Seated at his second final table at the 2007
World Series of Poker, this scene is all too familiar for Phil Hellmuth. With the blinds at $15,000-$30,000, he raises it to $90,000, leaving himself with just $170,000 behind. Phil riffles his few remaining neon orange and purple chips under the final table limelight as he awaits the next action. He's fought as hard as he's fought in years just to make it this far. He's the short stack and his fellow opponents have treated his raises as invitations to bully the legend with a blitzkrieg of reraises and all ins. It's a fight he's been in before, but a fight he's not winning. However, the week before, it was another fight at another final table. It was a fight that he easily dominated as he went on to felt 2,627 other players in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event to win his record 11th
WSOP bracelet.
After he puts in his raise, for about the 10th time in as many orbits, another player, half Phil's age, tacked up with online poker logos, announces a reraise. He slides enough chips into the center to put Hellmuth all in. Then, it's "Poker Brat" time. Phil goes into a maniacal outburst that would make Jerry Springer envious. He screams. He shakes his hands violently as if he is choking the life out of an imaginary opponent. He thrusts himself away from the table and starts to chew on his sunglasses. As the cameras follow him into the stands, Phil exclaims, "What they've done to me today … they don't know what they've done to me. … They overplay their hands … I get no respect." The entertainment goes on for a good five minutes and the lecture gets heavy before Phil arcs his cards into the muck.
Another player went on to win this final table. In a year, most likely, we'll forget his name. But, that day, there was no question who owned the day, the table, the media, and the fans.
Phil Hellmuth is more than just a player. He is a franchise. He is entertainment. And, love him or hate him, he is the best damn no-limit hold'em tournament player who has ever played the game.
He holds, perhaps, the game's most impressive stack of poker achievements. His 11
WSOP bracelets, 39
WSOP final tables (which ties him for first place with T.J. Cloutier), and 60
WSOP cashes, all three benchmarks of poker consistency, bear the Phil Hellmuth mark.
Phil Hellmuth's stated career goal is to be the best poker player of all time. Combine this passion with unmatched results, cocky tirades, and an ingenious business acumen, and you have the player, the living poker franchise, and the enigma that is Phil Hellmuth.
Card Player caught up with Hellmuth at the
World Series to get the scoop on what is next for the man, the myth, and the legend.
Justin Marchand: First off, congratulations on becoming the first player to win 11
WSOP bracelets. Everyone who watched the final table commented that you had total control of the entire table - that you were in such a zone. How did you do it?
Phil Hellmuth: My family was in town, it was a huge field, and I was playing very aggressively at the beginning, thinking that if I busted out, no big deal, I could go to see a show or something. I won a big pot with pocket tens early on, winning a coin flip against A-K. On the dinner break, I got a long massage. I was just enjoying the energy of my family being there. The next thing I know, it's 2 a.m. and I'm in the money. The next day, my family left. At about 4 p.m., it was the only time when I was all in during the entire tournament. I won, and after that I got lucky with the 10
9
for 50 percent of my chips against pocket kings when I made two pair. Overall, day two was smooth, up until 27 players remained. I found myself with $150,000, which was below average. Then, I picked up A-K in the big blind. The button made it $25,000 and I made it $100,000 to go. He called with pocket sevens. I don't like his call there. So, it's a coin flip, and if I lose, I'm down to $50,000. I won the hand and ran it up to $1.5 million.
On day three, I had my wife in town for the final table. I found out that we were going to be sequestered, so I told my parents not to come to town, since they wouldn't be allowed to watch the final table. Actually, I found being sequestered to be pleasant. Morgan (Machina) and his wife, Adrian, are old friends of ours from Madison, Wisconsin, and Morgan was at the final table. I was able to reconnect and rediscover a friendship. I was bickering too much for the first hour. Morgan said, "Hey, we're sequestered, so we want sushi." Harrah's didn't know what to do. Then, the atmosphere was so much more pleasant. Rich Fuller was also there, and he was great. It was the most pleasant final table I've ever been at.
JM: I heard you comment that this was the easiest final table yet. How so?
