Five days after Phil Ivey moved alone into second place all-time by winning his 11th bracelet, Phil Hellmuth is on the verge of extending his record.
The "Poker Brat" has reached the final table in Event #43: $1,500 Mixed Omaha on Tuesday, meaning he could be hours away from capturing his 18th bracelet, seven more than any other player has won.
There has been a small delay to the start of play as the remaining players are moving to the Horseshoe Black section.
Michael Jordan. Tom Brady. Tiger Woods. Serena Williams. Phil Ivey. What do these five superstars have in common? They're all widely considered the best to have ever done it in their respective sports.
On Thursday, Ivey captured his 11th World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet when he took down Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed). That puts him alone in second place behind the 17 bracelets Phil Hellmuth holds.
PokerNews asked some players at the WSOP why they think Ivey is the G.O.A.T., and we received some interesting answers from some of the best in the game.
Earlier this year on an ordinary Monday afternoon, a bespectacled man walked into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on Las Vegas Blvd. Tucked under his arm was an uninteresting box that only he knew contained something rather interesting – a pair of gold watches dating back more than 40 years.
These were not your run-of-the-mill wristwear, but rather evidence of a unique and often overlooked time of poker history, a year when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet, now the game’s highest accolade, was replaced in favor of watches.
The man holding the box was David Sklansky, who in 1978 forever changed poker by advocating a mathematical approach to the game in his groundbreaking book The Theory of Poker. Nicknamed “The Mathematician,” he proved his prowess just four years later when he won two WSOP tournaments in five days.
First, he won the 1982 WSOP Event #7: $800 Mixed Doubles Limit Seven Card Stud, a tournament that paired one man with one woman, alongside Dani Kelly, and followed that up by taking down Event #12: $1,000 Limit 5-Card Draw High. A year later, the Binions reverted back to the beloved bracelets players know today, and Sklansky captured his third piece of WSOP hardware by winning Event #11: $1,000 Limit Omaha.
It was a remarkable accomplishment, and for more than four decades he’s kept safe the evidence of his victories, both of which still worked. So, why was Sklansky carrying his 1982 WSOP gold watches, two of only 15 ever awarded, into a pawn shop? Well, he was looking to sell them of course, but not to just any of the dozens of pawn shops spread across Las Vegas. Oh no, he was walking into arguably the most famous pawn shop in the world, the home to the wildly popular television show Pawn Stars, and he was there to do it with cameras rolling.
Read all about the 1982 WSOP watches here in our feature article!
The remaining 44 players have been sent on a 60-minute dinner break. Play is due to recommence at approximately 6:40 p.m.
Action was picked up on the flop with 130,000 in the pot and a board showing 9♠6♠8♦. Damien Le Goff went all in and was called by Danny Vo for 460,000.
Damien Le Goff: Q♠J♠ 
Danny Vo: J♣10♦
Le Goff was at risk but was ahead with queen-high, to go along with his flush draw. The turn was the K♠ that left Vo drawing dead on the river. The A♠ completed the board on the river, giving Le Goff the double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,055,000
430,000
|
430,000 |
|
200,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
Edmond Chee was attempting to play for a chip and a chair with one red chip and was all in and Owner and publisher of CardPlayer
magazine was the last player left to call and only needed to remove half of his big blind to call.
Edmond Chee: J♦8♥
Barry Shulman: A♥7♦
The board offered no reprieve for Chee with 9♦5♠4♠4♥6♠ and Shulman's ace high with a pair of fours beat Chee.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
840,000
681,000
|
681,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Short-stacked Yita Choong moved all in preflop for 140,000 and then Juan Carlos Vecino min-clicked it to 255,000, which resulted in folds around the table to give him the isolation.
Yita Choong: K♥10♦
Juan Carlos Vecino: A♠K♣
Choong would need a lot of help to come out alive in this one, but he sure got it as the runout of 5♠8♠6♣9♦7♥ gave both players a straight, but Choong's ten gave him the superior one to take the pot for a double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,410,000
1,750,000
|
1,750,000 |
|
340,000
204,000
|
204,000 |
Javier Gomez raised under the gun to 50,000 and was called by Yunkyu Song in middle position. When action folded to the big blind James Chen, he three-bet all in for 405,000. Gomez folded, and Song sat in the tank debating his decision. Song had a dice with numbers ranging from 1-20 on it, and said "10 or lower I call", he rolled a five, and put the chips in to make the call.
James Chen: A♣8♠
Yunkyu Song: 5♦5♣
After rolling a five, Songs pocket fives were ahead, and when the board ran out 10♣Q♣2♥Q♦5♠. Song improved to a set of fives, to eliminate Chen.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,835,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
||
|
1,325,000
365,000
|
365,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
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