The list of individual achievements at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is highlighted by Phil Hellmuth’s 16 WSOP bracelets and Joe Cada being the youngest WSOP Main Event champion at just eight days shy of his 22nd birthday.
Although poker isn’t a team sport, a “team” record was extended this week from Bally’s / Paris on the Las Vegas Strip with Dan Zack winning his second WSOP bracelet of the 2022 series. Dating back to the 2000 WSOP, at least one player has won two or more bracelets in a single calendar year. With Zack’s win in the $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship, the streak lives on for another year.
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Streak Begins in 2000
When Chris Ferguson won two WSOP bracelets in 2000, he kickstarted a streak that has now run for 23 consecutive series. The longest streak prior to that was a pair of four-year stretches: one beginning in 1976, which saw Doyle Brunson, Howard “Tahoe” Andrew, Gary “Bones” Berland, Lakewood Louie, and Bobby Baldwin each win multiple WSOP bracelets; the other beginning in 1981, with Stu Ungar, Billy Baxter, Tom McEvoy, Dewey Tomko, and Jack Keller each winning multiple WSOP bracelets.
The longest drought of no player winning multiple bracelets at the WSOP started in 1985 and stretched to the 1993 WSOP when Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest each won three bracelets, while Humberto Brenes won two. Hellmuth and Forrest are two of only six players to have three WSOP bracelets in a year. The others are Puggy Pearson (1973), Phil Ivey (2002), Jeff Lisandro (2009), and George Danzer (2014).
“I think it would be even easier now than back then,” Lisandro said. “I believe that at the time I did it in 2009, there were a lot fewer tournaments. The standard of players was probably even better too, especially in the games I won.”
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Lisandro won three stud tournaments in 2009; the $1,500 Stud, $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship, and was crowned WSOP Player of the Year.
“In the stud games, there were only very experienced players,” Lisandro said. “Now I think it would be easier, but I think you have to be young to be able to do it. It took a lot of stamina. I probably missed another one because I think I was just too exhausted.”
Hellmuth amazingly holds the record of being the only player to win multiple bracelets three times. Along with winning three WSOP bracelets in 1993, he won two each in 2003 and 2012. The only other players to win multiple bracelets on multiple occasions were Brunson, Berland, Forrest, Ferguson, Ivey, Men Nguyen, Layne Flack, Tom Schneider, and Michael Addamo.
“It’s almost easier to win two WSOP bracelets in one year than it is to win one,” Hellmuth said. “Once you get there, it seems like there is a clear path to get there again. You know you are playing well, and you’re ready to take advantage of a little run good.”
WSOP Main Event winners account for 12 of the single-year multiple bracelet winners with two of those including Daniel Negreanu, who won the 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event, and Hellmuth, who won the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event.
Since the 1970 WSOP, there have been 82 occurrences of a player winning multiple bracelets in a calendar year. Of the 53 annual WSOPs, in 36 of them, a multiple-bracelet winner was crowned.
Dan Zack Wins Stud Hi-Lo Championship
After winning his second career WSOP bracelet in Event #15: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship for $440,757, Zack would claim gold once more when he won the Event #40: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship for $324,174 in prize money.
Zack now joins an illustrious list of poker players including Antonio Esfandiari, Nick Schulman, Doug Polk, Justin Bonomo, Phil Galfond, Sammy Farha, and David “Chip” Reese who are some of the 56 poker players to have won three WSOP bracelets.
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“It feels special,” Zack said. “It feels very nice given that I’ve just started committing to full World Series of Poker schedules. Such positive feedback for committing to such a brutal schedule has made it feel worth it.”
Along with winning two bracelets, Zack is the front-runner in the WSOP Player of the Year race ahead of Daniel Weinman, David Peters, and Chad Eveslage. Phil Ivey is currently sitting in 10th place after reaching three final tables and cashing five times this series.
“I still don’t think I would be a betting favorite,” Zack said. “I don’t really know that I could push any harder. I haven’t not been in an event for the last three weeks. I just immediately hop into the next one as soon as I bust each one.”
Will the Streak Ever End?
With the combination of the WSOP in Las Vegas and Europe, along with WSOP Online bracelet events, the streak is a favorite to continue.
“The number of events continues to grow so it’s a huge favorite to happen every year,” Negreanu said. “I imagine there will be an anomaly at some point so I would say yes [to the streak ending].”
Professional poker players are only getting better, and with the introduction of more high roller poker tournaments that attract small fields, there are more options than ever for the best tournament players in the world to win multiple bracelets.
The only question that remains unanswered is, when will a poker player win a record four WSOP bracelets in a single year?
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