PH: When I say that it was the easiest final table I ever won, I mean that I just steadily ran my chips up. I was patient and I had the right hands at the right time. It was unlike yesterday's final table (when Phil was going for his 12th bracelet), where it seemed like whenever I had a hand, I was reraised and they gave my raises no respect at all.
Actually, there was lots of synergy in winning number 11. It was June 11. I promised my sister Molly, who was born on 11/11/71, the bracelet. There was so much weird energy.
JM: You, Chan, and Brunson are the three leading players in the
WSOP bracelet race. What similarities do you all share as players?
PH: There are many, many similarities. We all have long-term wives and kids. None of us do drugs. None of us are heavy drinkers. We all work out and try to stay in good physical condition. We all are involved in lots of business
outside of poker, successful business. We've all been in the game at least 20 years, although Doyle says that he has underwear older than me! We all have won bracelets over three decades. I think we all like to laugh a lot. I think the three of us whine too much. I'm the only Poker Brat, but Doyle is a legendary whiner. We all get along extremely well. I can honestly say that we all root for one another. We all want the bracelet lead, but we are not going to root against the other guy. We all recognize that when one of the three of us wins, it is good for all three of us. We all have books. We all like to gamble away from the poker table, whether it's Chinese poker, pool, golf, or bowling. Finally, we all have zest for life.
JM: Every
WSOP event is full of an entire new generation of opponents, trained on the Internet. How has your approach to the game and strategy changed to cut through these fields?
PH: There are lots of fast and loose players. And, when there are antes and blinds, Internet players try to steal every pot. But I am the sheriff, and when they try to steal pots, I write them tickets. When they are speeding, I write them speeding tickets, because I'm either going to trap them and show them a big hand or I am going to come over the top of them and pick up their steal-raise and all of the antes and blinds. These fast and loose players make my life easier, not harder. Now, I can play super tight, and when I do pick up an overpair, top pair, or a set, they are guaranteed to try to bluff me.
JM: You've built yourself into perhaps the biggest franchise in poker. After you won your 11th bracelet, you said on
Card Player TV that this one would be worth $10 million. How have you leveraged your poker success into business opportunities away from the table, and what projects are you currently working on?
PH: Corporate America is entering the game. Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted to shoot a commercial with me. But, there wasn't enough money, so I passed. I have pieces of lots of companies right now. (Editor's note: Phil Hellmuth owns a small stake in
Card Player.) My cellphone game with Oasis Mobile has 958,000 users in the United States.
PC World just came out with a list of 25 companies to look for; one of them is Splash Cast Media. I have a piece of that company, and it just closed a deal with Facebook. It enables you to have your own TV station on the Internet. I just go to
You Tube and download content, and anyone who wants the Phil Hellmuth channel on their website can have it … and I can sell commercials. So, that is what I am excited about, because the company could be worth $2 billion-$3 billion. It's fun, cutting edge, and cool.
We've also launched the Pro Player energy drink. I drink one a day. It really does help me focus. The first time I ever used it in a tournament was the 2007
World Poker Tour Championship. I held the chip lead for three days. We're also launching the Phil Hellmuth Fan Club at Clubhellmuth.com, where people can buy Phil Hellmuth clothing at a discounted rate and get great poker content. Once every two months, I am going to get on for an hour and provide poker strategy. This hour is worth lots of money. Once you join, it will be about $3.99 a month. I wouldn't be surprised if we get 100,000 members by end of year.
Also, one poker game is coming out this year for PlayStation, Xbox, and all the systems. It is the
WSOP game, and we will have 100 percent market share. It's coming out with 1 million games, with prime placement in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and many other stores. I think it comes out Sept. 1. I'm the main player in the game, and there will be Poker Brat mode, whereby you play me heads up. The Poker Brat mode will be great. I will be using all of my classic lines, like, "If it wasn't for luck, I'd win every one."
JM: You're involved in lots of strategy and training ventures. Tell us about your Ultimate White to Black Belt Poker Course.
