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On July 2 Sunday, at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, Phil Hellmuth has done it again.

People who closely knew him said that he was initially frustrated in this year's WSOP, despite getting nine cashes already. However, all of that frustration melted away, when his 10th cash came with a record - his 17th WSOP bracelet! It happened in Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE. This triumph adds to arguably one of the greatest tournament poker resume of all time, which started in 1989 when Hellmuth first won his Main Event gold bracelet.

Almost all, except for three of his bracelets, Hellmuth's 17th victory came in the No-Limit Hold'em variant. The bounty element and fast blind structure attracted a huge field of 642 players that generated a total prize pool worth $4,044,600, with Hellmuth taking $803,818 plus bounties for the first-place finish.

For Hellmuth though, it was not the money that meant the most to him. Instead, the goal of further extending his record seemed to be of greater value, as it gives more reason for others to argue that he is one of the best to have ever played the game.

Hellmuth may have ended on top, but it was certainly not a walk in the park. There was a time he was down to just 60,000 at the 15,000/30,000 blind level. He said in a post-win interview, "I just needed to make it to the break." The break enabled him to refocus and come back with renewed energy to make a comeback.

Late in the day, he got pocket jacks three times, won many key flips, and found aces at the right time to eliminate Phil Ivey in 6th place. He said, "I had jacks hold up against ace-king for three million each. Any potential luck that I was complaining about I received more than enough."

Final Table - Heads-up Match

2023 WSOP Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE - Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

Hellmuth described what his 17th bracelet win feels like, as he went jumping around the Paris Ballroom, obviously happy.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I must have a smile just fixed to my face. "I tried not complain. Oh, I've been unlucky in key spots. F*** all that bulls*** you know, because things happen for a reason."

He explained that part of the reason why he was even in the tournament was because of an early exit in the previous event, Event: #71 $50,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller, at the hands of Jeremy Ausmus.

"You know maybe part of the reason I busted the Pot Limit Omaha was to come and win this. You know, maybe part of the reason I busted the deuce to seven was so I could get rest."

He emphasized the importance of getting three full days of rest, which helped him manage some of the tougher times in the tournament, to which he said "coming in fresh was enormously helpful. I came back from one of those breaks, I had sixty thousand left. The blinds were fifteen and thirty. I just knew I needed to make it to that break." After that, things seemed to work out in his favor as he rose to the top to win.

Phil Hellmuth was scheduled to speak at Doyle Brunson's celebration of life at the Horseshoe later that day. He said he was thinking of his late friend, especially during a hand at the final table where he made a straight holding Brunson's iconic ten-deuce offsuit.

Phil Hellmuth stats

With 17 WSOP bracelets now to his name, the 58-year-old Wisconsin native's lead extends to seven. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey each have 10 WSOP bracelets. The WSOP awards a gold bracelet to each tournament winner.

Known as the "Poker Brat" for his table outbursts, he won three WSOP gold bracelets in 1993. In 2003, he won two.

Hellmuth's total live cash earnings are now at the $29.7 million mark.

Hellmuth said he thinks he is going to win a total of 24 WSOP gold bracelets in his career.

Source: https://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates/?aid=2&grid=5219&tid=21737&dayof=217371&rr=-1