Hellmuth Announces he is Not Playing 2025 WSOP Main Event [Resolved]

He’ll be sprinting from camera to camera, saying how he paid the Uber driver $500 to make a screaming U-turn right before the airport off ramp.

Getting old indeed sucks. Not much else to it

I think they could add a rest day after day 5 or 6.

I don't agree with the calls to shorten the structure. The structure is part of what makes the main special.

All that being said my money's on Phil playing. He'll make his big surprise entrance and all the cameras will be clamoring for an interview. You have to admit he knows how to market himself. All the tirades he used to make on camera had to have made him millions in sponsorships.

He's incredible at marketing himself. And Phil is all Phil cares about. So when he cries about long grueling days but hasn't actually played consecutive days in the main in a decade,it's purely to get attention for Phil.

two player over 40 had won it since then, while four 39 year olds and one 38 year old won it. No one under the age of 30 has won it in the last 7.

I should point out again, only two have ever won it over age 60. If you are 50 and over you are really behind the eight ball, as you should be in a major competition.

Looks Farha should have been champ 2003. Coming in second that exhausted. Or Dan. Or somebody else not sleeping properly.

Always something else to blame but luck.

Only guy with any legit complaint is Ivey who got coolered out in 10th, but no two players in history play it any differently. That should’ve been the headsup finale. CMM rolled over everyone else from Day One.

Final two hands were humiliating for Sam, and replayed endlessly, plus he turned down (insultingly) a 59/50 chop down 2-1. Same as Dutch whining about his AK bluff on the flop getting snapped by MM’s 33. I think Chan whined too after MM busted him resoundingly. Buncha scrotes imo.

Wasn’t Chan coaching MM at final table?

No, that was Jamie Gold. Chan about had a heart attack day or two earlier when he saw Gold fixing to play a big pot against Allen Cunningham. Pity AC didn’t double through him.

As for Ivey, poor guy’s still having PTSD attacks from Moneymaker and then he gets knocked out by Darvin Moon!

I can't help but think of all the people working construction, road work, power/gas companies doing emergency calls, fire, police, military, folks working in underground mines with brutal conditions hearing poker players whine about how hard it is playing cards.

I imagine most of them understand that nobody is comparing the two.

Even if this socially awkward attention whore was serious just imagine thinking this matters even a little

if his sponsors say play, hell play. period end of story.

I’d agree if back in 2006, but is sponsorship even a real thing in poker today? WSOP isn’t nationally broadcast on ESPN anymore, it’s behind a crappy paywall for a niche audience.

Has he been paid for the entrances?

Not sure if I'm kidding or not.

Jack Straus was not a drunk though he certainly was not afraid to blast the chips into the middle. I think he only played the ME & 2-7 events.

TJ finished 2nd to Bill Smith in ‘85, and must’ve been feeling deja vu when it got down to three-handed with Scotty in ‘98. I’ve read that Hal Fowler & Bobby Hoff’s headup in ‘79 was a sight to behold.

I think with online being smaller and more niche than in the 00s, it's tougher now for someone in their 20s to get to a point financially and skill-wise where it makes sense to play the Main. The generation that came up through online when online was juiciest (roughly the Deeb/Chewy/Ike age range) is in the best position. They are still young enough to be in their mental prime while being old enough to have accrued the wealth and experience.

I know there are a handful of notable twenty-something MTT players right now, but I think the path to break in is a lot harder than it was. You're not going to see a Cada or Eastgate win because they can't go online at 21 and have the same type of opportunity and success. Which is just to say that 30s-40s dominating the Main in recent years is not solely about skill level and mental faculties, but also about being in a better financial/life position. That didn't matter as much in the 00s when you could hop on PS and FTP to build your roll against legions of bad recs.

There is exactly no chance he pays for his entrances out of pocket

Guessing he doesn’t have a backer for that anymore since nobody gives a flying fuck

Financially I can understand but any winning low stakes mtt player has a big edge in the main.

There are still tons of young players in the main.

But in general there are way fewer players in their 20s than there were during the boom.

Hal Fowler was drugged up the whole time and even had a bottle of Valiums with him at the FT. I think the story is here somewhere (if someone has the link please share). He got frustrated after playing for so long and demanded to go sleep for the night but they wouldn't let him so he kept going all in every hand when it was heads up

In the video of him winning the ME (yes there's a video) he didn't even move for like 5 seconds after the board ran out and everyone was cheering haha, delayed reaction

Wow, you're right! Imagine working construction/police/emergency and still losing in poker. Double pissed

What exactly is Hellmuth's brand now, besides the entries? Soft private games maybe. Does he have a visible sponsor? Lectures, paid interviews, a book or film coming?

WSOP can have thought the entries have done their thing, kung-fu kick in the balls and everything, Hellmuth calculating he'll be fine economically until 100 years old. 60 years is a nice round number for retiring from some things.

Who are the other two? At least iyo.