  On one level, I'll give Hilm the benefit of the doubt.  While Yang has had no problem moving all of his chips into the middle, he has shown reluctance to call all-ins.¹

Perhaps this was what Hilm was thinking about; more likely it was the pair and flush draw he had that made him shove in.  He had a number of outs as he turned over 85 but the 6 fell on the river sending him--and the opportunity to win $8,000,000--home.

Seat 3:  Philip Hilm
Hometown:  Cambridge, England
Chip Count:  22,070,000
Philip Hilm is the chip leader coming into the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker.  He is a 31-year-old online poker pro.  Hilm is a native of Denmark, but currently lives in England.  Family is very important to Hilm.  He spent two years living in Poland to get to know his mother’s side of the family before moving on to England.  Ten years ago, Hilm earned a degree in economics from the Copenhagen Business School.  He formed a company with 12 employees, but eventually went bankrupt. 

Just four years ago, Hilm was at his lowest point – selling coffee machines at grocery stores to make Christmas money so he could buy presents for his family.  Then, Hilm discovered poker on the Internet.  Before long, he was earning enough money to make a decent living.  And now, he is the largest stack at the final table of the main event.