The World Series of Poker Main Event could be without one of its biggest stars this summer.
Phil Hellmuth, the all-time leader in WSOP tournament victories, announced late Monday on social media he will not play in this year’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship.
The 17-time WSOP champion said the Main Event has become an “endurance test” because of its grueling schedule and unfairly favors younger players.
“It’s just too tough,” Hellmuth said. “It’s just exhausting, and I can’t win, and I think that it really hurts the older players in a much bigger proportion than the younger players.”
I am not playing the @WSOP Main Event. It has become an “Endurance contest.”
I truly believe that 80% of the players want changes made to the @WSOP Main Event. 12 hour days, or longer, for 6-7 days in row, is brutal and disproportionately affects older players pic.twitter.com/7K4OcJOZ56
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) February 18, 2025
This year’s Main Event begins July 2 and concludes July 16 at Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas, according to the full schedule released Monday. The tournament features two-hour levels and often requires participants to play well after midnight to determine the champion.
Last year’s winner, 38-year-old Jonathan Tamayo, outlasted a record field of 10,112 entrants to claim the $10 million first prize. Since 2003, the only winners of the Main Event over the age of 40 are Hossein Ensan (55) and Damian Salas (45).
Hellmuth, whose nickname is the “Poker Brat,” turned 60 in July.
“I don’t think that the World Series of Poker Main Event is measuring skill,” Hellmuth said. “It’s still my favorite event in the world. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to miss it. But I know that I can’t do that.”
In 1989, Hellmuth became the youngest champion of the Main Event at 24. He added a win at the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event and is the only player with WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Event titles.
Hellmuth hasn’t cashed in the Main Event since 2015. In recent years, he made grand entrances to the tournament dressed as various characters such as Darth Vader (2022) and a karate black belt (2024).
But Hellmuth implied he wouldn’t return to the Main Event unless there were days off added to the schedule.
“If you go out there and you poll the players on whether or not they should have days off in the Main Event, 80 percent are going to say yes,” Hellmuth said. “I hope that in 2026 there’s some changes made so that we can restore more skill and less endurance. I really hope they make those changes.”
Contact David Schoen at [email protected] or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
