'I messed this final table up' – Hellmuth slips as Wilson wins Last Chance 3

Brandon Wilson winner of PGT Last Chance 3

Posted on: January 9, 2026 02:29 PST

Another final table at the PGT Last Chance series, and another near-miss for Phil Hellmuth, who finished fifth in the Last Chance #3 event in Las Vegas on Thursday.

There was no tirade from the Poker Brat. In fact, he blamed himself in a post on X, saying, "I messed this final table up. Finished 5th, 100% my fault... Today, when the strategy was clear and obvious to me, I deviated and made a bad call."

Hellmuth also posted a hand where Brandon Wilson got the best of him and acknowledged the "good play."

It was Wilson who went on to win, taking the first prize of $275,400 and the all-important 275 PGT points. He started the final day second in chips behind Sergio Aido, and it came down to a heads-up battle between the two of them after Jeremy Becker was eliminated in third.

Wilson started heads-up with a 2:1 chip lead and found a monster hand to set the trap to seal the win.

Wilson limped the small blind with , and Aido shoved his 3,650,000 stack with . Aido picked up a pair on the flop, but the turn and river sealed the win for Wilson.

PokerGO hadn’t planned to stream any of the Last Chance final tables but made an exception with Hellmuth in the spotlight.

Wilson & Hellmuth set for Dream Seats

It leaves Wilson (and Hellmuth) within touching distance of a seat in the $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll that starts on Monday. The top 40 on the PGT Leaderboard qualify for this, and Wilson's win leaves him with a real shot of breaking into the qualifying seats.

However, it's the second route to the Championship Freeroll that is now more likely for him.

Wilson is now leading the PGT Last Chance leaderboard, where the top five players earn seats to the $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll.

With Patrick Leonard already qualified via the main leaderboard, the current top five in line for Last Chance seats are Wilson, Clemen Deng, David 'ODB' Baker, Jeremy Becker, and Phil Hellmuth..

Hellmuth was back for Last Chance #4 on Thursday but couldn’t add to his points tally with a cash. Seven players remain from the field of 126, with Landon Tice leading the way with Aido close behind.

Hellmuth will be hoping one of Aido, Wantman, Rheem or Coleman goes on to win – all would qualify through the main PGT leaderboard. However, the reality is that Hellmuth will need another deep run in one of the last two Last Chance events to secure his seat in next week's season-ending finale. Last Chance #5 starts on Friday and Last Chance #6 on Saturday.

The PGT $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll starts on Monday and will be streamed live.