Is No. 18 on the Horizon? Phil Hellmuth Brings Big Stack to Final Day of $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship
A couple of weeks ago, Phil Hellmuth came agonizingly close to capturing his record-extending 18th lifetime bracelet at the 2025 World Series of Poker in the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo / Stud Hi-Lo mix, but ultimately fell short in third place.
Today, the "Poker Brat" may get a shot at split-pot redemption, as he is one of only 15 players returning to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas at 1 p.m. local time for the third and final day of Event #77: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, an event which attracted a record-breaking 186 entries to create a prize pool of $1,729,800 and a first-place prize of $411,051.
With 906,000 chips in his possession, Hellmuth sits in fourth on the leaderboard, having 18 big bets to play with at the start of Day 3. The Hall of Famer is still some ways away from chipleader Qinghai Pan, whose strong performance on Day 2 provided him with 1,581,000 in his bag, hunting a live bracelet to add to his two online ones. Jordan Siegel and Andrey Zhigalov round out the podium, while Luke Schwartz, Viktor Blom, and Alex Livingston also secured a spot in the top ten.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 3 Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 1,581,000 | 32 |
| 2 | Jordan Siegel | United States | 1,245,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Andrey Zhigalov | Russian Federation | 1,135,000 | 23 |
| 4 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | 906,000 | 18 |
| 5 | Luke Schwartz | United Kingdom | 774,000 | 15 |
| 6 | Timothy Frazin | United States | 766,000 | 15 |
| 7 | Paul Zappulla | United States | 754,000 | 15 |
| 8 | David Lin | United States | 703,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | 674,000 | 13 |
| 10 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 594,000 | 12 |
Tomasz Gluszko (590,000) and Christopher Claassen (421,000) find themselves in the bottom third of the field, but with absolute short-stack Jose Paz-Gutierrez's 302,000 being worth six big bets, there is plenty of room to maneuver for everyone.
The remaining 15 players have already locked up a payday of $24,393. Making the official final table of eight players will net them a minimum of $42,421, with six-figure payouts being reserved for the top four spots.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $411,051 | 9 | $34,233 | |
| 2 | $274,023 | 10-11 | $28,458 | |
| 3 | $188,105 | 12-15 | $24,393 | |
| 4 | $132,423 | |||
| 5 | $95,665 | |||
| 6 | $70,970 | |||
| 7 | $54,105 | |||
| 8 | $42,421 |
All remaining levels in the Stud Hi-Lo Championship will be 90 minutes long, with a short break scheduled after every level. Play will resume in Level 19, which has limits of 25,000/50,000, with a 5,000 ante and 7,000 bring-in. It is looking like a marathon day will be needed to crown a winner, but details regarding a dinner break have yet to be confirmed.
PokerNews will be on the floor to provide live updates from the very start until a champion has been crowned, so stay tuned to find out how the WSOP G.O.A.T. fares on his quest to capture bracelet 18.