America is well-known for its lavish casinos and a thriving gambling scene. Based on the latest US casino stats, there are more than 2,000 casinos in the United States, and millions of people visit them on the regular.
Among a wide variety of different games casinos have to offer, poker is undoubtedly the most popular one. However, while there’s plenty of poker to be played at the casinos, some players prefer to play against the best of the best, which is what WSOP is all about.
The World Series of Poker has been around for a few decades. It is the most prestigious poker tournament in the world, and every year it attracts the crème de la crème of the poker world. The tournament is comprised of numerous events, and every event winner is awarded a WSOP bracelet.
Throughout the years, many players have managed to win a WSOP bracelet. Some, even more than just one. However, who are some of the best poker players in the world and the ones that have the most WSOP bracelets?
Well, that’s what we are here to find out.
1. Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth has one of the most recognizable faces in the poker world. Or rather, most recognizable personalities. Nicknamed The Poker Brat, Phil Hellmuth is the most decorated poker player of all time. Hellmuth won 16 WSOP bracelets and earned around $16 million from WSOP tournaments alone.
In addition, Hellmuth won the WSOP Main Event in 1989 and the Main Event at the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE). At the time of writing, Hellmuth is ranked 19th on the all-time money list and holds a record for the most WSOP cashes with 154.
2. Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson is widely regarded as one of the most influential poker players in the world. Born in Texas in 1933, Texas Dolly spent half a century playing poker. Throughout his career, Brunson has won ten WSOP bracelets and had 37 money finishes at the WSOP.
Like Phil Hellmuth, Brunson won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker twice, once in 1976 and then again, the following year in 1977. He is also the first of six players ever to win both the WSOP Main Event and World Poker Tour.
3. Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey is the youngest among the players with double-digit bracelet wins. At the time of writing, Ivey shares second place with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan and is a proud owner of ten WSOP bracelets. However, unlike Brunson, Ivey is still an active player and will most likely have plenty of opportunities to overtake Texas Dolly.
In addition to the bracelets, Ivey won the World Poker Tour once and has managed to reach the final table 31 times at the WSOP and had 59 money finishes.
4. Johnny Chan
Like Ivey and Brunson, Johnny Chan has ten WSOP bracelets under his belt. Interestingly, even though Hellmuth is leading the race, Johnny Chan was the first one to manage to win ten WSOP bracelets. Chan was the first foreign player to win the WSOP Main Event.
He won it back-to-back in 1987 and 1988. Not only that, but he also managed to win his third consecutive Main Event, but he lost at the final table in a heads-up match against Phil Hellmuth in 1989.
5. Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel has won nine WSOP bracelets. At the moment, he is tied for third place with the late Johnny Moss. Seidel had 41 final tables at the WSOP and 114 money finishes. Furthermore, he also has one World Poker Tour and one European Poker Tour title to his name.
In his first major tournament, Seidel was a runner-up to Johnny Chan in the 1988 World Series of Poker Main Event.
