The "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth has the record count of 15 World Series Of Poker bracelets. The nearest contenders are in a 3-way tie of 10 bracelets each.

 

As you can see Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey are closest to catching the leader. Doyle is one of pokers most beloved champions. He is 85 years old. He has admitted to reporters that he just doesn't have the health needed to grind out the WSOP tournament schedule like he used to. It's not likely that he will get 1 more bracelet never mind 6 more he would need to pass Phil Hellmuths' count.

Johnny Chan is about 61 years old born in 1957 in China. The exact date has not been published. He may have been the most willing to race Hellmuth for the bracelet count record. Least that seemed like the story. I don't know how many events either have played from the 80's till the present. The WSOP website does track that sort of stuff and has an easy to use search database. I used it to list Chans' 10 wins:

 

Notice his most recent bracelet win is from 2005. The fields are much larger. Players are much better. As a gambler, I'll take the under on Chan getting 5 more WSOP bracelets.

Our final contender is Phil Ivey. Just 44 years old, 10 years younger than Hellmuth. Even with the larger skilled fields he should be able to rack up the bracelet count to challenge for the record. I think there might be a motivation issue. The WSOP tournament series is not the biggest game in town anymore. Ivey took most of 2015 WSOP series off to play for cash in Macau. It is reported he has a net worth of about $100,000,000. Grinding +30 tournaments for a few months every year in Vegas might not be at the top of his to-do list.

  

Still, he racked up his 10 wins from 2000-2014 with 4 more additional chances where he lost heads up for a bracelet. If anyone can catch Hellmuth he could do it. I think its just a matter of him wanting to.

Of course, there are plenty of other skilled players that could challenge for the bracelet count. Phil Hellmuth might get a few more before he is done. I think we can count on at least 10-20 more years of his showboat late entries. Some more table tirades when a bad beat gets him eliminated. He loves the game and being the bracelet count leader.

Thanks for the read. Interested in your comments if Hellmuth will hold the lead. Who do you think will pass him if not?

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