Besim Hot Denies Phil Hellmuth His 16th World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

Phil Hellmuth was one player away from securing his record-furthering 16th World Series of Poker gold bracelet. He made it down to heads-up play in the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe €25,500 mixed games championship, but ultimately it was Besim Hot who emerged victorious with the hardware and the top prize of $428,361 USD. The Swiss player earned his first bracelet after topping a field of 45 total entries and overcoming a final table that included a number of multi-time bracelet winners: all-time bracelet leader Hellmuth, thee-time bracelet winner Benny Glazer and six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. Despite the tough competition, the self-employed Hot was not phased at the final table.

“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 emerging victorious.

The final day of this event began with Hot leading the remaining seven players at King’s Resort in Rozvadov. In attendance was a large group of poker fans who took time out from playing on the best UK live casinos in favor of watching the poker community’s best players compete for huge prizes. 2019 WSOP main event third-place finisher Alex Livingston was the first to hit the rail He got his last chips in with trip aces on sixth street playing seven-card stud eight-or-better. He was up against a straight for Hot and would need to make a full house or better to stay alive. He missed on seventh street and was knocked out in seventh place, earning $42,612 USD.

Daniel Negreanu’s run at earning his seventh bracelet in this event came to an end when he got his last chips in playing razz with the A-9/7-3-9. Hellmuth called with 8-2/5-J-3. Hellmuth hit an ace on sixth street to make an 8-5-3-2-A, while Negreanu double paired with a 7 to find himself drawing dead. ‘Kid Poker’ was eliminated in sixth place, earning $60,259 USD for his strong showing in this event. The points he earned from this score helped him take the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race for the time being.

WSOP bracelet winner Julien Martini was the next to fall. He ended up with a missed low draw and a pair of deuces up against two pair for Dzmitry Urbanovich in stud eight-or-better. Martini earned $86,027 USD as the fifth-place finisher.

Benny Glazer came close to securing his fourth WSOP title. In the end he got the last of his chips in playing no-limit hold’em. His J8 could not beat the pocket nines of Urbanovich and he was sent home with $123,975 USD.

Hot held the lead to start three-handed play, but Hellmuth closed the gap considerably by knocking out Urbanovich. The two got the money in after fourth street playing razz. Urbanovich held 6-2/K-7, while Hellmuth was ahead with 7-4/2-9. By seventh street Hellmuth had made an 8-7-4-3-2, while Urbanovich could only muster a Q-7-6-4-2. Urbanovich was awarded $180,334 USD for his third-place showing.

Hot took 24,075,000 into heads-up play against Hellmuth. In the span of an hour, Hot was able to extend that lead to more than a 18:1 advantage.

Hellmuth was able to recover a bit from his low point, but in the end was still well behind when the final cards were dealt. Hot bet the pot for 750,000 from the button. Hellmuth defended his big blind and the flop brought the 1099. Hellmuth checked and Hot bet 500,000. Hellmuth check-raised to 2,000,000, prompting Hot to move all in. Hellmuth called for around 7 million total with the A943 for trip nines with the best possible kicker. Hot alos had flopped trips, and had three live kickers with QJ97. The J on the turn gave Hot a full house to take the lead. The 4 gave Hellmuth a lower full house, but it was not enough to keep him alive in the event.

Hellmuth was denied his 16th bracelet for now, but did cash for $264,745 USD. He has now finished runner-up in 11 WSOP events.

Finished 2nd in @WSOP Mix Games tourney. Proud that I played sensational poker, so bummed out to not win…Worked my whole life to constantly improve at all of the mix games. It showed up w a 3rd and a 2nd in Mixed games THIS WEEK. But I am all about winning bracelet #16, sigh… pic.twitter.com/jhc50SvZaZ

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) October 23, 2019

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Winner photo provided by WSOP.

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