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The (de)evolution Of Phil Hellmuth


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In reading Daniel's april fools day blog, and then reading the orginal Phil Hellmuth blog, it made me think. WTF Happened to this guy?I had stopped reading PH's blog and his articles in cardplayer for the last year or two. PH used to write interesting articles about hands and strategy and so forth, and his blog used to be pretty much trip reports. And those were interesting to read and also at times educational from a poker standpoint. Now, his blog and his articles are all about name dropping, and plugging whatever he's just put his name on this week. Seriously, look at his articles and blogs from about the past year, they all read pretty much the same. "I was playing poker with (insert celebrity name) and I spent a bunch of money on (insert name of product), and by the way buy my new (insert name of whatever PH's plugging that week)."Maybe it's unfair to judge a guy based on his blog, but it seems like poker is the least important thing to Hellmuth and it's just a means to an end for him. He won't play in the PPL because he wants all this extra stuff, the PPL would be revolutionary for poker and the best thing to happen to the players since the hole card cam, but there's not enough in it for him. Then he says he wont play on HSP again because the ratings are too low but procceeds to host celebrity poker showdown. Talk about saturating the market with too much bad poker on tv, CPS has to be the worst poker show ever (Except for that one that Annie Duke had).It seems like ever since poker really blew up that Phil Hellmuth only cares about being famous, and cashing in on that fame, and not about poker. He's more concerned with getting his name on something and a check in the mail then proving himself in poker. I mean one of the biggest knocks on him is that he cant play against the best, and he cant win in high stakes, that being said and also since he got trashed on season 1 of HSP you'd think he'd be raring to prove everyone wrong. But instead he finds an excuse not to play.To me Hellmuth has proved over the last year or two that its all just about his bottom line, and in doing so, has lost at least this former fan.

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I agree with everything this poster said. Phil Hellmuth used to be a great ambassador for the game of poker, now all he is an ambassador for is being a ******-bag.

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In reading Daniel's april fools day blog, and then reading the orginal Phil Hellmuth blog, it made me think. WTF Happened to this guy?I had stopped reading PH's blog and his articles in cardplayer for the last year or two. PH used to write interesting articles about hands and strategy and so forth, and his blog used to be pretty much trip reports. And those were interesting to read and also at times educational from a poker standpoint. Now, his blog and his articles are all about name dropping, and plugging whatever he's just put his name on this week. Seriously, look at his articles and blogs from about the past year, they all read pretty much the same. "I was playing poker with (insert celebrity name) and I spent a bunch of money on (insert name of product), and by the way buy my new (insert name of whatever PH's plugging that week)."Maybe it's unfair to judge a guy based on his blog, but it seems like poker is the least important thing to Hellmuth and it's just a means to an end for him. He won't play in the PPL because he wants all this extra stuff, the PPL would be revolutionary for poker and the best thing to happen to the players since the hole card cam, but there's not enough in it for him. Then he says he wont play on HSP again because the ratings are too low but procceeds to host celebrity poker showdown. Talk about saturating the market with too much bad poker on tv, CPS has to be the worst poker show ever (Except for that one that Annie Duke had).It seems like ever since poker really blew up that Phil Hellmuth only cares about being famous, and cashing in on that fame, and not about poker. He's more concerned with getting his name on something and a check in the mail then proving himself in poker. I mean one of the biggest knocks on him is that he cant play against the best, and he cant win in high stakes, that being said and also since he got trashed on season 1 of HSP you'd think he'd be raring to prove everyone wrong. But instead he finds an excuse not to play.To me Hellmuth has proved over the last year or two that its all just about his bottom line, and in doing so, has lost at least this former fan.
Couldnt agree more, but it is true he makes way more doing what he is doing then he could playing poker.
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It seems like ever since poker really blew up that Phil Hellmuth only cares about being famous, and cashing in on that fame, and not about poker. He's more concerned with getting his name on something and a check in the mail then proving himself in poker. I mean one of the biggest knocks on him is that he cant play against the best, and he cant win in high stakes, that being said and also since he got trashed on season 1 of HSP you'd think he'd be raring to prove everyone wrong. But instead he finds an excuse not to play.To me Hellmuth has proved over the last year or two that its all just about his bottom line
Wouldn't you prefer a guaranteed income?The guy makes a ton of money simply because he can market himself. That's a hell of a situation if you ask me.And he made a couple final tables at the WSOP last year, inluding a win. To say he doesn't care is probably way off.
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Wouldn't you prefer a guaranteed income?The guy makes a ton of money simply because he can market himself. That's a hell of a situation if you ask me.And he made a couple final tables at the WSOP last year, inluding a win. To say he doesn't care is probably way off.
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If I had established a reputation as a world-class poker player prior to the big boom, and could make money simply by marketing myself as a brand, I'd do the same thing. If Hellmuth is smart, he probably realizes that poker has become so overexposed that it's attracted people who have developed unique styles and learned how to play optimal poker. He probably further realizes that he cannot possibly sustain results like he had in the past against such competition, so he will milk his image with minimal exposure to actual poker tables, where he runs the risk of demystifying his name.Right now, at least among some audiences, he can still skate by on name alone, and there will be apologists who point to his bracelets and state that he could return to form anytime he wanted. If he were to start playing and failed to dominate consistently, his apologists would not longer have that crutch, and they'd be forced to conclude that Hellmuth is a dinosaur who failed to adapt to the new wave of talent. That would cost him a lot in book sales, and no one would be left to eat up the "mouse, jackal, elephant, lion, eagle" crap.

