‘Poker Brat’ takes bad beat, eliminated from WSOP Main Event — WATCH
Phil Hellmuth’s dream of winning the World Series of Poker Main Event ended Tuesday.
The 17-time WSOP champion was eliminated from the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas in brutal fashion against opponent Michael Zulker.
After starting Day 3 with a healthy chip stack, Hellmuth was sent packing before the second break when Zulker hit the only card in the deck that would improve his hand.
He wasn't going to play, but now he's no longer allowed to play as all his chips are gone! @phil_hellmuth with a sickening exit from the 2025 @WSOP Main Event extending his drought in the greatest tournament of all time to 10 years! pic.twitter.com/KtSQ7FVoYY
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 9, 2025
Zulker opened the action with pocket queens and was called by Leon Sturm with pocket eights. When the action got to Hellmuth, he ripped in his final 93,000 chips, which was a little more than 30 big blinds, holding ace-king.
The rest of the table folded back around to Zulker. After careful consideration, he moved all-in to force Sturm out of the hand.
The flop of four-jack-three didn’t change anything, but the king on the turn gave Hellmuth a pair and the lead in the hand. The river card was the final queen in the deck to give Zulker three-of-a-kind, which left the remaining players stunned.
Hellmuth, who threatened not to play in the Main Event this year before changing his mind and making his grand entrance Thursday, quietly packed up his belongings and left without one of his trademark blowups.
Hellmuth has not cashed in the Main Event since 2015.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
