Phil Hellmuth has missed out on bracelet number 18, falling short at the final table of the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the 2026 WSOP after starting the day third in chips with 1.75 million.
The Poker Brat extended his record for WSOP final tables by reaching another one, this time in Event #9 of the 2026 series. He entered the official final table behind chip leader Dylan Weisman, with every player guaranteed at least $54,214 and the winner pencilled in for $450,176. As PokerNews put it heading in, "Hellmuth's about to prove his doubters wrong again." The bracelet itself, though, stayed out of reach.
The numbers
Hellmuth's career WSOP haul still sits at 17 bracelets, the all-time record. Event #9 is a Championship event, meaning a $10K buy-in, a bracelet, and the kind of mixed-game field that rewards Hellmuth's old-school live-read style. Going in third with 1,750,000 against an Omaha Hi-Lo specialist like Weisman was always going to be the kind of spot where the variance pivots an entire week. It pivoted away.
Why bracelet 18 is the whole story
Hellmuth has spent the last three Series talking openly about bracelet 18 as the next career milestone, both on his own YouTube channel and on podcasts. The argument is straightforward: 17 is already a record nobody else can touch in the short term (Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey are all on 10), and 18 is the round-number victory lap. Every deep run he makes in 2026 will be framed against that target until he books it.
I'm going to keep showing up and reaching final tables. One of them is going to be number eighteen.
Phil Hellmuth (paraphrased from his recent vlogs)
The bigger 2026 WSOP picture
Hellmuth's near-miss arrives in the same week that Daniel Negreanu has been hyping the upgraded WSOP coverage and the move to the ESPN Main Stage. The TV-friendly storyline is obvious: a Hellmuth deep run on the new stage, with bracelet 18 actually on the line, is the kind of moment the broadcast booth has been waiting for. The 2026 schedule still has roughly fifty bracelet events left to play. Hellmuth is registered for most of the mixed-game stops.
What's next
Expect Hellmuth to remain in Las Vegas through the bulk of the 2026 WSOP, with a particular eye on the Dealer's Choice, H.O.R.S.E. and Stud bracelets where his live-read edge is biggest. Until 18 lands, every Hellmuth article in this Series will run with the same subtext. We'll track it on the Hellmuth profile.
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