Phil Hellmuth Misses Out on First WPT Title

Phil Hellmuth, one of the players who has won 17 WSOP bracelets, still lacks a WPT Championship, which is one of the biggest gaps in his career. The player nicknamed "Poker Brat" also failed to reach that title in the $5,000 WPT Venetian Las Vegas Fall Championship.

A total of 510 players entered the tournament. The event began on Thursday, November 5, at The Venetian Las Vegas and had a prize pool of $2,346,000. Hellmuth lost a coin flip on Monday with three tables remaining, was eliminated in 20th place, and won $22,200. A six-handed final table will be played on Tuesday, and the champion will receive $446,800.

Hellmuth narrowly advanced from Day 1C with 39,000 chips. On Day 2, he increased his stack to 455,000. He entered Monday's Day 3 with 29 players remaining but sat 22nd in chips, with 18 big blinds, which left him in a difficult position. Landon Tice, Jesse Lonis, and Shannon Shorr were eliminated. Shorr finished 21st and won $19,500, and with his exit the remaining 20 players were guaranteed at least $22,200. By then, Hellmuth had fallen to the bottom of the chip counts.

With 10 big blinds left, he moved all in with ace-queen against Nick Pupillo's pocket jacks. Hellmuth needed an ace or a queen to survive, but neither came.

After his elimination, Hellmuth posted on X to express his disappointment. "Very disappointing result, folks. I finished 20th. Poker can really be maddening sometimes," he said. Recalling a hand early in the tournament where he won with ace-queen against ace-king, Hellmuth added that he believed he still had a strong chance to go on a longer run.