Three bracelets–that’s how many the following players won in a single year at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Zero–that’s how many you have won in your lifetime. One in a year is a dream for most people shelling out the thousands of dollars for an entry fee. Two in a year is a dream for any pro. Three in a year? Well only Jeffrey Lisandro, Ted Forrest, Phil Hellmuth, and Phil Ivey could tell you how that feels.

It was no surprise when Jeffrey Lisandro went on to win the 2009 Player of the Year a little over a year ago. With his victories in the $1,500 seven-card stud, the $2,500 razz, and the $10,000 seven-card stud hi/lo events, he solidified himself as a mixed game force to be reckoned with. If you don’t know the man behind the accomplishment, his most recognizable moment before calendars turned to 2009 was deep into the 2006 WSOP Main Event. He almost had fisticuffs with pro Prahlad Friedman after he accused him of stealing a missing ante that ESPN over-the-table cameras would later replay later show him posting. Lisandro would eventually take 16th place.

Back in 1993, when you were still in your PJs playing Street Fighter II Turbo and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Ted Forrest was making his comeuppances in the pokersphere. Playing tic-tac-toe with gold bracelets back when the WSOP was but a glisten in the poker boom’s eye, he won the $1,500 limit omaha hi/lo, $1,500 razz, and the $5,000 seven card stud events. Over a decade later in 2004, he would go on to earn bracelets #4 and #5, netting yet another multi-bracelet series when he won the $1,500 stud and no-limit hold’em events. Calling that impressive is saying the very least.

As if to say “anything you can do I can do better”, Phil Hellmuth went on to win three bracelets for himself in 1993: the $1,500 and $2,500 no-limit hold’em events, as well as staking his flag atop the field in the $5,000 limit hold’em. Already established as a world champion by that point, this feat would be the beginning of a bloated career steeped in high standard and tears of self-pity, then dried out with shining vanity.

Who better to round the list off than Phil Ivey, aka the Michael Jordan of the felt. The training wheels came off during his breakout year in 2002, when he won the $1,500 seven card stud, $2,500 seven card stud hi/lo, and the $2,000 S.H.O.E. (stud, hold’em, omaha hi/lo, stud h/l) events. These wins helped him afford a down payment on the cement foundation of his money pit, which he has been shoveling prize pools into ever since. His three-bracelet year was made all the more impressive recently in 2009, where he not only had his second multi-bracelet series ($2,500 omaha & stud hi/lo mixed, $2,500 no-limit deuce to seven lowball), but final tabled the Main Event. If players didn’t know of Ivey then, they certainly recognize his name now.

Do you see a trend though with most of these events? They’re mixed game tourneys, which bring drastically smaller fields and are only played by variant specialists. I’d make the defense that Hellmuth’s jewelry came from all hold’em events and those naturally have larger fields, but not in 1993, when there were only 63 players in his $5k event. Ted Forrest’s $5k stud win only saw a turnout of 57. Some of the greatest stud players in the world, yes, but a turnout that rivals that of town’s police charity hold’em tourney. That’s not to take away from any speakable accomplishment these players have earned with their victories or throughout their lifetimes, but I ask you this: is it harder to win three bracelets at events with an average field of 150 or cruise deep into a field of 2,000+?  I guess we’ll never know because they’re too busy doing both.

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