Every sport has its bad boys. Baseball had Ty Cobb and Pete Rose, basketball had Gene Rodman and poker has Phil Hellmuth Jr.
While poker cannot really be called a sport, it is a skill game as defined by California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Helmut, a native of Madison, WI. who dropped out of college after three years of study to play poker full-time, is one of the world's winningest poker players. Going into 2016, he had won 14 World Series of Poker bracelets and nearly $20 million in cash.
He gained his bad boy reputation by the way he treats others players. Hellish has called his foes 'idiots,' 'jerks' and other names that would be unprintable in a family newspaper. Once in the 'Poker After Dark' television show, he even left the game and walked off the set after asking the other players to stop talking while he contemplated whether to call a raise made by Annie Duke.
Helmuth actually caused the problem to escalate. The other players obeyed his request to stop talking. But when Phil began muttering to himself, Huck Seed could not resist the urge to say, 'Please be quiet so I can talk.'
The table erupted in laughter and Hellmuth angrily threatened to never play on the TV show again and walked off the set. The producers held a hasty conference with him and he returned to the game, only to be eliminated a few hands later.
Years ago while writing for a poker magazine in Las Vegas, I met Hellmuth at a poker tournament at the Rio Resort. I actually found him to be a pleasant person who was very animated in our conversation (We weren't playing poker).
We discussed his strategy at the table and he said, 'I am one of the luckiest people alive. I have a wonderful wife, great children, a beautiful home in California and I'm lucky at poker. It doesn't get much better than that.'
Helmut does have some strange quirks that he brings to the poker table. For one thing, he rarely shows up on time to start a tournament, preferring to be a late-comer. I also saw him leave the table and lay down on the floor to take a quick nap between hands. The sleep must have done him some good because he later made the final table.
Phil was only 24 when he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet. That happened in 1989. Now 52, he holds the record for the most WSOP cashes (108) and the most WSOP final tables (52).
He has won 12 bracelets in Texas Hold'em and has cashed in at 2-7 lowball, seven-card stud high low, seven card razz, Omaha pot limit and the mixed game of H.O.R.S.E. His biggest paycheck for a single event was just over $1 million in the 2012 WSOP main event.
Hellmuth won the 1989 WSOP by beating two-time champion Johnny Chan in heads-up play.
He became the second player in history to win three bracelets in one WSOP. The other winner was Walter 'Puggy' Pearson.
Phil ran into a bit of bad luck at the 2007 WSOP main event. His sponsor had provided him with a race car to make his appearance at the tournament. Unfamiliar with the intricacies of the car, he lost control of it at the Rio Resort and crashed into a light fixture. He arrived in a limo at the event two hours late.
P.S. Hellmuth proved his luck was still holding by winning $637,254 in the $1,500 No Limit Texas Hold'em event.
Poker's bad boy won several events in the 'Poker After Dark' television show where he appeared regularly as a player and commentator. He also created the software for Ultimate Poker and was selected as a member of Team UB.
He is an author and creator of strategy videos for poker players, including 'Phil Hellmuth's Million Dollar Poker System.' Books he has authored include 'Poker Brat,' 'The Greatest Poker Hands Ever Played' and 'Bad Beats and Lucky Draws.'
Helmut's wife, Katherine, is a psychiatrist at Stanford University. They have two sons Phillip 111 and Nicholas.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
