Phil Hellmuth cements his status as the tournament GOAT
https://twitter.com/pokergo/status/15074...
If it wasn't for luck he'd win every one
Yeah, but just being himself, he probably blows up twice a session at some awful play by a 1/2 style player playing 50/100. They pay for the story of Hellmuth calling them or someone at the table a moron.
Then he probably spends a lot of the session telling stories of old time and TV pros, Brunson, Moss, Amarillo Slim, Ungar, the Binions, Matusow, Flack, etc. You feel like you are friends with him. He natural plays a style that doesn't look that different from the others at the table. Then he probably has a higher VPIP than he would normally, to take advantage of bad play, and to fit in.
No one would invite some GTO pro, who act like a computer, doesn't say anything, etc. to their private game, no matter if he might objectively be a better player.
this spoils the above link:
Spoiler
i like how he tank calls with AJs and admits he knew Gus shoved blind.
He has a huge edge in these tournaments for sure.
Some of it comes from everyone at his table just wanting to play hands with him.
In cash games when he plays he almost expects people at his table to just donate a stack to him.
I read one of his books 17 years ago and he said he charged 25k for appearances.
He tweeted once what he charges to invest in startups. Interesting but not going to search for it.
Still a bargain compared to what Paris & KimK charged for party appearances.
Yeah, that is probably why he stopped grinding tournaments in 2003. He could make more being a poker celebrity from private cash games and maybe appearance / speaking fees.I don't think he could make that much in public cash games. He never was a good cash game player. However, he could do very well grinding tournaments. He has all these wins and top 5 finishes in $1K-3K WSOP e
Well, in the last three years he has 12/3462, 15/486, 48/2317, 23/246 (LHE6), 53/1544, 9/550, 19/1417, 1/642, 14/99 (50K), 11/568, 47/6076, 38/573(8H), 2/1359, cashes in holdem events, some online, turbo, bounty, etc.
Just a lot more players in general and good ones in particular.
Interestingly, only five of his 122 HE cashes (one bracelet) are in PLHE, the last in 2004; I think that’s an easy one to figure out.
He has 93 cashes in non-HE events. His first five cashes were in Stud8, ME, PLO, A-5, ME.
In any event, it is difficult to plausibly argue that Helmuth is the greatest of all time at poker tournaments in a world that contains Stephen Chidwick, Adrian Mateos, Ike Haxton, the Foxens, Niklas Astedt, and Artur Martirosyan.
All great players (though Ms. Foxen is indefinitely suspended from the discussion), but do they have significant cashes in non-HE events. Phil has 93/215.
Hellmuth has 1st for about $800K in a 2023 WSOP NLHE and 2nd for $370K in a 2022 $3K WSOP NLHE plus 1st for $200K+ in a USPO $10K NLHE. So it is safe to say he is hugely $ROI+ in NLHE tournaments in the last few years.
It isn't totally clear that those names mentioned are better tournament players currently than Hellmuth. They mostly beat super high rollers, which Hellmuth doesn't play. However, Hellmuth has a huge ROI in NLHE tournaments, considering particularly that he doesn't play many tournaments. I might pay more for shares of Hellmuth in say the WSOP ME than those others. Then Hellmuth plays all games. Most of those others don't play the PPC, etc.
Cross post:
No bracelet for Hellmuth.
Hellmuth said "it feels like you are on a draw" and called a turn shove with A2o on 2894, 2-flush on flop and lost to 97o.
I'm gonna say it ... Phil Hellmuth blew it !
The most successful nit in poker calls off his heads-up WSOP tournament for a Bracelet
with bottom pair, because he thought his opponent might be on a draw.
He played terribly hu.
My guess is that the only error is that they should have said the winning hand was a flush, not two pair. And that everything was correct in terms of hands and action. But since it wasn't streamed we don't know.
Hellmuth & Seidel each hu last night, zip coverage, lmao but standard.
Hard to tell if he blew it without hole cards or completely accurate reports.
That last hand, calling with bottom pair seems bad. Tricky with A2o HU. Against his opponents actual hand, a 3! shove would have taken it. However, hard to 3! when you could be badly dominated and hard to fold it HU. But then hard to play either pair if you hit or ace high if you miss.
As I mentioned elsewhere, looking at the HHs 3-6 handed, his old school approach may not have been optimal, but was hard to play against. He seemed to open limp a lot and take the pot of the flop or turn. He also got a lot of folds to 2/3-3/4xpot bets, when the bets short stacked in tournaments tend to be really small.
Yeah, but he blew it 12 of them.
The WSOP website says Phil Hellmuth has been at 84 Final Tables.
Phil Hellmuth says he has been heads up for a WSOP Bracelet 32 times.
Is 17 wins out of 32 times really that impressive?
It’s interesting how Phil in his prime never talked while in a hand and for years now he’s been a muttering stuttering mumbling stumbling mutt for the cameras & railbirds.
I remember thirty odd years ago Howard Lederer saying Phil was the best at picking up verbal tells from upset opponents, and post-Covid I’ve seen him get flustered bantering.
Obviously, all his ‘personality’ has made him a fortune in appearances, investment opportunities, rich fish home games, etc.
