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• Phil Hellmuth - Redefining His Own Legacy

  October 12, 2008
  

  Phil Hellmuth is redefining his legacy and it is not for the best. If you're like me, the insensitive and egotistical act known as “The Poker Brat Show” has become a tired and dreadful thing to watch and it should come to a halt. Phil is no longer entertaining (read now as: car-wreck-like entertaining), it is troubling to watch, and demeans the players and the game all of us love so much. Phil Hellmuth's once great legacy has become tarnished and it is a mess of his own making.

  Despite winning 11 WSOP bracelets’ in various Texas Hold ‘Em games, Hellmuth’s vile personality and outright contempt for the rules of the game - and the players who play against him in those games – is unacceptable.

  By now you’re well aware of Scotty Nguyen’s crude actions at this year’s WSOP H.O.R.S.E final table and perhaps you also know that it was met with universal disgust from the poker community and casual poker fans alike. Yet the Profane Prince can be slightly excused for his bad behavior when one considers he was quite drunk at the time. This certainly doesn’t get Nguyen completely off the hook – especially considering he has yet to be punished for his attempts at collusion when the game got down to three players, it does however provide observers with some sort of reason as to why he would behave so poorly.

  This has never been the case for Phil Hellmuth and he has no excuses to hide behind for his unsportsmanlike, rude, and disrespectful antics. The man is a complete and utter assclown who does not deserve the money, adulation and media attention he has received for so many years.

  Phillip J. Hellmuth, Jr. was born July 16, 1964, and at the age of 24 became the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event - a record that still stands today. Judged solely on his 11 bracelets and not apparently on his actions at or away from the table, he was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. Although a Poker Hall of Fame member, an ambassador for poker he is not. 44-year old, Hellmuth may believe his legacy is his 11 bracelets, but he will always be infamously known for his legendary misbehavior whilst playing the game. In addition to his non-stop cursing, and berating of opponents, Hellmuth has also become a first-class whore when it comes to making a buck off of his poker success. His web site, strategy classes, public appearances, books, videos, product endorsements, and full sponsorship from one of the worst and shadiest online poker sites in the world have made him a millionaire many times over. The result has created a hybrid Poker Brat/Poker Whore who is so insulated and out of touch with his fan base, and the poker community in general, that he lives in a megalomaniacal fantasy universe where all of the planets revolve around a thousand points of light emitted from the Hellmuthian Sun.

  Hellmuth’s transgressions are legion and go back at least a full decade. As his bracelet count grew and the Poker Boom of the ‘90’s hit full swing, Hellmuth became increasingly more egotistical and overbearing. His sense of entitlement and invincibility devolved into psychotic ramblings over supposed bad beats and his scathing remarks about his opponents’ skills became louder and cruder and were often directed right in the face of the player who dared to beat Phil out of a pot. Surprisingly, few players and no tournament directors would challenge Hellmuth's immature actions.

  A precise cataloging of his outrageous misdeeds would bore the average reader, so here’s some brief highlights of how The Poker Brat has earned his moniker and how this entire persona has become passe’ and outside the lines of decent sportsmanship. At the Main Event in 2005, Hellmuth coined his famous, "I can dodge bullets, baby!" phrase after laying down Ace King to an opponent's pocket Aces. He quickly tarnished that excellent play with a long-winded discourse on how all the players at the table were out to get him. After losing a decent sized pot to a miracle three-outer he viciously attacked his opponent verbally by accusing him of “not even being able to spell poker.”

  This year’s Main Event has been no different, most notably when well known Internet sensation Adam “Roothless” Levy made a strong bet to move Hellmuth off a large pot holding Q-10 to Hellmuth’s pocket Jacks. Hellmuth referred to Levy as an “idiot” for calling his pre-flop raise with only Q-10. Soon after, Santeri Valikoski played 7-5 off suit down to the River against Poker Brat’s K-10 off suit and won the hand when his flopped 5 stood up. “No, he didn’t!” Hellmuth screamed, “This idiot called me with 7-5. Are you kidding me? He called a raise with 7-5 from out of position, that idiot from Northern Europe.” Walking away from the table he repeated his insults over and over again and threw in several F Bombs in addition to what sounded like a huge MF Bomb on top of that.

  Returning to the table Hellmuth smashed his chip stack into a pile and screamed in frustration. Most certainly on tilt, His Majesty then called another player’s pre-flop raise and quickly lost 60,000 when his opponent’s A-K made top pair. Hellmuth was then in complete and total free-fall and ended the day with a warning from the Tournament Director (TD), which would amount to a one-orbit penalty at the start of the next day. Lo and behold, when the next day arrived Hellmuth's penalty was rescinded. Between the TD and (probably) the producers from ESPN, the penalty magically disappeared.

  Apparently you can say things like, "Listen buddy, you're an idiot! This is the Main Event and you are the worst player in history!" But more than likely the TD and the TV bosses made the ruling that Hellmuth can refer to someone as a f**king idiot, as long as he doesn’t get in their face and call them a f**king idiot. Besides, they rationalized, we need Phil in the tournament in order to draw better ratings and plus up the entertainment factor.

  There was a time when Hellmuth was consider good for poker, in fact, according to a Poker News article penned in 2006, they claimed “Phil Hellmuth is definitely the epitome of the modern day poker professional.” That cannot be said for the Phil Hellmuth of today. He is out of control, and in need of a good smack down. Phil Hellmuth is bad for the game of poker and if he continues on this path of irresponsible behavior he will only damage the game, disenchant the casual fan, and end up getting hurt (or worse) at the hands of a random player he happens to mistakenly take for granted when he attempts to disrespect them in public.

  Phil Hellmuth Jr., is out of control and must be stopped. Tournament Directors, fellow players, sponsors and television producers, please wake up and take a stand. Hellmuth needs to be put in his place and even more so put on notice that his delusional, inappropriate, and childlike behavior must stop immediately. No more second chances at tournaments, no more excess TV time, no more public speaking engagements, book deals, and the like. Send a message that is clear and to the point: Enough is enough, Phil. Enough is enough...

  
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  Read more: Phil Hellmuth Jr., Poker Brat, Egotistical, Bad for Poker, Must Be Stopped, Assclown, Redefining His Own Legacy, Enough is enough