Phil Hellmuth Wins Record-Extending 17th World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

He’s done it again. Phil Hellmuth extended his lead as the all-time World Series of Poker title leader by taking down the 2023 WSOP $10,000 no-limit hold’em super turbo bounty event for a record 17th gold bracelet.

Hellmuth now has seven more bracelets than his nearest competition, with legends of the game like Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, and the late Doyle Brunson all tied for second with ten wins each.

This latest victory saw the 58-year-old Hellmuth overcome a field of 642 entries in a tournament that took just a single day to complete. Even with a blisteringly fast structure, the final hand was not dealt until around 5:20 in the morning, meaning the event took more than 15 hours in total to complete.

In addition to the bracelet, Hellmuth also earned $803,818 as the champion of this event. This was the fifth-largest score of his career, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $26.4 million. More than $17.7 million of that money has come from Hellmuth’s 197 cashes at the WSOP, the third-most of any player in the history of the series. He now trails only Antonio Esfandiari ($21.9 million) and Daniel Negreanu ($20.9) in that category.

BOOM!! Hello 17th World Championship!!! #POSITIVITY @WSOP #PHNiceLife pic.twitter.com/HHDjAPvG6v

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 2, 2023

This was Hellmuth’s 14th hold’em bracelet, with his first being his 1989 WSOP main event title run. Hellmuth also took down the WSOP Europe main event back in 2012, a victory that saw him become the only player to have won both of these main event titles. Hellmuth’s has three non-hold’em bracelets, with one in no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball and two in razz.

Hellmuth was awarded 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second title and third final-table finish of the year, having taken down a U.S. Poker Open event back in March and finished fifth in another tournament at the same series. With 2,755 total points, Hellmuth has climbed into 35th place in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

Hellmuth also surged up the PokerGO Tour leaderboard thanks to this victory. The 804_PGT_ points he secured were enough to see him claim the sixth-place spot in those rankings.

The top 97 finishers made the money in this event, with plenty of big names running deep, including 2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen (77th), longtime High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan (27th), Tom Marchese (25th), World Poker Tour champion Markus Gonsalves, two-time bracelet winner Lawrence Brandt (10h), and high-stakes tournament regular Brandon Steven (7th).

Incredibly, Hellmuth was not the only player from the top of the bracelets leaderboard that made this final table. Phil Ivey came within a handful of spots from winning his 11th bracelet, but ultimately was knocked out in 6th place ($133,461).

Ivey ran K10 into the AA of Hellmuth during six-handed play. Ivey picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn, but a brick river saw the 10-time bracelet winner sent to the rail shortly before 4:00 AM local time. He now has more than $38.1 million in career tournament earnings.

Justin Zaki cracked the pocket kings of Chris Savage (5th – $181,230) with Q-9, making trips to win the pot and narrow the field to four. Tom Kunze then busted Kelvin Kerber (4th – $249,876), with K-3 besting Q-10 suited.

Kunze got all-in with an open-ended straight draw against the turned top pair of Hellmuth. Kunze made a pair on the end, but it was not enough to surpass Hellmuth’s kings, and Kunze’s run ended in third place ($349,737).

Heads-up play lasted just one hand. In a limped pot, Hellmuth led out on a K84 flop with 84. Zaki moved all-in with 76 for a gutshot straight flush draw. Hellmuth made the call and the turn brought the 4, giving Hellmuth fours full of eights. He began to celebrate but still had to avoid the 5 on the river. The last card was indeed a spade, but the K was not enough to give Zaki the double-up. He was eliminated in second place, earning a career-best payday of $496,801 for his efforts. He now has nearly $4.5 million in recorded tournament earnings after this runner-up showing.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

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Winner photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller. Ivey photo: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.