updated 9:58 p.m. ET July 8, 2009

LAS VEGAS - The player with the most tournament wins at the World Series of Poker says he’s no longer avoiding aggressive opponents who threaten to knock him out of the main event this year.

“This year I decided, let’s play poker,” Phil Hellmuth told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “All those amateurs making all those crazy moves on me that they got away with in the past, this year I’m calling.”

The 11-time gold bracelet winner has been known to avoid plays for all his chips in the past, because he believes he can outplay others without giving them a chance to get lucky.

That means that opponents have simply shoved all-in against him to respond to his extra-tight play.

“This year, when I do have a strong hand I win tons of chips because everybody’s overplaying their hand against me,” said Hellmuth, who won the no-limit Texas Hold ’em main event 20 years ago. “That’s been a good strategy for players against me for years, is to just get all their money in, but not this year. This year I’m playing.”

Hellmuth bet all his chips with his first hand on Wednesday when he flopped a straight flush draw. His opponent was ahead when he called, but Hellmuth was a slight favorite to win the hand because there were so many cards in the deck that would help him make a better hand. An ace of clubs gave Hellmuth a flush on the next card.

“I came to play today, sir,” Hellmuth told his opponent as he stacked his chips after the hand. “I kind of think you got what you deserve.”

Hellmuth, known for getting under the skin of opponents — and being rattled himself when he is beaten by what he believes to be bad plays — picked up another big hand a few minutes later when he flopped a nut flush and an opponent went all-in with a pair of sevens.

“For five years I’ve been folding,” Hellmuth said. “I told you, I’m going to play with you all day, son.”

Hellmuth held 139,200 chips by the dinner break on Wednesday after starting the day with 27,475 chips.

Players started the tournament with 30,000 chips, which have no monetary value. A player is not eliminated from the tournament until all his or her chips have been lost, and one player will have to win all the chips in play to win the tournament.

On another hand against the same opponent who doubled his stack earlier in the day, Hellmuth responded to two re-raises by pushing in even more chips, eventually going all-in for 63,750 chips. His opponent folded and Hellmuth flashed pocket queens, which would have only been behind pocket kings or aces before the flop.

“I can’t remember how many years it’s been since I’ve shipped all in with queens,” Hellmuth said.

Hellmuth was among 2,924 players who began their second session of poker on Wednesday with plans to play eight hours over four levels of minimum bets. By the dinner break, more than 800 players had been eliminated.

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Tournament officials had to add eight tables inside the modified conference room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino where the tournament was being held to accommodate all the players. On Monday, tournament officials faced hundreds of angry players who were turned away from the $10,000 buy-in event because it was sold out.

The players remaining after play on Wednesday will join the 648 players left from Tuesday when all players play simultaneously for the first time on Friday. Players have an off day on Thursday.

Top prize in the tournament is $8.55 million, which will be decided in November when the final table is played after a four month break. The top 648 players from the starting field of 6,494 players will get some piece of a $61 million prize pool.

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