On a Sunday night at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas, Phill Hellmuth won bracelet #16 as the last player standing in 2021 WSOP Event #31 $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw. Hellmuth outlasted 272 runners and banked $84,851 for his victory. He defeated Jake Schwartz heads up for the Lowball win and outlasted a final table that also included Chris Vitch, Rep Porter, Josh Faris, and Dario Sammartino.
Love him or hate him, Phil Hellmuth won more bracelets than anyone in poker and he continued to pad his lead after shipping his 16th bracelet of his storied and controversial career. You can call him a jagoff or arsehole, but you cannot deny the simple fact that Hellmuth wants to win bracelets as badly as anyone who played the game. He's fires away at more WSOP events annually than most people will ever play in their lifetimes. As a result, he's won 16 and counting.
Someday, someone will catch Phil. Maybe it's currently a teenager from Northern Europe who will go on a tear in the late 2020s to become the next poker goat and some half-baked poker scribe will write the jubilant recap of the GOAT who finally broke Hellmuth's record. At that point, how many more will Hellmuth win? Three? Four? None? In poker, you never know.
2021 WSOP Event #31 $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw attracted 272 runners and a prize pool worth $363K. The top 41 places paid out with nearly $85K set aside to the champion.
The final eight included Phil Hellmuth, Jake Schwartz, Chris Vitch, Rep Porter, Joshua Faris, Dario Sammartino, Jason Lipiner, and Kevin Gerhart. After Chris Vitch busted in third place, it was a battle between Hellmuth and Jake Schwartz for the bling. Schwartz was seeking his first bracelet victory while Hellmuth had #16 on his mind.
Much to the dismay of Hellmuth haters, he knocked out Schwartz in second place. Hellmuth won the Lowball event for his 16th bracelet. He had several near misses already this series with a handful of final tables but finally broke through to the winner's circle in Lowball.
Ryan Riess bubbled the final eight. Notables who cashed and went deep included John Racener, Brian Rast, Ryan Hughes, Dustin Dirksen, Yuval Bronshtein, Greg Mueller, Dan Zack, Brian Yoon, John Monettett, Jeremy Ausmus, Brandon Shack-Harris, Melanie Weisner, Matt Vengrin, Jonathan Aguiar, Al Imsirovic, Ismael Bojang.
2021 WSOP Event #31 $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw
Buy-in: $1,500
Entrants: 272
Prize Pool: $363,120
Payouts: 41
Final Table Results:
1. Phil Hellmuth (USA) $84,851
2. Jake Schwartz (USA) $52,502
3. Chris Vitch (USA) $36,387
4. Rep Porter (USA) $25,661
5. Joshua Faris(USA) $18,421
6. Dario Sammartino (Italy) $13,463
7. Jason Lipiner (USA) $10,023
8. Kevin Gerhart (USA) $7,602