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Just look at what he did in the 06 WSOP he dominated and showed hes still a world class poker player.............other than that hes all about ego and comes across as a complete toobox

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Just look at what he did in the 06 WSOP he dominated and showed hes still a world class poker player.............other than that hes all about ego and comes across as a complete toobox
If he wasn't all about ego and wasn't a complete toolbox he wouldn't be a rich mofo
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I certainly understand what Hellmuth is trying to do in marketing himself hardcore to attempt to make himself a mainstream celebrity instead of someone that's known as a poker player on tv, but as he tries to do this, he looks more and more like an idiot, haha.It was initially amusing during the onset of the poker boom to watch Hellmuth and his antics, but similar to many one trick ponies in entertainment, his hit single is about to fizzle out and it's about time to wait for a VH1 special. Now, Hellmuth comes off as nothing but a cry baby, ego maniac and only somewhat tolerable. He's trying way too hard to promote himself, and I think it's showing.If Hellmuth takes off, good for him, but as far as I'm concerned, I think it's a better idea if he stuck with poker and pop his head in occasionally when it comes to poker on tv.

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all this phil is a dinosaur crap is amazing. didnt the guy just win his 10TH wsop braclet? what does this guy have to do , win a braclet every year? ask dn how hard this is. so lets fault him for making easy money by using his fame. grow up.. its about money, if he can earn millions by just being " the poker brat" why not do it? i doubt you would turn the chance down. he is still winning braclets , thus your " the game has passed him by " crap is way off base.like him or hate him, you have to respect him both as a poker player and as a bizzzznesss man...

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I'll put my disclaimer in first: I really like Phil, but he can be such an assclown.It's not any secret that Phil has been out there trying to market himself to make more money. I wouldn't be surprised if he made more money in endorsements in the past year than he has made in his entire poker career. He may act like a complete D-bag a fair amount of the time, but you can't argue that the man is a ****ing genius. He makes so much money off of his name that its not even reasonable. He may be a D-bag sometimes, but he is a smart and rich D-bag.Let us not forget that he almost was the WSOP player of the year last year, and had he won two bracelets last year instead of one, he would have ran away with the whole thing.

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I said this in a different post about PH and all....He's not entirely unlike Gene Simmons...in fact PH is the GS of the poker world, a rock star at one time that is cashing in on his past fame and glory. Gene comes across as a ego maniac d-bag as well, and he's laughing all the way to the bank. Nothing wrong with PH capitalizing on past fortune, even if it means he doesn't continue being a world class poker player. I think he will continue playing poker and very well, if he doesn't play games he's not good at. :club:

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I know we all post here becuase we love the hell out of poker but..... This guys come back to everything is, I am the best holdem player in the world!! What does this even mean? That you are the best at a game that means absolutly nothing in the big picture? Sure we would all love to be high limit successful pros and I myself have dreams of it but how can you act like such a complete moron even if it means money? Give me respected and comfortable over loaded and a joke anyday. I just dont care for this guy, i drink budwiser over dom anyhow i gotta agree with this poster hes out of his mind.

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Legends never die dude.
MuhahahahahahahahahahhaI pissed my pants when I read that....I have a serious question though..How does a person's ego get as big as yours? Do you have to become a pathological liar like yourself? Because I'd love to be invulnerable to criticism
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