Phil Hellmuth Wins Record-Extending 17th WSOP Gold Bracelet

Once again, Phil Hellmuth has achieved a remarkable feat, further solidifying his position as the leading title holder in the history of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). He emerged victorious in the 2023 WSOP $10,000 no-limit hold’em super turbo bounty event, securing an unprecedented 17th gold bracelet.

With this extraordinary accomplishment, Phil Hellmuth now possesses a staggering seven more bracelets than his closest competitors, including esteemed players such as Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, and the late Doyle Brunson, all of whom have ten wins each.

In this recent triumph, the 58-year-old Phil Hellmuth triumphed over a field of 642 participants in a lightning-fast tournament that concluded within a single day. Despite the rapid structure, the final hand was not dealt until approximately 5:20 in the morning, resulting in a total duration of over 15 hours.

In addition to the prestigious bracelet, Hellmuth’s victory earned him a substantial prize of $803,818 as the champion of the event. This significant payout now brings his lifetime earnings to an impressive sum of more than $26.4 million. Notably, Hellmuth has accumulated over $17.7 million from his 197 cashes at the WSOP, placing him in third position for the highest earnings in the series’ history, behind only Antonio Esfandiari ($21.9 million) and Daniel Negreanu ($20.9 million).

This particular triumph marked Hellmuth’s 14th hold’em bracelet, with his first coming from his memorable victory in the 1989 WSOP main event. Additionally, Hellmuth triumphed in the WSOP Europe main event in 2012, making him the sole player to have won both of these esteemed titles. He has also secured three non-hold’em bracelets, with one in no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball and two in razz.

For this win, Hellmuth received 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points. It served as his second title and third final-table finish of the year, as he previously emerged victorious in a U.S. Poker Open event in March and secured fifth place in another tournament of the same series. With a total of 2,755 points, Hellmuth has risen to 35th place in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

Moreover, Hellmuth’s victory propelled him up the rankings of the PokerGO Tour leaderboard. The 804_PGT_ points he accumulated allowed him to claim the sixth-place position in those rankings.

The event rewarded the top 97 finishers with monetary prizes, attracting notable players who made deep runs, including Joe McKeehen, the 2015 WSOP main event champion (77th place), long-time High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan (27th place), Tom Marchese (25th place), World Poker Tour champion Markus Gonsalves, two-time bracelet winner Lawrence Brandt (10th place), and high-stakes tournament regular Brandon Steven (7th place).

Remarkably, Phil Hellmuth was not the only top-ranked player on the bracelet leaderboard to reach the final table. Phil Ivey came agonizingly close to winning his 11th bracelet but was ultimately eliminated in 6th place ($133,461). During six-handed play, Ivey’s KDiamond Suit10Diamond Suit fell to Hellmuth’s AHeart SuitADiamond Suit when the turn failed to improve Ivey’s open-ended straight draw, leading to his elimination shortly before 4:00 AM local time. Ivey’s career tournament earnings now exceed $38.1 million.

Another significant moment occurred when Justin Zaki’s Q-9 defeated Chris Savage’s pocket kings (5th place – $181,230), securing trips and narrowing the field to four players. Subsequently, Tom Kunze eliminated Kelvin Kerber (4th place – $249,876) with K-3, surpassing Kerber’s Q-10 suited.

Kunze found himself all-in with an open-ended straight draw against Hellmuth’s turned top pair. Although Kunze managed to make a pair on the river, it was insufficient to surpass Hellmuth’s kings, resulting in Kunze’s elimination in third place ($349,737).

The heads-up play lasted only one hand. In a pot with a limp, Phil Hellmuth led out on a KClub Suit8Spade Suit4Spade Suit flop with 8Club Suit4Heart Suit. Zaki responded by moving all-in with 7Spade Suit6Spade Suit, holding a gutshot straight flush draw. Hellmuth made the call, and the turn revealed the 4Diamond Suit, granting Phil Hellmuth fours full of eights. Although the river presented the 5Spade Suit, Zaki’s KSpade Suit was not enough to secure a double-up. Consequently, Zaki finished in second place, earning a career-best payday of $496,801. With this result, Zaki’s recorded tournament earnings now approach $4.5 million.

Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results