Phil Hellmuth has already cemented his legacy as one of the greatest tournament players in poker history. Hellmuth won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet by becoming the WSOP Main Event Champion in 1989. He has since added 14 more WSOP bracelets to his resume for a record 15. But while Hellmuth has enjoyed success in mixed games and has won bracelets in them, one bracelet that has eluded him is a H.O.R.S.E. event bracelet. The 15-time bracelet winner spoke about the importance of winning one of these before the final table of this year’s $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament began.
“I have wanted to win a HORSE tourney ever since I watched [Doyle Brunson] win a WSOP HORSE in 2003,” Hellmuth said in a pair of tweets on Friday night. “I didn’t have the skill set to win HORSE then, but I have spent thousands of hours working on my HORSE game over the last 25 years (playing and discussing each and every game with other top pros like [Mike Matusow].” Hellmuth went on to say that he had scored a third place finish and a second place finish in mixed game tournaments in 2019, signing off with his signature hashtag “#POSITIVITY”.
Both of those results came in the World Series of Poker Europe in 2019. Hellmuth finished third in a €2,500 8-Game Mix event for €31,058 and just a few days later finished runner-up in the WSOPE €25,500 Mixed Games Championship for €238,509.
Settling for sixth place in the 2021 $25K H.O.R.S.E. event
Unfortunately for Hellmuth, it wasn’t meant to be in Event #2 of the 2021 WSOP. Hellmuth opened the day sitting fifth in chips and wasn’t able to get much going. He would eventually have to settle for a sixth-place finish for $95,329. His final hand of the day was a seven card stud hand against Chad Eveslage. The money went in on third street and Eveslage improved to a pair of sevens on fourth street, which held on for the win.
Hellmuth felt good about his play after the event. “Thinking back, I have blown many WSOP tourneys due to exhaustion, which causes me to play poorly,” Hellmuth tweeted after his elimination. “At today’s final table, and for 99% of the last two days, I played my A-game.” Despite putting up what Hellmuth reports as his best effort in this H.O.R.S.E. tournament, the cards didn’t go his way.
About an hour later, Hellmuth sent out another tweet about finding the positivity, saying that for all the times he has played great and fell short, he can still look back and see the 15 WSOP bracelets he has won. While no one else on the planet can relate to having 15 WSOP bracelets, many can relate to the message of trusting the process and hard work to eventually generate results.
Hellmuth will still have three more cracks at winning a WSOP H.O.R.S.E. bracelet in 2021 with the $1,500 Event #27, $3,000 Event #32, and the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship all still ahead on the schedule.
Featured Image Credit: Flickr - WPT
