HOLY Frickin' CRAP!!!!! You are right!

mods: Please replace the Hawkins ring circuit entry with the Hellmuth 3 peat back to back to back in 1993. The earlier you replace it the better while the poll is still young.

This is the answer when it comes to tournaments, realistically the answer is whoever has won the most in the side games for the last 15-20 years.

Someone will need to check this, but I think that Dan Harrington also made the final table of the Main Event in 1987.

Mason

Everything pre-2004 had such small fields that it should almost be a separate category. It's fun to talk about what people like Chan and Ungar did, but it was such a different universe back then. Comparing that stuff to the present day is like trying to compare Wilt Chamberlain's stats with someone in the NBA now. Different times.

I don't play mixed games, but this Friedman thing is just wild and suggests a crazy level of all-around poker ability. Mizrachi seems like a bit of luckbox, but the $50k record is also hard to ignore. It seems like it would be hard to fluke that many wins against that level of competition.

The Main Event is such a specific type of tournament (huge field/NLHE/rec-heavy) that thriving in it almost seems like a specific skill set. Obviously the Ungar and Chan stuff is legendary. We've had multiple players like Saout, Lamb, Newhouse, Pollak, Livingston, Cynn, and Cada make the final 27 2-3 times in the modern era. It's extremely impressive, but also statistically inevitable with so many cards in the hat to get a repeat performance here and there. Of those guys, I'd probably most like to have Cada's results.

This Friedman thing might really be the winner though. Unreal stuff.

I'll throw out one other fun one: Between 2000-2014, Phil Ivey won 10 bracelets, and they're almost all in different variants, including numerous mixed games. This may surprise you, but he has zero bracelets in any form of hold 'em.

As pointed out, Hellmuth won 3 in a row in 1993. Ted Forrest won 3 in a rown in 1993 as well:


By doing math based on field sizes, the Chan feat of 1/1/2 was 1 in 2,259,176.
The Freidman 3peat was 1 in 1,259,406.
The Forrest 3 in a row was 1 in 1,470,600,
but the Hellmuth 3 in a row was 1 in 3,095,316.

I once won the $25 pool freeroll on Wsop.com 8:30pm event 3 nights in a row with avg. field of 270 players. That was 1 in 19 million. I won $5.50 each time.

Of the list given, I would vote Hellmuth 16 bracelets when nobody else has over 10 is the correct choice when you also consider his 3 in a row above as well.

Yes, Dan got 6th in the main event in 1987, 152 player field.

https://www.wsop.com/tournaments/res...=2112&grid=212

James Moore also won the Super Seniors back to back in 2016 and 2017 with avg. field of about 1600 players. That was a 1 in 2,548,720 feat. But still below Hellmuth's numbers. He also got 2nd in the online seniors bracelet event in 2020 with 720 players.

https://www.wsop.com/tournaments/upd...tid=15635&rr=5

Chan's 1st, 1st, 2nd was in the main event which gives that a lot more gravitas in my opinion. That's what I voted.

I understand where you are coming from and freidman and hellmuths 3 in a row are certainly impressive. But comparing a $1,500 razz event to the main event is the equivalent of comparing 3 NFL regular season wins in a row vs. johnny chans 2 super bowl wins in a row followed by a 3rd super bowl loss. I have to go with Chan simply because he achieved his feat at the main event.

I forgot about Greg Raymer
Wins Main in 2004
25th place the following year

Also should consider George Danzer
3 bracelets in 2014
Razz Championship
Stud 8 Championship
8 Game Mix
plus 5th in 2-7 Championship, 6th in another 8 game mix and 9th in the 6-handed championship

Personally I voted for the Mizrachi 3x winner of the 50K players choice. I don't claim to be anywhere near that level, but I really get the impression that this event is the one the pros consider the real world championship.

Ok since we are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel for greatest wsop achieve, my nomination is ....

Jen Harman for showing the poise and discipline for NOT reaching across the table and ***** slapping this guy for the worst televised slow roll in WSOP history.



pic for those that rem this hand. youtube video is hosed up on this for some reason

Yes, good call. Also 25th in 2016

Hellmuth also has 12 second place finishes including one three weeks after scoring the 3-peat in 1993.

Harrington not getting nearly enough love here.

How did Ivey winning 3 bracelets in 2002 get left out?

It's before I was even born so difficult to meaningfully consider for me, but Puggy Pearson won 3 of the 5 events in 1973, including the ME. I think that should rate a mention.

Yes without a doubt - everything else is fight for second

PH's 16 bracelets is very epic.

His record at final tables is in itself very strong. When he makes a final table, he wins or takes second almost half the time.

Stu Ungar. The ultimate legend.

this is why i chose not to vote out of protest

Newhouse back to back top 9 finish in mail was "only" 1 in 524,0179. That pales to Hellmuth 3 in row at 3 mil, Chan 1-1-2 at 2.26 mil. and Friedman 3 peat at 1.26 mil.

If you think 9th only, then it is only one in 6,500, as 9th is no more special than finishing in exactly 27th or 214th two years in a row as well.

the tweet though

white magic can't be quantified

also wasn't chan and hellmuth going vs a few hundo people? newhouse did it when simply being a final tabler made you a household name while nobody heard of chan til many years later and from watching rounders

So just because he tweeted beforehand makes this the greatest WSOP achievement of all time?

What if no tweet? Not the greatest?

What if tweet but finishes 8th the second time? Not the greatest?