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 What can you say about Phil Hellmuth...
that Phil hasn't said about himself a thousand times. Phil has eleven World Series of Poker bracelets (all in Texas Holdem events,
including one from the 1989 No Limit Championship event). I first played with Phil in 1988, when he was at about one-tenth of
whatever maturity level he is at now. Scary, huh? We were at the same table at the Caesar's Tahoe Superstars. The game was
Lowball (also scary). While Phil is a
great player who reads other people terrifically,
his mass of insecurities and full-of-himself arrogance makes him often fairly easy to read as an opponent. He raised my big blind
from the button, and immediately began chirping about every poker glory under the sun, except the winning of this pot. I had an A234Q,
but alarms went off in my head due to his chirping. I drew one card and he rapped pat. I caught a seven, making 74321, normally a very
powerful hand in Lowball, one that according to the rules you must bet if you want to get any action after the draw (you can still win
the before the draw action tho). I decided to check anyway, because alarm bells were going off in my head, and because I was guessing
he'd throw a tantrum if he thought he won and then lost the pot. Sure enough, after he bet and I called he said "you can't
win". I was dying for him to show me any rough seven like 76432, the kind of hand that normally can't lose after a
player has checked, because of the "must bet a seven or better" rule. Sadly though, he rolled over a 54321 bicycle,
the best hand in the game. Tilting Phil would have to wait for another day... but he did win a much smaller pot than he
should have, almost solely because of his at the time easily exploitable weakness.
Phil Hellmuth Jr. is one of the best Texas Holdem tournament players in the world, but no better than a mediocre live game player
because his ego destroys him. He can't stand to lose. He takes losing personally. Losing eats at his soul, but losing is
part of the game. We all lose more tournaments than we win. Despite being a nice guy away from the table, Phil is poker's
biggest crybaby (and that truly is saying a lot, given all the whiners in the game). If Phil ever gets control of this
massive leak in his game, someday instead of being the biggest baby, Phil could possibly be what he has occasionally
claimed and always wishes he was: the best in the game. --
Steve Badger
See Shirley Rosario's Phil Hellmuth profile for more.
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