Phil Hellmuth shuts down haters with historical 15th WSOP bracelet

Many may hate him, many may doubt him, but the achievements speak for itself, Phil Hellmuth aka “the Poker Brat” made history once again. At the ongoing 2018 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth overcame a field of 452 entries at the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels) event to add $485,082 to his lifetime career earnings and snatch up his 15th gold bracelet.

In many ways, this victory was a kind of redemption for Hellmuth. Days ago he was under fire in social media for his emotional outbursts at the Main Event. This led to him tweeting an apology and making amends with the player affected.

Hellmuth had also been having a very difficult summer at the felt making this victory extra special. Once again he missed a chance at a first-ever WPT title, then days after caught a lot of flak for his intentional tardiness at the Super High Roller Bowl event despite it being his usual modus operandi.

To make matters worse, prior to this event, Hellmuth only cashed five times at the series without getting close to a final table. He was even criticized by fellow pros for selling part of his action at a 1.8 markup at one of the events.

Yet despite all the drama, Hellmuth prevailed.

15 TIME BRACELET WINNER @phil_hellmuth has a message for all the HATERS out there. Congrats to the 15 time champion 🚀🚀#MoreMarkupIsBetter pic.twitter.com/3VOsNan8XB

— Joey Ingram (@Joeingram1) July 12, 2018

To get there, he overcame a 3:1 chip deficit at heads up against Steven Wolansky. He first doubled up with A-K over Q-10 then later got lucky with his dominated K-10 finding a ten on the river to overtake K-J. He finished it off with a set of threes against Wolansky’s A-9 top pair.

With this win, Hellmuth widened his record number of WSOP bracelets making it difficult for others to catch up anytime soon. After his victory, at the winner’s interview with WSOP media, Hellmuth expressed “I’m humbled. It’s humbling.”

Final Table Payouts (POY points in parentheses):

1st: Phil Hellmuth, $485,082
2nd: Steven Wolansky, $299,807
3rd: Alan Sternberg, $204,789
4th: Aliaksei Boika, $142,458
5th: Ken Fishman, $100,956
6th: Matt Glantz, $72,911
7th: Paul Hoefer, $53,682
8th: Ralph Wong, $40,309
9th: Eric Hicks, $30,881

Article by Tricia David