Poker Player Profile – Phil Hellmuth Poker Player

Phil Hellmuth, known as Poker Brat, is a legendary poker player who is well known for his live poker tournament play. He has won eleven WSOP bracelets.

Entry To Poker

Phil Hellmuth was born in 1964 in Wisconsin. He was the eldest of five children and imbibed a competitive spirit by playing board games with his siblings. He was inspired by a sign posted by his mother on the bathroom mirror, which read “You become what you think. What you think becomes reality.” Hellmuth learned how to play poker while studying at the University of Wisconsin. He began by playing cash games with students. But after his success at high stakes games with professors he dropped out of college to become a professional poker player.

Live Poker Tournaments

In the 1989 WSOP Main Event Hellmuth defeated two times defending champion Chan to win his first WSOP bracelet. He became the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event, a record that was broken only in 2008. In 2007 Hellmuth won his 11th WSOP bracelet, becoming the winner of the most WSOP bracelets. All his wins have come in Texas Hold’em events. In 1993 Hellmuth won three WSOP bracelets on three successive days. Hellmuth has not won any WPT title. Hellmuth’s total live tournament earnings are about $8.8 million. He has had 20 first place finishes and 137 cashes. In 2007 Hellmuth was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Hellmuth regularly features on TV shows such as Late Night Poker, Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. In 2005 he won the first National Heads Up Poker Championship. Hellmuth does not play much live poker cash games because he needs to devote time to his family and business interests.

Online Poker

Hellmuth is the brand ambassador for the online poker room Ultimate Bet and participates in the online poker tournaments there. He has stood by Ultimate Bet through the superuser scandal that recently afflicted the poker room. Along with Ultimate Bet co-ambassador Annie Duke, Hellmuth participates in the Best Damn Poker Show in which he and Annie train raw poker players and then see whose protégé comes out on top. Hellmuth also plays high stakes online poker at the Ultimate Bet tables and is more in the news for riling his opponents.

Other Poker Achievements

Though no one can dispute the success that Hellmuth has achieved at the poker tables, he has earned the ire of many of his colleagues for his condescending attitude and rude behavior. Hellmuth is highly self-opinionated and has said that if luck were not involved, he would win every pot he played. He also has the habit of engaging in publicity stunts before major events like crashing a racing car and holding a Phil Hellmuth look alike contest. But worst of all is his habit of trashing other players at the poker tables both in live tournaments and online. This has earned him the sobriquet of Poker Brat.

However Hellmuth is proud of this nickname. When he launched his own line of clothing he called it the Poker Brat range. This range features T shirts and caps with the Phil Hellmuth insignia.

Hellmuth lives in Palo Alto in California with his wife and two sons.