Poker legend Phil Hellmuth aka ‘The Poker Brat’ was one of the biggest personalities to emerge from the ‘Poker Boom’ back when ESPN was airing the World Series of Poker and a whole slew of poker players became overnight celebrities.
That was 20 years ago and Hellmuth has grown older, wiser, more successful as he’s won 8 more WSOP bracelets in the past two decades but from time to time we still see shades of ‘The Poker Brat’ emerging and that was absolutely true on a recent episode of PokerGo’s No Gamble, No Future.
It is difficult to say where this ranks amongst the all-time Phil Hellmuth rants/meltdowns but it is certainly up there because it starts with such a slow simmer before Hellmuth loses his mind and starts hurling profanity after ripping off his lapel mic. He also quits the show after the rant, all over a hand where Hellmuth was a 43% underdog before the flop when they both shoved all the chips in the middle.
Jean-Robert Bellande, a longtime poker professional and another well-known figure in the world, tried to calm Phil down but that seemed to only pour gasoline on the fire. As Phil was berating the person he lost to, telling him “I don’t know who you are but I am never going to film with you again” Bellande tried to interject, telling Phil he just lost a big pot and he needed to simmer down. Hellmuth quickly snapped back “I don’t give a f—, JRB. I DON’T GIVE A F—.”
Hellmuth then turned his ire back on Humboldt Mike with another string of profanities all while removing his microphone from PokerGo. Phil made sure to name drop ‘Palo Alto’ where he lives, saying he has friends there he enjoys playing with and doesn’t need this group of people. And for what it’s worth, he’s right about that. Hellmuth has no need of money having earned $18+ million in WSOP tournaments alone along with a slew of successful investments. But to melt down like this on PokerGo is not a great look for the guy who just turned 60 years old.
Anecdotally, Phil Hellmuth couldn’t have been nicer when I interviewed him three Summers ago during his heater in the WSOP.