PH: It is the best poker course I've ever done. You can see the commercial at www.philsecrets.com. It is four and a half hours long in MP4 video format. You can watch it on your iPod, cellphone, computer, or wherever. I talk about strategy that I've never talked about before. When I deliver white-belt strategy, it's the same as in my Million Dollar Poker System. So, the first five or six belts, you've seen before in my books and DVDs. It is strategy that works and has made me lots of money. The last few belts are information I've never talked about before.
JM: Walk us through one of these advanced lessons. You mentioned that this course talks about some final-table strategies you've never shared before.
PH: In one of the black-belt courses, I talk about how you would play the game if you were omniscient, as if you were psychic and knew what everyone else had at the table. That is what we strive for, knowing what our opponents have. To some, this course is worth only $150, to some it's worth thousands, to some it's worth hundreds of thousands, and to a few, I guarantee, it's worth millions.
JM: You're a master of getting into the limelight. You've done it your entire life. Looking back on your career, what are some of your favorite moments that have exposed the world to Phil Hellmuth.
PH: I like the moment when I said, "If it weren't for luck, I would win them all." Another is when I said, "I can dodge bullets, baby." I had A-K and an opponent had pocket aces. I had been being reraised for two hours straight. I had my mind made up that I was going to move in if someone came over the top of me on this hand. But then, the alarm bell went off in my head. I said, "Well, I could be wrong," and just called. The flop came A-4-4. I checked, and my opponent checked. The next card was a queen. I checked. He bet $10,000 and I thought he had aces full or queens full. I laid the hand down faceup. People at the table were shocked. He showed me pocket aces. This was day one of the big one, the 2005 WSOP main event. Scott Fischman and other great players told me it was the best laydown they'd ever seen.
JM: You're being introduced into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007. How does it feel?
PH: Well, it's like when I found out I was going to be the key player in a video game. There was a part of me that told me it was coming. But part of me was asking why it didn't happen two years ago. When I found out I was going into the Hall of Fame, there was a part of me that was like, "I cannot believe it took so long." I wanted to be the youngest player ever inducted. After all, I'm the youngest main-event winner and the youngest player to win 10 bracelets. However, I was a lot more excited than I expected. (Editor's note: Phil is 43 now, so he is indeed the youngest Hall of Famer. Chan was 45 when he was inducted in 2002.)
JM: Many say you've revolutionized no-limit hold'em tournament playing style. Do you agree, and if so, how?
PH: I have revolutionized the game. Here is an interesting parallel. Gus Hansen started playing Parcheesi for money in Denmark. He used all these moves that nobody every used before. They laughed at him, and he won between $1 million and $2 million. Over the next year, they went from laughing at him to saying this is the right way to play. The same thing happened for me with no-limit. Everyone used to laugh at me, at the fact that I made such small bets. Fast-forward to 1992 and half the players were making small bets like me. Fast-forward to 2007 and everyone is talking about how great small-ball poker is. I just kind of chuckle, because that is what I brought to the game.
JM: What else do you hope to accomplish in your career?
PH: I don't want to stop with 11 bracelets, 39
World Series final tables, and 60
World Series cashes. I would like to win at least 13 more bracelets. Twenty-four bracelets is what I've strived for since 1993. It's just a number that stuck with me. Also, I need to start winning some
World Poker Tour tournaments. I had some good shots this year. I should have made the final table at the
WPT Championship. The
WPT Championship and the
NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship are the only tournaments that I want to win more than a bracelet, except the
WSOP main event, of course. There are a few
WPT tournaments I want to win that have some history. I would like to win at Foxwoods, the Bicycle Casino's big event again, and the Commerce Casino main event. I also want to win the
WPT $15,000 Bellagio event and at least one more
NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
I also would like to see my syndicated column in 100 newspapers in 30 countries. I want to have a million people in my fan club, see the Poker Brat movie made in 2007, and see Iovation become a $10 billion company by 2010.
I want to continue to be the best father and husband I can be. Although I'm on the downslope of being a father because my boys are 13 and 16, I want to be a good father for at least five more years.
Phil says that he has a ton more that he wishes to accomplish. Card Player had lots of additional questions for Phil about these accomplishments, strategy, and his famous Poker Brat mode. However, with this ambitious "to do" list, Hellmuth had to get going and begin adding a few more bracelets and business ventures to his list. 
