Who is the poker player with the most bracelets in WSOP history?

The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino hosts the 2021 World Series of Poker

After a cancelled 2020 event, forcing organizers to hold online tournaments, this year’s 88 live events promises to be a return to classic high-stakes poker.

This year’s first bracelet of the 88 on offer was won by local dealer James “Jimmy” Barnett in the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold ‘Em. Relative unknown player Jesse Klein topped the H.O.R.S.E. event to take the $552,182 pot and the event’s second bracelet. Jeremy Ausmus won the Covid-19 Relief No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournament for the third bracelet of 2021 and 35 year old Texan Long Ma, who won the $500 buy-in The Reunion No-limit Hold’em event, taking $514,604 and topping a field of 12,973 players has taken home the fourth. So far the early bracelets have been denied to the all time leader, Phil “The Poker Brat” Hellmuth.

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One of the most controversial professional poker players on tour, Hellmuth has amassed fifteen bracelets, five more than his nearest rival Phil Ivey. Not the easiest player to share a table with, The Poker Brat has earned his nickname by berating other players, storming off in the middle of games and generally being, well, a brat. In this year’s H.O.R.S.E. tournament, he didn’t disappoint despite finishing sixth. Hellmuth exploded at Klein early on in the game. Folding on the river, Hellmuth called his opponent “insane” and with that, the gauntlet was thrown. The Poker Brat was in full force as Hellmuth paced the floor cursing his lucklessness.

Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Hellmuth reportedly had a troubled adolescence and eventually dropped out of the University of Wisconsin Madison to become a professional poker player. As of 2021 he ranks 21st on the all time money list with a total winnings of just north of $25 million. Looks like it didn’t turn out so bad after all.

Much has been said over the years of his 31 year marriage to psychiatrist wife Katherine Sanborn. They met in his student days in Madison and moved to California so that she could go to graduate school at Stanford. She has made her career on the staff at her alma mater and has helped to keep the Brat on an even keel through the years. They have two sons and Hellmuth cites his family as his proudest achievement.

The 2021 event is in full swing and play has begun on events five through twelve with two more events scheduled to start. There will definitely be more bracelets won and a few millionaires made. Will Phil Hellmuth see his sixteenth?

Check out the full tournament schedule on the WSOP’s website.