Phil Hellmuth was the last player standing in 2023 WSOP Event #72 $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NL. The Poker Brat earned a score worth $803K and snagged bracelet #17. Phil Ivey advanced to the final table, but he missed out on winning his eleventh bracelet when he busted in sixth place. With 17 bracelets, Hellmuth has six WSOP victories in the last 11 years since he won multiple bracelets in 2021 including the WSOP Europe Main Event in France.
Ship it to the Poker Brat…. seventeen ways. The latest bracelet win by Phill Hellmuth, Jr. was historic for the usual PR-wankery reasons, but the the holy one Phil Ivey missed out on chance to take a huge step closer to catching Hellmuth. Instead of Ivey narrowing the gap to five pieces of jewelry, Hellmuth extended his lead on Ivey. Ivey is still stuck on ten bracelets and now trailing the Poker Brat by seven bracelets.
We all know deep down in our hearts – which trolls love to remind Hellmuthstans – that if Ivey played as many WSOP tournament as Hellmuth, then Ivey would've caught and passed the Poker Brat. Yet, that's not the case because Ivey does his own thing. Sure, Ivey wrestled with his own demons, and finds more motivation behind the scenes in cash games, but in the end Ivey doesn't chase the spotlight and simply doesn't give a flying fuck. Hellmuth cherishes the symbolic meaning of a bracelet, even though there are nearly 100 doled out every year, which tells you everything you need to know about his self-aggrandizing pursuit of so-called glory in the postmodern poker landscape and the cash cow known as the WSOP.
The 2023 WSOP was special because several notable pros reached the Six Timers Club including Shaun Deeb, Jeremy Ausmus, Brian Rast, and Jason Mercier. Those American pros came of age during the glorious online boom and won their sixth bracelet this summer. It's been 20 years since Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event, but in that same time span, Hellmuth won ten bracelets.
Hellmuth won his first six bracelets back in the 20th Century when people used the internet via dial-up access. Dating back to the turn of the century, Hellmuth won 11 bracelets since 2001.
2023 WSOP Event #72 $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NL attracted 642 runners to this turbo-infused event. Only the top 97 sprinters got a cut of the $5.97 million prize pool. Among the notables who went deep and cashed included Tom Middleton, Markus Gonsalves, Brandon Steven, Andre Akkari, Maxx Coleman, Tom Marchese, Kyle Julius, Yu Zhu, Sean Winter, Nick Maimone, Ivan Deyra, Antoine Saout, Johnny World, Joe Mckeehen, Rainer Kempe, Jeff Hakim, and Upeshka De Silva.
Ivey has been sitting on ten bracelets since 2014. He missed out on two shots to win #11 in the last week when he took sixth place in the $50K Poker Players Championship last week and whiffed at the final table for the Super Turbo Bounty NL. Ivey bowed out in sixth place, much to the dismay of Ivey's super fans and any degens who bet their house payments on Ivey banking bling this summer.
Helmuth squared off against Justin Zaki in a heads-up battle for the bracelet. Their joust in the wee hours of Sunday morning lasted a single hand. Hellmuth flopped bottom two pair with 
but Zaki floppe a monstrous draw with 
and a gutshot straight flush draw. Hellmuth turned a full house, but still needed to dodge another bullet on the river. The river was a 
. Zaki rivered a King-high flush, but it was not enough to beat Hellmuth's bulletproof boat. Zaki headed to the rail in second place and banked $496,801 for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh?
An exhausted, yet elated Hellmuth banked $803,818 for the Super Turbo Bounty victory, but he also got to slap bracelet #17 on his wrist.
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," said Hellmuth.
Okay, the Poker brat didn't exactly quote Robert Oppenheimer, who was also paraphrasing the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita, during a test run of the Manhattan Project. But, we all know that Hellmuth was definitely thinking those grandiose notions after snagging #17.
Hellmuth cashed in ten events this summer with one bracelet victory. He narrowly missed two other final tables with 11th place finishes in the $10K Secret Bounty and $10K HORSE.
Hellmuth was still a kid when he shipped the 1989 Main Event for his first taste of fame and fortune. He won a second bracelet in 1992 in $5K NL, and struck gold with three victories in 1993 ($5K Limit, $2,500 NL, and $1,500 NL). He won a sixth bracelet in 1997 in $3K Pot-Limit Hold'em. Six bracelets in eight years was quite the feat for the Poker Brat, but he'd get stuck on six for four more years.
Hellmuth added #7 to his growing collection with a win in $2K NL in 2001. During the start of the online poker boom, Hellmuth booked multiple bling victories at Binion's in 2003 in $2,500 Limit Hold'em and $3K NL.
