PHIL HELLMUTH POKER BIO
Phil Hellmuth Poker Professional
In 1989, the 24-year-old phil Hellmuth became the youngest World Champion of Poker by defeating the two-time defending champion, Johnny Chan, in the World Series of Poker main event.
phil Hellmuth attended the University of Wisconsin for three years before dropping out to play poker full time. He is sometimes known as “poker brat” because of his perceived attitude and ego. Despite this reputation, his accomplishments are highly respected in the poker world. As of 2006 he has won ten WSOP bracelets. phil Hellmuth is also the season three champion of Late Night Poker.In 2005 Hellmuth won the inaugural National Heads-Up Poker Championship. He defeated Men Nguyen, Paul Phillips, Huck Seed, Lyle Berman and Antonio Esfandiari on the way to the final against Chris Ferguson whom he defeated in two out of three games. While trying to repeat in 2006, he lost in the first round to Chip Reese.
As of 2006, his total live tournament winnings exceed $8,100,000 He appeared in the first season of the GSN series High Stakes Poker.In the spring of 2006, Hellmuth replaced Phil Gordon as commentator on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown.
When Hellmuth did an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio recently, he said that he will be on the next season of VH1's The Surreal Life, along with professional wrestler Randy Savage, Playboy Playmate Tina Marie Jordan, and Type O Negative front man Peter Steele. Savage has confirmed his involvement, though VH1 hasn't officially announced who will be on the cast.
phil Hellmuth resides in Palo Alto, California with his wife Katherine Sanborn (a psychiatrist at Stanford University) and two sons, Phillip III and Nicholas.
Phil Hellmuth Personality and controversy
Phil Hellmuth at the 2003 World Series of Poker playing against Sam Grizzle. Hellmuth is one of the most recognizable figures in poker and many fans have strong opinions of him, both negative and positive. While his ten WSOP bracelets bring him much recognition, his notoriety is also due to his perceived inability to gracefully handle adversity and defeat.
phil Hellmuth has made many notable boasts while playing poker tournaments, usually after suffering a “bad beat”. Some televised examples include “If luck weren't involved I guess I'd win every one,” and “I've revolutionized the way to play Texas hold 'em.” During the 2005 Main Event at the World Series of Poker, he stated that he could “dodge bullets” after making a lay down to an opponent with two Aces (the best possible starting hand), and even accused an amateur player of not even being able to spell poker (this after the player put all his money in the pot with King high and hit a three-outer to win the pot). He is sometimes referred to as "Hell Mouth", a play on his surname. While many players may not like Hellmuth's antics, producers of televised poker tournaments certainly do, since there are rare times (especially during the World Series of Poker) when a camera is not on him to capture a moment where he speaks his mind.
At the 2002 WSOP, he offered to have his head shaved if amateur Robert Varkonyi, who was short-stacked at the time, won the event. When Varkonyi went on to win, Hellmuth followed through; ESPN's coverage of the event ends with Hellmuth's locks getting shorn.
phil Hellmuth wrote a book titled Poker Brat, which contains autobiographical material as well as poker advice.
While many professional players, amateurs, and fans alike consider his antics distasteful and abrasive at times, they respect his talent for the game and his personality when he is away from the table. It can be contended that Hellmuth engages in some bad etiquette purposely, since a large part of selling his image is as a “poker brat.”
There are several instances where he does do helpful things for poker and its participants (fans and players alike). For example, during the WSOP 2005 main event final table, Card Player Magazine decided to have top pros like Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Erick Lindgren comment on the action live on streaming audio hand by hand until a champion was declared. The event lasted a substantial time, starting at around mid evening and lasting until early morning the next day. Despite all the other scheduled commentators leaving to go out to play poker or sleep, Hellmuth stayed behind the mic for the duration of the tournament in order to comment for the listeners. During the broadcast, Hellmuth turned 41 years old.
He has participated in numerous charities and events and also likes to voice his opinion in several segments during the World Series of Poker and in World Poker Tour events. He has also been in several pod casts related to poker, including Phil Gordon's covering the 2005 World Series of Poker.Internet personality Kevin Bowen created a series of videos available online where he acts as "Bill Fillmaff", a character who mimics Hellmuth's appearance and behavior. Fillmaff exaggerates Hellmuth's idiosyncrasies and mannerisms and epitomizes the term “poker brat.” Hellmuth even made a cameo in the final episode of Bowen's online video series, and goes head-to-head against Bowen (as Fillmaff) in the online series "Ultimatebet.com's Bill vs. Phil".
Phil Hellmuth TOURNMENT PRIZE WININGS
• 1989 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship $755,000
• 1992 $5,000 Limit Hold'em $188,000
• 1993 $1,500 Limit Hold'em $138,000
• 1993 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em $161,400
• 1993 $5,000 No Limit Hold'em $173,000
• 1997 $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em $204,000
• 2001 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em $316,000
• 2003 $2,500 Limit Hold'em $171,400
• 2003 $3,000 No Limit Hold'em $410,860
• 2006 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em with re buys $631,863
• 2007 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em $637,254
