An Observation About Hellmuth From The $1500 w/Rebuys

[Howard Treesong]

In the $1500 NLH with rebuys, I was on Phil's immediate left for three or four hours. I lost two races and made a bad call shortly before the dinner break, so when we came back, I had about $6000 playing 200-400-50. On the first orbit, the action is folded to me one off the the hijack. I look at one ace and push my stack without looking at the second card.

It's folded to the big blind, Mickey Mills, who calls with QQ. I luckbox a straight and double up.

An hour later, we've moved up to 300-600-75. I have $14000. Hellmuth is UTG +2 on $22,000. He raises $2000. For some reason, I decide to make a play with 8s7s and push.

Some guy a couple of seats to my left (I don't remember if he was one seat to Joe Pelton's right or two seats -- I'm in the four and can't easily see down the line) wakes up with AA and of course calls after a minute-long dwell. Phil thinks for a bit, shows me AQ and dumps his hand.

For some reason, the dealer takes an age to get the chips right, and Phil says to me "Well, I was calling you anyway. I remember your move with A4."

From this I conclude that Phil believes the two plays are similar. WTF?