Phil Hellmuth - Poker Pro, Poker Brat
| Player Profile: Name: Phil Helmuth Date of Birth: July 16, 1964 Nicknames: Poker Brat, Helmuth Claim to Fame: -Most bracelets in the history of the WSOP - 11 -Youngest player to win WSOP Main Event - 24 years, 303 days -Most bracelets won in a single WSOP - 3 in 1993 -Most WSOP final tables - 41 -Most WSOP cashes - 68 |
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When 24 year old Phil Hellmuth Jr. first burst onto the major tournament poker scene in 1989 with a World Series of Poker Main Event victory, what would amount to only the first of his eleven (and still counting) bracelets was actually a smaller news story than second place finisher Johnny Chan's near miss at a third consecutive Main Event title. That would be the last time that anything Phil Hellmuth Jr. did in the poker world would be considered "under the radar."
Hellmuth is a lightning rod, a classic mix of unparalleled levels of tournament poker ability and Oedipal levels of egocentrism. His accomplishments in the poker world are as famous as his tirades and generally prepubescent cardroom behavior.
Not only has he won 11 WSOP bracelets (the most of all time,) with all 11 won since 1989 Hellmuth has been lapping the WSOP field for nearly two decades - Erik Seidel is in second since Phil's arrival with 8 WSOP victories, Johnny Chan is third with 7. The Poker Brat is also the holder of other WSOP records; his 68 in-the-money finishes is the most of all time as is his all-time final table record of 41.
He is known as a Hold'em tournament specialist with all 11 WSOP victories coming in Hold'em variants. However, don't let his considerable success in Hold'em overshadow his other accomplishments: 14 times he has made a WSOP final table in a non-Hold'em event. In 1993, Phil won a record 3 bracelets in the same World Series of Poker and up until Nikolay Evdakov's historic 10 cash finishes in the 2008 World Series of Poker, Phil along with several other players held the record for most cash finishes in a single WSOP with 8.
He was the winner of the third season of the Poker after Dark series, he has appeared on 5 WPT final tables and he was the winner of the inaugural National Heads Up Poker Championship. Phil Hellmuth is without question, the greatest player in the history of the World Series of Poker and is one of the strongest heads up poker players.
But he's just so annoying. For every jewel in Hellmuth's crown there is a tarnished bit of unseemly behavior. His many televised rants include such famous lines as "I can dodge bullets, baby," "if luck weren't involved, I guess I'd win every one" and "this guy can't even spell poker." He regularly shuns poker etiquette by splashing the pot with over-zealous raises, talking/lamenting/ranting during hands in which he is uninvolved and he has publically called a majority of professional players donkeys, fishes and worse, including renowned pro Gus Hansen.
His ability in cash games has been called into question by his recent losses on the popular GSN High Stakes Poker television program. He is also one of the few multiple bracelet winners not to be included in the regular roster of players in the daily Big Game, held in Bobby's Room in the Bellagio in Las Vegas and frequented by such greats as Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, Sammy Farha and dozens more.
Phil is also a longtime endorser of beleaguered online poker site, UltimateBet.com and has been connected to suspected super-user Russ Hamilton through a home town involvement. Not to mention the fact that Phil was involved in the creation of UB (when the NIONIO loophole was thought to have been constructed by the super-users) and yet, Phil has remained conspicuously silent on the matter.
Like Stu Ungar before him, Phil is both a dominant poker force and a venomous poker personality. While his antics may be distasteful at best, Phil is without question one of the top 5 tournament pros in the world and could easily be considered the very best.
His personality has led to some interesting quotes and antics:
"I can dodge bullets baby!" - Against Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
"You can't even spell poker." - Speaking to an amateur who busted him in the '05 WSOP
Phil Hellmuth, hate him or love him, he's here to stay.
