Oct 07, 2017 I spoke to Phil Hellmuth, the top poker player in the world and author of Poker Brat: Phil Hellmuth's Autobiography, about how he got into poker in the first place, how he mentally prepares for.
Needless to say, it’s been a busy week for online poker room Ultimate Bet. On Tuesday, its player base was combined with that of Absolute Poker to form the CEREUS network. On the same day, it was announced that a story by CBS News program “60 Minutes” would feature the scandals that rocked UB as well as AP. Also this week, it was revealed that one of the site’s main spokesmen, 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, would debut his very own clothing line.
The business that manufactures the outerwear is called Poker Brat Clothing Company. In a press release distributed earlier this week, Hellmuth commented, “I love the people who designed these shirts. We’ve worked with artists in Las Vegas, Missouri, and West Hollywood, and I told them to create whatever their hearts desired and, man, did they create some great poker designs!” Hats, shirts, and other poker-related paraphernalia are being designed and marketed by Hellmuth’s firm.
The “Poker Tree” style is one of the featured shirts available, which shows a black tree on a white background with the four different card suits serving as leaves. It retails for $34.95 and comes in Medium, Large, XL, and XXL sizes. A black shirt with a white design features the following description from the Poker Brat Clothing Company’s website: “Pre-flop strategy, post-flop betting, hard-core statistics, suited connectors, and stone cold bluffs: this is your mind… on poker.” It’s offered in a traditional cut as well as a baby cut and retails for $29.95.
Shirts featuring the Poker Brat logo are also available and colors include black, white, and orange. Shirts featuring artistic poker faces, the well-recognized “PH” logo, and a shirt that displays Hellmuth’s infamous quote “If it weren’t for luck, I’d win every hand” can also be found in the shop. The latter retails for $19.95 and comes in a light blue color. A “PH” logo hat retails for $29.99 and comes in white lettering on a black hat, gold lettering on a black hat, as well as white lettering on a pink cap.
Hellmuth Poker Player
In addition to poker gear, four of Hellmuth’s books can also be purchased on the website PokerBrat.com, which opened just in time for the “Black Friday” holiday shopping rush in the United States. The books that are available include “Play Poker Like the Pros,” “Phil Hellmuth’s Texas Hold’em,” “Bad Beats and Lucky Draws,” and “Read ‘Em and Reap.” Prices for these periodicals range between $9.95 and $19.95.
Instructional videos featuring Hellmuth are available via a link to an affiliate site. Also up for grabs are the soundtrack from the poker musical “All In” and a link to buy tickets to “The Real Deal” poker stage show, which takes place at The Venetian.
Hellmuth holds the record for the number of World Series of Poker bracelets won with 11. His most recent came by virtue of taking down a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2007, outlasting a field of 2,628 players. In that tournament, Hellmuth defeated Andy Philachack heads-up. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, who is the proud owner of a pair of Omaha bracelets, also made the final table. Hellmuth won the 1989 WSOP Main Event and was the youngest winner of poker’s most prestigious tournament at the time at age 24. His record was shattered just a few weeks ago by 22 year-old Peter Eastgate.
Hellmuth has 69 in the money finishes in WSOP play for a grand total of over $6 million. Along with poker pro Annie Duke, he serves as the main face behind Ultimate Bet, which is owned by Tokwiro Enterprises. Tokwiro also owns Absolute Poker.
Phil Hellmuth is often referred to as “The Poker Brat” because of his over-competitive personality and his cocky attitude towards other players. Although his personality may not be too pleasant, if anyone has earned bragging rights, it would certainly be Phil. Not only does he hold an unprecedented fourteen World Series of Poker bracelets, but he also holds the record for having the most cash finishes at the WSOP as well (with over 100 and counting).
As we looked a little deeper into Phil’s life, we discovered some interesting facts about him that we are happy to reveal to you today. So if you are interested in learning more about Phil Hellmuth, then please take the time to read his biography.
