History was on the line yesterday as the 15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth came close to winning his 16th WSOP bracelet. He made it to heads-up play in the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) €25,500 mixed games championship for his record 16th WSOP bracelet. However, it was not meant to be his day as the Swiss player Besim Hot ran pretty hot like his name to beat Hellmuth in heads-up and take home €385,911 in the top prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Hot topped a field of 45 entries and overcame a star-studded final table that had all-time bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, thee-time bracelet winner Benny Glazer and six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. Hot was on a massive heater and went on to outlast all his tough opponents at the FT.
“I played my game from the start, like always, and kept building pots. I didn’t play my cards but the opponents. Most of my hands were bluffs as you could see, especially in the big pots, and forced my opponents to fold. It didn’t really matter who was sitting at my table, I just play my game against Phil Ivey, Isildur, and all the others,” Hot told WSOP reporters after winning his first WSOP bracelet.
Hot started the final day as chip leader among the remaining 7 players. Alex Livingston was the first player to hit the rail. He shoved all his stack with trip aces on sixth street playing seven-card stud eight-or-better. He was up against a straight for Hot and needed to hit a full house or better to survive. However, he missed it on seventh street and got eliminated in seventh place for €38,389.
Another star on the table was Daniel Negreanu, who was looking for his 7th bracelet. However, his run ended in 6th place for €54,287. Following him in 5th place was WSOP bracelet winner Julien Martini who earned €77,502 for his deep finish. The next to go out was Benny Glaser who finished 4th for €111,689, missing out on his 4th WSOP title. In the end, he shoved all-in playing no-limit hold’em. His Jc 8s failed to beat pocket nines of Urbanovich and he exited in 4th place.’
Despite Urbanovich knocking out Glazer in 4th, it was Hot who held the lead to start 3-handed play. However, Hellmuth closed the gap considerably by knocking out Urbanovich in 3rd place (€162,463).
Finally, it came to heads-up between Hot and Hellmuth, with the former having 24,075,000 in chips. Like his name, Hot ran really hot in heads-up and was able to extend his lead to more than a 18:1 advantage within an hour. Hellmuth was able to recover but it was Hot who won it in the end.
The last hand of the tournament was a PLO hand and it saw Hot raising from the button holding Qc Js 9s 7h and Hellmuth defended his big blind with Ah 9d 4h 3c. The flop ran 10c 9h 9c and Hellmuth checked to Hot who decided to bet. Hellmuth check-raised to 2,000,000 and Hot moved all in. Hellmuth called for around 7 million for trip nines. Hot had also flopped trips and the Jc on the turn gave Hot a full house. The 4c gave gave Hellmuth a lower full house, but it was not enough to keep him alive in the event. With that, Hot won the pot as well as his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Final Table Payouts
- Besim Hot – €385,911
- Phil Hellmuth – €238,509
- Dmitry Urbanovich – €162,463
- Benny Glaser – €111,689
- Julien Martini – €77,502
- Daniel Negreanu – €54,287
- Alex Livingston – €38,389
