If it’s poker you are talking about, then there is a good chance that Phil Hellmuth is in the conversation. Born Phillip J. Hellmuth, Jr. on July 16, 1964, Hellmuth has come a long way from his humble beginning in Madison Wisconsin. He is currently one of the most prolific poker players in the history of the game and can be found in the Hall of Fame of poker. In addition to that, his claim to fame is the ownership of the most World Series of Poker titles of any player on earth with 11.
Hellmuth didn’t waste any time making a name for himself on the international poker circuit. He burst onto the scene in 1989, winning the World Series of Poker’s Main Event and becoming the youngest player to ever do so. At the age of 24, he had a bright future ahead, even though his greatest triumph was already completed. He didn’t win the event cheaply, either. He had to knock off poker legend Johnny Chan, who remains one of the all-time poker greats and was, at the time, the defending champion of the event. His success has been long standing and in 2006, Hellmuth won his tenth world series bracelet. That tied him with the aforementioned Chan and also with poker legend Doyle Brunson for most bracelets of all time. Hellmuth has the unique distinction of holding all of his titles in Texas Hold’em, though, while the other players won bracelets in an assortment of games. Hellmuth won his 11th bracelet in 2007, when he claimed the $1,500 event at the WSOP. That gave him the record to go along with his already held record for World Series of Poker cashes and World Series of Poker final tables.
Hellmuth’s career winnings at the World Series of Poker total more than $5 million, which puts him a lofty 7th all-time on the WSOP money list. This is a testament to his consistency at the game that he loves, No Limit Texas Hold’em.
Though he has found enormous success playing in World Series of Poker tournaments, Phil Hellmuth has not experienced similar success on the World Poker Tour. He has actually never won a WPT event, a fact that bothers Hellmuth each and every day. Nine times, he has been in the money at these events and he has twice made a final table, but he’s never finished on top. It is worth noting, however, that Hellmuth doesn’t make it a point to play in as many World Poker Tour tournaments as he does other events around the world.
Still, the “Poker Brat”, as he is often called, has earned more than $500,000 total in World Poker Tour events. That isn’t a bad payday by any means.
Hellmuth also frequents a number of other, smaller events just to keep his game sharp. He won season three of the made for television poker series called Late Night Poker. In addition, he was the champion of the inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2005. On this way to that title, he knocked off some very big poker names, including Men Nguyen, Huck Seed, and in the final, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. He came back a year later to defend his title, but fell short in the first round against Chip Reese.
In addition to all of those tournament ventures, Phil is a regular on Poker After Dark, a series in which he has been a player and also a commentator. He has not yet wont that event, despite a number of tries. He’s no stranger to cash game play, either, as he has taken part in the popular show High Stakes Poker, which aired regularly on the Game Show Network.
His current live tournament winnings are creeping up towards the $10 million threshold, as he currently sits fourth on the all-time money list behind Daniel Negreanu and the two latest WSOP Main Event champions.
Phil Hellmuth likes to keep his hand in the cookie jar when it comes to the world of poker. He is never satisfied with just playing the game, as he wants to make a more widespread impact. He has produced and starred in a number of instructional videos that are geared to help novice players improve their play. He is also a poker writer and has had articles published in numerous magazines, including CardPlayer. Hellmuth continues to dabble in book writing and has contributed to at least three poker books.
When he ’s not winning pots at the poker table, Phil Hellmuth is known as one of the most entertaining and annoying players on the tour. He often insults the play of the other players at his table if he happens to take a bad beat. He is especially hard on young, amateur players if they happen to sit at his table. In one televised event, Hellmuth made a mockery of one player by proclaiming that the player “couldn’t even spell poker” following an awfully heinous bad beat.
Hellmuth has earned the reputation of being a brat and it is no accident. On a number of occasions, he has chastised other players at the table for not showing enough courtesy while he was trying to make a play. On one televised occasion, he even threatened to never play in an event when certain players at the table wouldn’t quit talking during his turn. Hellmuth never seems to follow through on those promises, though, as he made his way back to the table a little while later.
Many professional players feel that much of Hellmuth’s poker persona is an act and attempt to gain notoriety. Even if they don’t like his style, those players have to respect Hellmuth’s talent and level of play. Much of his marketing strategy revolves around being the “poker brat”, though, so he has to keep a certain amount of activity up in order to keep his image. The image has made him a very rich man, as novice players buy his literature in an attempt to be like Hellmuth.
Hellmuth’s ridiculous stunts continued at the 2007 version of the World Series of Poker. As many know, he is sponsored by poker room UltimateBet, which arranged an Ultimatebet.com race care for him to arrive in. He made the most of the moment, wearing complete racing gear with 11 gorgeous women. Those 11 were supposed to represent the number of WSOP titles he had won. He never got to pull this off, though, because he ran the race car into the Rio in Las Vegas. He wrecked the car and was not hurt, but the entire stunt was called off. After that, he made a somewhat normal arrival to the tournament. By Hellmuth standards, showing up two hours late was nothing to worry about. Many felt that Hellmuth and his marketing team had the entire event staged, but Hellmuth claims that it actually happened.
The poker brat is never one to take anything too seriously, though. He was even able to make fun of the accident on a commercial for UltimateBet.com. In that advertisement, the entire crash is shown.
Before he was a poker star, Phil Hellmuth enrolled at the University of Wisconsin. He made it through three years before quitting in hopes of starting a poker career. Now, he makes his home in California, where he lives with his beautiful wife Katherine and his two sons, named Phillip and Nicholas.
