A Candid Talk With Bob Soderstrom, COO of Phil Hellmuth Enterprises

Interview by Cass Burt

CB: How does someone actually become business partners with one of the all-time poker greats?

BS: I first met Phil in Wisconsin in 1988, when he was a tall skinny kid who could not stop talking about poker. This was 1988. He was way ahead of his time. When I went to law school in Madison, Phil used to have a message on his answering machine that said, “I’m Phil Hellmuth and my goal is to win the World Series of Poker Main Event this year. Please leave a message!” And of course, he went ahead and won it, as well as three titles in a single year, 1993. And here it is 18 years later and he had 3 second place finishes this year too. It’s just amazing how consistent he’s been for so long.

CB: What’s it like working for the Poker Brat? Is there such a thing as a standard work week?

BS: There are four of us on the team, including Shannon Reiter, who runs Phil’s House Publishing, Aric Meidl, who manages all of our digital and web properties, and Chris Jodry, who books all of Phil’s appearances, and then the attorneys and CPA’s and of course Brian (Balsbaugh) and his amazing team at Poker Royalty in Las Vegas.

After all the growth in poker in the last 10 years, Phil is an international brand that requires daily attention. For example, he’s been on 172 original episodes of NBC’s Poker After Dark in the last five years alone. I just counted those for our new media kit. And then of course there is all the content on ESPN, Fox, GSN etc.

In any event, my team starts the week with a 9am Monday call and we just dig in.

CB: I’m finding it hard to believe that Phil Hellmuth makes a 9am Monday call.

BS: Phil never makes the call! He doesn’t get up till noon. He made the call once in like 2008, but that’s because he’d been up all night in a game and was just going to bed, so he called in to surprise us.

CB: Phil always seems to promote products heavily, some would say too much. Can I complain to you about that?

BS: We are guilty as charged. I’ve spent a great deal of time over the last year developing our new mobile game, “Hellmuth’s High Stakes Hold ‘Em,” which just dropped and is already a top 10 seller internationally on Nokia devices. The Android version drops in the States this fall. Our last game sold 1.3 million units, so we’re hopeful for another bestseller.

CB: Did you just promote a new product while admitting to being too much of a promoter?

BS: Yes. Can I tell you what’s special about the game?

CB: Sure.

BS: In North America, you can play live multiplay against others, which took a ton of programming. There are also pre-flop and post-flop odds, and 200 tips from Phil. I got him in the studio to record a bunch of dialogue too, it’s really fun. It sells for about $5, depending on the carrier.

CB: Do you ever talk with Phil about managing his image?

BS: You know, the thing is that he just wants to win so badly. He’s like Bobby Knight or John McEnroe. Imagine if you sat down to watch your favorite movie and then the last 5 minutes were totally different. You’d fall out of your chair. That’s what happens to Phil when he gets knocked out of a tournament; he’s in disbelief that the movie didn’t end the way it was supposed to. And it’s that belief in himself that has gotten him to 45 final tables over his career, a record that will be really hard for someone to match.

Everyone inside poker knows that Phil has a huge heart and a ton of integrity. He loves to laugh and have fun. He’s been happily married to an amazing woman for 21 years and has two sons in college. He just visited the troops in the Middle East on a USO Tour. I wish everyone could know him as well as I do. He’s a very special human being—positive, generous and compassionate—and we’re all lucky to have him in our lives.

CB: Any insight into online poker legislation?

BS: It’s heartening to see Joe Barton’s bill in Congress. Poker is such a sophisticated, elegant game and I believe it will soon be recognized for the rigorous, intellectual pursuit that it is. And its popularity is so vast that, upon legalization and regulation of online sites, the government treasuries will experience a material increase in receipts.

CB: What’s the future of Phil Hellmuth Enterprises?

BS: I’m pretty excited about Two Black Nines, LLC, our gaming company we created for video poker games we’ve patented for casino floors. It’s a new space for us and we’re talking with some terrific partners. We’ve also launched a number of ebooks that are selling well on the iPad. Poker on Facebook of course is something that’s getting a lot of interest from us right now too and we have some terrific opportunities there.

CB: Will the big man ever win another WSOP title?

BS: Of course, he’s the greatest tournament poker player ever! And we’re all hoping that he brings home the Player of the Year title from Cannes this September!

Bob Soderstrom lives in Los Angeles and is Chief Operating Officer of Phil Hellmuth Enterprises, Inc. He is a lawyer and Emmy nominated producer.

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