WSOP 2023 Day 33 Recap: Gold Galore as Phil Hellmuth Claims 17th WSOP Bracelet in Stunning Super Turbo Victory

The latest day of action at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos saw drama excitement and gold as Day 33 gave two more first-time WSOP event winners the night of their lives... only for their achievements to be caught in the glare of Phil Hellmuth’s star once again shining brightly on a World Series night of glory. The Poker Brat’s win in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty event gave him a record-extending 17^th WSOP bracelet.

Phil Hellmuth Wins Record 17^th WSOP Bracelet

A night of surprise glory gave Phil Hellmuth an incredible 17^th WSOP in the $10,000-entry Super Turbo Bounty Event #72. The single-day event, which saw Phil Ivey finish sixth, saw Hellmuth lead the remaining final five to the bracelet with the chip lead. Give the Poker Brat and self-proclaimed GOAT the most chips in that position and it doesn’t matter whether its three in the afternoon or the small hours of a Las Vegas morning – he’ll make you pay.

So it proved yet again. The turbo pace of the event looked like it might have chewed Hellmuth up with a dozen players left as he languished towards the bottom of the pile with a dozen players left. One double-up and the exit of Ivey later and Hellmuth was in charge.

Chris Savage lost out in fifth, Kelvin Kerber slid out in fourth and Tom Kunze departed in third. Heading into the final bracelet battle, Hellmuth had the lead and immediately got it in with eight-four against the seven-six of spades on a flop of K-8-4, with the smaller cards in spades.

A four on the turn gave Hellmuth a full house, but as the Poker Brat leapt into the air, yelling “Yessss!”, he realised to his horror that one more out could spoil his party. The five of spades – and only that card – would save Zaki, giving him a straight flush, but it was a long shot and the king of spades instead landed on the river to give Hellmuth his latest record-extending victory.

Hellmuth now has 17 WSOP bracelets, seven more than anyone else, including the 10-time winner Ivey, who must wait yet again. He should have known that it doesn’t matter how many Phils are involved late. At the World Series, the only name that matters is Hellmuth.

David Guay Wins for Home Country on Canada Day

On Canada Day, Gavid Guay got the better of the overnight leader John Taylor to claim gold for the first time in his career. The top prize of $271,032 will no doubt have meant a lot too, but with Guay now topping $1.5m in tournament earnings, the win clearly affected him just as much for the bracelet as anything else.

“I'm definitely going to be more emotional later,” he said of his immediate feelings. “I'm going to call my mom soon to let her know. I had a lot of friends and family here on the rail and some I only know from way back.”

Guay’s win not only came on his country’s national day but in dramatic fashion. Coming from second place, he took out both opponents with weaker holdings in their final hands as Americans’ Steven Stolzenfeld (3^rd for $124,850) busted before Guay made the best of a 5:1 chip lead heads-up to claim gold.

Weiran Pu Wins First Gold in Six-Max Event

Chinese player Weiran Pu won his first-ever WSOP bracelet as he took down the 65^th event of the WSOP, winning the $5,000-entry Six-Max event for $938,244 and his first WSOP bracelet. Beating overnight leader Norbert Szecsi heads-up, Pu’s victory saw his vociferous rail burst into raptures as he captured the title and in doing so, denied Szecsi his fourth WSOP crown.

The final table began with just six players, and it was the Brazilian player Vitor Dzivielevski who busted first. With five players left, any hopes Angelina Rich had of ending this year’s bracelet drought for female players in open events was crushed when her pocket fours couldn’t beat pocket kings belonging to Pedro Garagnani, as the Brazilian held with ease to reduce the field to four. He was out next on the ‘as live’ PokerGO stream but Tyler Cornell’s exit in third meant Pu had the chance of glory, going into the heads-up with 38.1 million to Szecsi’s 21.75m.

Eventually, a cooler froze the Hungarian’s chances of a fourth title, his ace-queen crushed by Pu’s ace-king, as both players paired up but Szecsi could find no more help to bust as runner-up. Pu had the title, the top prize and the gold bracelet, all of which meant he couldn’t be happier.

Okamoto Leads Ladies Championship with Seven Left

The final seven players are left in the $1,000-entry Ladies Event #67, with Japanese architect Shiina Okamoto building a chip mountain anyone would be proud of to lead with a massive stack of 11.67 million.

Second in chips is Tara Cain but she is some way back on 4.75 million and is trailed by Mary Dvorkin, who led overnight and comes into the final with 2.65 million. Everyone else has less than 20% of the chip leader’s stack as the final day approaches and with a first-time bracelet winner guaranteed, who’ll win the $192,167 top prize is anyone’s guess.

Smith Leads PLO High Roller as Lonis Chases

The $50,000-entry PLO High Roller, Event #71 on the ticket, has just 11 players still in with a chance of grabbing the gold and the top prize of $2.3 million. In chare after the penultimate day is Tyler Smith, who has a stack of 14 million chips, with Jesse Lonis second in chips on 8,650,000. Everyone else has less than half of the chip leader’s stack, but some very big names lurk in the shadows waiting to pounce.

Even low in the counts, some dangerous players are one double-up from becoming very dangerous, with Adam Hendrix (3,500,000),          Isaac Haxton (2,500,000) and the current leader in the WSOP Player of the Year race Ian Matakis (2,150,000) still chasing glory.

Baker, Brewer and Livingston Live to Raise Another Day

Three former bracelet winners will return tomorrow to conclude Event #69, the $10,000-entry NL 2-7 Single Draw Championship. With a top prize of $367,599 on the line, David ‘ODB’ Baker (4,580,000) has a good chip lead.

The only problem is that he’s being chase down by great opponents. Both Chris Brewer (2,765,000) and Alex Livingston (1,900,000) are former bracelet winners, with Brewer going for his second this summer. One of the trio will win again tomorrow.

Colossus Attendance Smashes 2022 Total

Day 1b of the $400-entry Colossus Event #70 saw 1,021 players survive from 8,188 entries, as Scott Keaton topped the leaderboard on 1,358,000 chips from Darrick Arreola (1,313,000) and Neng Lee (1,290,000).

Other big names to feature include Dan Heimiller (979,000), Norwegian player Preben Stokkan (665,000) and Five Diamond Classic winner James Dempsey (600,000), with a total Day 2 field of 1,986 players from 15,893 entrants being around 2,000 higher in numbers than last year. That’s a colossal prizepool.

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