Where Is Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth Jr. was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin to a devout Catholic family. His father, Phil Hellmuth Sr. was a dean at the University of Wisconsin, while his mother, Lynn Hellmuth, was a sculptor. He was the first born child, but he’d eventually have four siblings. The first card games he remembers playing were with his grandmother, who he still believes was the most spirited card player he’s ever competed against.
Encouraged by his father, Phil enrolled at the University of Wisconsin after high school. It was during his time there that he was first introduced to Texas Hold’ em, often playing against his classmates in the student union. Instantly hooked on this game, he started entering other competitions in the area as he wanted more opportunities to win even more money. He played against doctors, business professionals, and other wealthy players who he was easily able to win money off of. Once he started bringing in a decent amount of cash, he decided to drop out of college and head to Las Vegas.
Having just a small bankroll to work with, it wouldn’t be long before he would go bust. He had no choice but to move back to Wisconsin to build up his bankroll by working at Blaine Farms. At the farm he would do any task set before him from tilling the soil to de-tasseling the corn. Once he saved up enough money, he would return to Las Vegas for as long as his bankroll would allow. He would repeat this process several times before he made enough consistent money to stay in Las Vegas for good.
Phil poured hours upon hours into the poker tables of Las Vegas, grinding away at the low limit cash games, slowly building up his bankroll. At this point in time, he was still trying to pay off his student loans, so he never really felt the financial gains. It would still be a couple years before Phil would feel confident enough to enter the larger tournaments, but he always knew he one day wanted to be regular attendant of the World Series of Poker.
Phil’s first experiences in competing at the World Series of Poker would definitely be considered positive. In 1988, he managed to land a fifth place finish at the $1500 Seven Card Stud Split Event which earned him a $15,000 cash prize. That same year he placed 33rd overall in the WSOP No Limit Hold’em Championship.
Although this was the first year Phil Hellmuth’s name appeared on WSOP’s winner’s list, it certainly wouldn’t be the last time we heard from him. Phil actually went on to win fourteen World Series of Poker bracelets over the years, the most anyone has ever been able to win. We have provided an up-to-date list of all of the events he has won, including the cash award he was granted.
- No Limit Hold’em Championship: $755,000 (1989)
- Limit Hold’em Event: $168,000 (1992)
- No Limit Hold’em Event: $161,400 (1993)
- No Limit Hold’em Event: $173,000 (1993)
- Limit Hold’em Event: $138,000 (1993)
- Pot Limit Hold’em Event: $204,000 (1997)
- No Limit Hold’em Event: $316,550 (2001)
- Limit Hold’em Event: $171,400 (2003)
- No Limit Hold’em Event: $410,860 (2003)
- No Limit Hold’em Rebuy Event: $631,863 (2006)
- No Limit Hold’em Event: $637,254 (2007)
- Seven Card Razz Event: $182,793 (2012)
- No Limit Hold’em Championship: $1,333,841 (2012)
- Seven Card Razz Event: $271,105 (2015)
When Phil won the No Limit Hold’em Championship in 1989, he became the youngest person to win the competition at only twenty-four years old after going face to face with two-time winning champion, Johnny Chan. Winning the championship gave Phil the confidence he needed to improve his skills and keep moving forward. He won the No Limit Hold’em Championship thirteen years later, and brought home his biggest cash prize yet: $1.3 million. We predict that Phil Helmuth will continue to amaze us in the future, and we wouldn’t be surprised if he came home with another WSOP bracelet soon.
The World Series of Poker isn’t the only major tournament that Phil Hellmuth has excelled in, as he has also done very well at the World Poker Tour. He may not own a World Poker Tour title, but he has made several final tables and has come close to winning quite a few times over the years. In 2002, Phil came close to a title in the WPT’s 3rd Annual 49’er Gold Rush Bonanza where he landed a fourth place finish. The following year he took third place at the No Limit Hold’em Event of the World Poker Tour Finals.
Phil has also played on several seasons of Game Show Network’s High Stakes Poker. There is a mix of both professionals and amateurs on the show that compete against each other in high stakes cash games. The minimum buy-in for this show is $100,000, but some people have bought in for over $1 million dollars before. Phil may have never won this competition, but he has enjoyed the encounters he’s had with the other competitors.
