Images courtesy of WSOP.com
Phil Hellmuth has held the record for the most World Series of Poker bracelets won for years, and his dominance in this particular part of the game has been undisputed.
Hellmuth currently sits at the top of the all-time WSOP champions list with 17 bracelets, six clear of his closest contender, the legendary Phil Ivey.
Yet, the last few WSOPs have been eye opening in many ways, as a number of much younger and much hungrier players have captured multiple bracelets and shown their ability to collect silverware at a rate that even the Poker Brat could not match in his prime.
With Phil now going a few years without winning a WSOP event, and several players gradually closing the gap, the question becomes, who could be the first player to overtake the Poker Brat at the top, and when could it happen?
A Look at the Numbers – Phil’s Closest Contenders by WSOP Bracelets
A quick look at the all-time WSOP champions list paints a very good picture for Phil Hellmuth. He sits at the top of the list with 17 bracelets, while his closest contender, Phil Ivey, has six fewer.
The only other three players on the list with 10 bracelets are the legendary Doyle Brunson, who unfortunately passed away in 2023, and Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel. Chan is mostly retired from poker, while Seidel also announced a semi-retirement, although he does still play in some of the high-rollers.
Since three of the closest contenders aren’t really in the race anymore, it leaves Phil Ivey as the man to catch Hellmuth at the top, and that doesn’t seem too likely either.
While he’s still very active in poker, Ivey’s attention is heavily divided between cash games, super high-stakes tournaments in the Triton Poker Series, and events like the WSOP.
It’s been years since Ivey has put in the kind of volume needed to grind out the WSOP bracelets on a regular basis, and while he’ll almost certainly win a few more before his time in poker is done, it’s far from certain he will close the the gap between himself and Hellmuth at any point.
Instead, that gap is more likely to be closed by one of the younger players on the circuit, with quite a few of those now approaching 10 bracelets, while being significantly younger than either of the Phils.
A Young Generation of Players Knocking on the Door
It was a recent X post by Jeremy Ausmus that rekindled the discussion on the WSOP bracelets record, as he noticed something that many poker fans have been noticing as well.
A number of extremely talented and reasonably young players have been making one deep run after another in WSOP events, which is very likely to put Hellmuth’s record in question a few years from now.
So many of the same players keep winning or coming close to winning events each summer plus now more Wsop events than ever. It’s seeming more clear a not if but when situation for Hellmuth getting passed for most bracelets.
— Jeremy Ausmus (@jeremyausmus) June 27, 2026
In fact, if we look at only the post Black Friday era, Hellmuth has already not been the most successful WSOP player. He’s won six bracelets since 2011, and this number is matched by the likes of Kristen Foxen, Yuri Dzivilievski, Scott Seiver, and Jeremy Ausmus.
Michael Mizrachi, Brian Rast, and Nick Schulman have each won seven since then, while Shaun Deeb has won all nine of his in that same period. In fact, he only won his first in 2015.
Benny Glaser, another mixed game crusher, has also won nine bracelets in his career, and all have come in the post Black Friday era, as he was only 22 when Black Friday happened in the first place.
These numbers would not even seem too bad for Hellmuth, if he was still able to consistently compete and win new bracelets of his own, which he still might be.
Yet, with a few years going by since his last win in 2023, some have begun questioning if Hellmuth still has the desire and commitment he used to have, and whether he can still keep up the pace with the young guns looking to dethrone him.
Can Hellmuth Extend His Record?
Phil has been eyeing bracelet #18 since 2023, when he won his 17th in a $10k Super Turbo Bounty event. Yet, even close calls have been hard to come by, as he only got one 4th, one 3rd, and one 7th place finish across some 250 events played over the last three WSOPs.
Of course, Phil didn’t play them all, but he’s been putting in the volume and taking very few days off at the Series. Yet, just showing up might not be enough anymore, as the playing field has become a lot tougher.
I’m not Done!! Not yet!! https://t.co/0GL2y5zfBV
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 27, 2026
The mixed game fields have improved significantly in the last few years, with many younger players deciding to practice the other games and improve their skills to a level where they’re actually competitive.
Players like Ausmus, Glaser, Shulman, Negreanu, and Deeb have been dominant in these fields, and their names regularly rotate at the final tables.
No Limit Hold’em, on the other hand, is even more competitive. The high rollers are dominated by players like Alex Foxen and Adrian Mateos, who have added bracelets to their resumes this summer as well, while the smaller buy-ins attract too many players for someone like Hellmuth to hope to win.
Given the number of events played every year, and the fact Phil probably won’t retire for quite a few years, it’s very realistic to expect him to win a few more. He could even end up with 20 or more by the end of his career, but the real question is if that will be enough to survive at the top.
Who Will Be the First to Threaten Hellmuth’s Legacy?
One player that’s very likely to threaten Phil’s place at the top of the WSOP champion’s list is Shaun Deeb. The two-time WSOP Player of the Year just won his ninth bracelet and lost a heads up match for another one, and seems to be as hungry for them as ever.
Deeb is one of the best mixed game players who ever played the game, he plays every WSOP event there is, and his tournament poker record speaks for itself.
Shaun just turned 40, and is likely to make it into the Poker Hall of Fame this summer as well, and will have a couple of decades to chase after Phil’s record if he keeps grinding.
Benny Glaser is another player with nine bracelets and a lot to prove, and his dominance in the mixed games has been every bit as impressive as Shaun’s.
Between these two, Nick Schulman, Jeremy Ausmus, and even players like Yuri Dzivilievski and Scott Seiver, Hellmuth could find himself only a few bracelets clear at the top by 2030.
As years go by, players like Adrian Mateos, who already has six bracelets at just 32, could also come knocking on the door, and Phil could end up moving further down the list.
Yet, the Poker Brat is safe at the top for at least some more years, and if he can keep putting in the volume and showing up, he could even prove everyone wrong and cement his place as the best WSOP player of all time.
