Phil Hellmuth Is Alive at 99 Left in the $3,000 T.O.R.S.E., Hunting Bracelet 18

Phil Hellmuth has 17 gold bracelets, $20.2 million in lifetime earnings, 92 career final tables, and he's still in the $3,000 T.O.R.S.E. with 99 players left. He's hunting number 18 in exactly the kind of event where he's been most dangerous: a mixed-game rotation that rewards discipline across multiple formats rather than raw aggression in one.

Five of Hellmuth's 17 bracelets came in mixed-game events. Not Hold'em. Not PLO. The rotating formats where half the field punts in Razz or 2-7 Triple Draw because they only studied two of the five games on the menu. Hellmuth has built a career on being slightly better than everyone at everything, and T.O.R.S.E. is the purest expression of that edge.

Five of Hellmuth's 17 bracelets came in mixed-game events.

The Field at 99

The Day 2 field for Event #92 of the 2026 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas just dipped below 100 runners. And the names still standing suggest this final stretch will be a war of credentials.

Joseph Couden, a three-time bracelet winner with $2.34 million in lifetime earnings and 21 career final tables, is among the remaining players. Couden is the kind of opponent who doesn't give away chips in Stud Hi-Lo because he was bored and checked his phone. Kevin Gerhart brings four bracelets, a Circuit ring, and $1.2 million in career earnings across 11 final tables. Naseem Salem holds one bracelet and nearly $1.8 million in cashes.

Then there's Bari Sklar, sitting on $29,019 in lifetime tournament earnings. No bracelets. No recorded final tables. The presence of a player like Sklar in a field this deep is a reminder that T.O.R.S.E. events attract a strange mix: decorated mixed-game specialists alongside players who simply love the rotation and bought in for the experience. Both types are still alive.

Why T.O.R.S.E. Matters for Hellmuth

T.O.R.S.E. cycles through five games: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud Hi-Lo with an eight-or-better qualifier. Each rotation punishes one-dimensional players. If you crush Omaha Hi-Lo but bleed in Razz, the math catches up.

Hellmuth's mixed-game record isn't just good. It's historically unusual. Most players who accumulate double-digit bracelets do so primarily in No-Limit Hold'em. Hellmuth has done that too, but nearly a third of his bracelet wins came in events that required competence across four or five disciplines simultaneously. That ratio matters here.

At 99 left, the tournament is still far from a final table. Dozens of bustouts separate Hellmuth from another shot at the stage where he's performed 92 times before. But the format is right. The field composition, stacked with credentialed mixed-game players but also peppered with less experienced entries, mirrors the kind of events where Hellmuth has historically thrived.

The Obstacle

Couden and Gerhart represent a combined seven bracelets. Salem adds another. That's eight bracelets among just three of the 98 opponents still between Hellmuth and number 18. The mixed-game community is small and battle-tested, and several of these players have sat across from Hellmuth in exactly this format before.

The chip counts for the remaining field haven't been reported yet, so the stack dynamics remain unclear. What is clear: Hellmuth is alive in an event tailored to his strengths, surrounded by players who know how to play all five games, at a stage of the summer where every deep run adds to a legacy that already stands alone.

Bracelet 18 is still a long way off. But the path runs through a format Phil Hellmuth knows better than almost anyone alive.