Having just watched myself on television (Wednesday, Jan. 3), I'm compelled to say that I'm embarrassed by my "Poker Brat" conduct. In the first-ever
Poker After Dark television show - aired on
NBC six days a week, all year long, at 2 a.m. - they showed an unedited seven-minute "Phil Hellmuth tirade." However, admittedly, it made for some pretty darn good television!
Poker After Dark features six great poker players in a $20,000 buy-in winner-take-all poker tournament. The tournament is broken down into five days of play (Monday through Friday nights), with the Saturday night show being a transitional one. The show on Saturday night reviews the week's action, as well as previews the upcoming week's action. Of course, the Saturday night show ("Directors Cut") on Jan. 6 turned my tantrum into a 14-minute episode, showing behind-the-scenes footage of me going down the escalator and interviews of what my tablemates thought of my tirade. By the way, my tablemates were
World Series of Poker Champion of Poker Huck Seed, three-time
World Poker Tour winner Gus Hansen, Annie Duke, Sean "The Sheik" Sheikhan, and Steve Zolotow.
Why did I lose it? Simply because I asked my tablemates to please be quiet for a moment during a key hand - and they continued to talk. If my tablemates in fact went on talking after I asked for silence, then by TDA (Tournament Directors Association) rules, they would be assessed a 20-minute penalty, and be forced to hold their tongues or leave the room. Did they continue talking out of line after I requested silence? At the time, I believed they had, and I wanted a ruling from show producer and longtime poker player Mori Eskandani. I asked Eskandani what penalties were in place to prevent blatant violations of the rules and etiquette of poker tournaments. He stated that they had no penalties in place as of yet, but that they would put some in place soon. That answer didn't sit with me too well - my blood was boiling - as I wanted justice for the actions of Sheikhan, in particular. So, I threatened to give up playing on future shows, and I got into it a bit verbally with Sheikhan. Finally, not believing justice had been served, I stormed off the set - only to return 20 minutes later.
At the time, I thought my tantrum was, at least in part, justified. Upon further review (when I watched the show), I saw a lot of fairly innocent stuff going on. In fact, Zolotow asked the players at the table to let me think, well before things went sideways. Duke, who was involved in the hand, never said a single word. Seed and Hansen were laughing and joking in a totally innocent matter, not fully realizing that I was in fact looking for complete silence. And even Sheikhan was as innocent as he was capable of being in that situation (although he did eventually open his mouth). It seems that I was the one who crossed the line, and I apologize to everyone involved - including all of the television viewers - for my conduct. I was right that I wasn't getting the silence that I had requested, but as Duke later said, "I would call that one of the biggest overreactions I've ever seen."
Here's the hand: With the blinds at $300-$600, I raised it with A-10 from the button and made up my mind that Duke (in the big blind) was likely to reraise me with many different hands that I could beat or match up well against, especially if she had an ace in her hand. I thought this out before I raised, while reasoning that I had only $7,000 in chips to her $23,000. Because of the chip disparity, I knew that Duke could afford to take a chance against me - as she could lose only 30 percent of her chips. Sheikhan folded in the small blind, and Duke reraised $4,000 more. Now, I was trying to decide on the best course of action. Should I follow up on my first line of thinking and call? After considering that possibility for 20 seconds,
I said to myself, "No, of course not; take a second and give yourself a chance to read her first." If I sensed extreme strength from Duke, I would fold my hand. If I sensed that she was weak, I would call (effectively moving all in).
This is when I asked for silence, and I asked Duke, "Do you have anything?"
Then, Seed innocently joked, "You asked us to be quiet so that you could talk!" Then, Hansen made an innocent joke, and finally, Sheikhan said something, as well. Now, as the silence evaporated into constant chatter, I began to lose my cool (again, I thought proper poker etiquette was not being observed). I also began to lose my reading abilities, to a degree. However, I did eventually make the right move when I folded - as Duke had pocket kings. Thus, after much unneeded drama, I made a good fold (A-10 is a 2.5-1 underdog to K-K), although not necessarily because of a good read.