Another show that Phil Hellmuth has appeared on several times is NBC’s Poker After Dark, where he managed to win his first tournament on the first episode of the third season. It wouldn’t be the only time he took home the $100,000 grand prize either, as he also went on to win again just two weeks later. Although Phil never competed on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, he did become the commentator for the show in 2006 to replace Phil Gordon.
Phil Hellmuth has his own Poker Brat clothing line, where people can choose from a variety of different styled t-shirts and hats. Each shirt and hat costs approximately $30, and they can be purchased right off the pokerbrat.com website. Phil also sells DVDs, mobile games, and other miscellaneous poker merchandise.
Phil Hellmuth has written over ten books and counting; all of these book are available to be purchased on his website as well. These books are extremely advantageous to anyone who is considering pursuing a career as a professional poker player. His books cover a variety of subjects from tips on how to succeed in tournaments to secret strategies that help players who are interested in online poker. Below is a complete list of all the available books to choose from.
- Bad Beats and Lucky Draws
- Million Dollar Online Poker Secrets
- Million Dollar Poker System
- Million Dollar Tournament Strategies
- Phil Hellmuth’s Texas Hold’em
- Phil’s Supercourse
- Play Poker Like the Pros
- Read Em and Reap
Phil most recently contributed to a book called, Deal Me In, where he was able to share his success story in his own words. Other professional players that contributed to that book were Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu to name a few. This was actually the first book to be published through Phil’s own publishing company which is appropriately called, Phil’s House Publishing.
For quite some time, Phil Hellmuth became the face of Ultimate Bet. He played for them online and he could be found with Ultimate Bet gear on at all the major tournaments. When he discovered that the company had been stealing millions of dollars from its players, he was devastated. People started speculating that he was somehow involved in the scandal, and he started to worry that his name would be tarnished. He was okay with people thinking he was the Poker Brat, but he didn’t want people to think he was associated with any form of cheating.
Luckily an audio tape was released by a former employee, on which Russ Hamilton admits to cheating players out of their money through using the “God-mode” feature built into their software. Basically, it allows players to see their opponents’ hole cards, making it much easier for them to win. Within this tape, Russ mentions the fact that they would be keeping Phil out of the loop, as they didn’t think he would support their actions.
Phil Hellmuth released this statement to his agent after listening to the voice recordings for himself,
Phil Hellmuth could have walked away right there and then; his name was cleared and he had no obligation to stay with the company. However, Phil thought it was extremely important to make sure that the customers were given back the money that was stolen from them. Although not all of the customers affected by this scandal received all the money that was owed to them, those that did receive money have Phil Hellmuth to thank.
Phil and his wife, Katherine Sanborn, live in Palo Alto, California. Katherine works full time as a psychiatrist at Stanford University. Together they have two sons named Philip III and Nicholas. Even with as busy as Phil’s life gets, he still makes sure his family is his main priority. Spending time with his sons is especially important to him, and he will occasionally bring them to the World Series of Poker or other major tournaments to watch him compete. His wife is often there to show her support as well.
Over the course of his career, Phil has made over nineteen million dollars through live tournaments alone. He’s currently number two on California’s All Time Money List and number six on the United States All Time Money List, according to the Hendon Mob. Phil doesn’t just hoard all of this money for himself though, as he actually spends a good portion of his money on others in need.
His heart felt burdened for the people who lost their homes due to Hurricane Katrina, so he organized a charity poker tournament to help raise money for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund. There was a $300 buy-in for the tournament, and half of that money would go directly to the Red Cross. On top of that, Phil agreed to match all donations, up to $10,000.
This wasn’t the only time Phil Hellmuth had extended his hand to help those in need, as he regularly donates to a wide variety of different organizations. Ante Up For Africa, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation are just some of the causes that both Phil and his wife have poured their time and money into. In a 2014 interview with Bluff Magazine, Phil revealed his true feelings about charitable causes,