In the second year since the WSOP relocated from downtown Las Vegas to the Rio Casino, Hellmuth snatched up a tenth bracelet at the 2006 WSOP. His victory in $1K NL Rebuy helped him tie Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson at ten. Hellmuth passed the legends the next summer by winning a donkament in 2007 for bracelet #11. All hail the Donkslayer!
After winning six bracelets in eight years (between 1989 and 2007), it took him ten years to win five more bracelets. It would take him 16 more years to win the next six.
Hellmuth had been slowing down since he won bracelet #11 in 2007. It took him an agonizing five years before he returned to the winner's circle when he won two bracelets in 2012 with a Razz win, and victory at the WSOP Europe Main Event in France for a score worth over €1 million. “Je suis AWESOME!” he told the French media after his thirteenth win.
Hellmuth won a second Razz bracelet and bracelet #14 at the 2015 WSOP. He waited three years before he snagged #15 at the 2018 WSOP in $5K NL. Hellmuth became the first member of the Sweet 16 crew with an old-school victory at the 2021 WSOP in NL Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw.
Hellmuth had been winning bracelets every third year since 2012, so it was a surprise he won one this summer. He was ahead of schedule with #17!
Also in action in the last few days...
Event #61 SUPER SENIORS $1,000 NL attracted 3,121 vintage poker players. The prize pool was $2.77 million and the top 468 places paid out. Klaus Ilk banked $371K for the victory, and the Austrian won his first bracelet.
Event #62 $1,500 Mixed NL/PLO attracted 2,076 runners and a prize pool worth $2.7 million. The top 312 places paid out with $410K set aside to the champion. David Simon, who shares the same name as the legendary showrunner and writer, edged out David Prociak heads up for the bling. Robert Mizrachi made the final table, but he busted in sixth place, while Upeshka De Silva was picked off in seventh place. Among the notables who went super deep and cashed included Bart Lybaert, Tom Cannuli, Joe Serock, Dan Heimiller, Jared Jaffee, and Noah Schwartz.
Event #63 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship attracted 141 runners and a prize pool worth $1.3 million, which paid out to just 22 lucky souls. Ryan Miller was the last player standing after he defeated Bryn Kenney heads up for the bracelet. Among the familiar faces who cashed in the $10K Stud8 included Joao Vieira, Chino Rheem, Young Wang, Max Schindler, Cal Anderson, Craig Chait, Bruno Fitoussi, Mike Matusow, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Dylan Linde, Brian Hastings, Daniel Negreanu, Mark Gregorich, Dan Colpoys, and Chad Eveslage.
Event #64 $600 Deepstack NL Championship attracted a whopping 4,303 runners. The running of the deepstacked donks generated a prize pool worth almost $2.2 million, and the top 645 places earned a cut of juicy donkey meat. Canada's David Guay won his first bracelet and $271K in American cash. The final six featured trois Frenchies including Jonathan Fhima, Romain Kowalczyk, and Gaetan Balleur. Now that's a sick poker name… Monsieur Balleur!
Event #65 $5,000 NL 6-Handed attracted 1,119 players and a prize pool worth $5.5 million with $938,244 set aside to the eventual winner. Weiran Pu from China secured a first bracelet with the $5K victory. The top 150 places paid out and among those fortunate ones who went deep and got a cut of the $5K cheesecake included Tyler Cornell, Angelina Rich, Ian Matakis, Martin Finger, Daniel Lazarus, Kyle Julius, Bakes Baker, Artur Martirosian, Scott Sevier, Vlad Darie, Leo Fernandez, Justin Liberto, Matt Berkey, Kenny Hallaert, Phil Ivey, Mustapha Kanit, and Barry Hutter.
Event #66 $1,500 PLO8 attracted 1,125 runners and a prize pool worth $1.5 million. William Kopp was the last player standing and he banked $259K when he denied Michael Rodrigues from winning another piece of jewelry. Also going deep in the PLO8 were Loni Harwood, Anthony Zinno, Yuval Bronshstein, Robert Campbell, Connor Drinan, JJ Liu, Leif Force, Amnon Filippi, Chainsaw Kessler, John Monette, Erik Lindgren, Pierre Fromage, and Matt Vengrin.
Event #68 $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty NL attracted 2,824 players in this single-day event. They generated a prize pool worth $2.5 million and the top 424 places paid out. Brazil's Gabriel Schroeder was the last player standing and banked $228K in front of a final table rail that was swarmed with jubilant Brazilians. Irish pro and former Buddhist guru Andy Black finished in third place, and he just missed out on a bracelet.
