Phil Hellmuth Biography

Phil Hellmuth of ultimatebet is probably the most known poker player in the world and this is in part to his accomplishments as well as his attitude at the poker table. Phil is often referred to by his nickname “The Poker Brat” because he often takes his anger out on the other players at the table. Hellmuth is known as one of the best poker players in the world and although he thinks he is the absolute best I feel he has some merit making the accusation.

Hellmuth has been playing poker since he was very young and started playing the tournament circuit in the 80’s which is when he won his WSOP Main Event Bracelet in 1989. Phil was only 24 years old when he won the Main Event in 1989 which made him the youngest poker player in the world to win a Main Event at the time. This record has been broken recently though in 2008 when Peter Eastgate won the Main Event at age 22.

One of Phil’s best year’s in the WSOP was in 1993 when he managed to win 3 bracelets including 2 in No Limit Holdem and 1 in Limit Holdem. One unique statistic about Hellmuth and the WSOP is that he has only won events in Holdem and no other poker game which is amazing. Most poker players with multiple bracelets end up winning them in different poker games. Hellmuth who has the most WSOP bracelets out of anyone else at 11 has them all from playing Holdem which makes him probably the best Holdem player out there.

Phil won his most recent WSOP bracelet in 2007 by winning a small $1.5K NL Holdem event. Apart from the WSOP Phil hasn’t seen anywhere near the success on other circuits such as the EPT or WPT. Since Hellmuth is easily one of the most outspoken poker players at the table you can always be sure that he will make appearances on most television shows.

Phil has played on Poker After Dark numerous times, he hosts an Ultimate Bet show with Annie Duke and has made appearances on many other television shows. Phil I must say loves the cameras and will do anything so that the spotlight is on him which is why many poker players might have mixed opinions about Phil. There have been several occasions where Hellmuth has also gotten a little out of hand at the tables and I’m sure this didn’t help his popularity any in the poker world.

Hellmuth is currently the co-ambassador of Ultimate Bet with Annie Duke and has been playing his online poker there for years now. He also has many other deals such as games, books and other deals that he has in the works right now including a clothing line. Phil has two boys and a wife and they all live in California currently although Phil is often traveling with the family for poker. As Phil works on solidifying his spot as the best poker player of all-time we can watch and enjoy his poker antics at the table. It should also be noted that Phil is one of only several poker players to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Poker and Twitter

The Twitter craze has been growing rapidly since its creation, with some of the biggest names of the a list celebrities taking time to make their actions and thoughts known to their adoring public that are following them on there.

Professional poker players have also taken their time to update their accounts on the latest social networking site, with a huge list of players creating accounts.

Here is a list of the professional players that are letting you follow their thoughts and actions through the site:

Erica Schoenberg (@thehitwoman)

Joe Sebok (@joesebok)

Erik Seidel (@Erik_Seidel)

Mark Seif (@markseif)

Beth Shak (@bethshak)

Barry Shulman (@barry_shulman)

Justin Smith (@BoostedJ)

Stella Su (@stellasu)

Steve Sung (@ssung41585)

Jose Tavares (@JJCOMMERCE)

Thithi “Mimi” Tran (@realmimitran)

Justin Truesdell (@theycallmetrues)

Matt Vance (@Matt238poker)

Vinny Vinh (@vinnyvinh)

Evelyn Ng (@evybabee)

Scotty Nguyen (@sjnguyen)

Annette Obrestad (@Annette_15)

Alex Outhred (@alexpokerguy)

Dwyte Pilgrim (@DwytePilgrim)

Jason Potter (@JPOSU)

Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso)

Adam Levy (@Roothlus)

Michele Lewis (@michelelewis)

Kathy Liebert (@pokerkat)

Liz Lieu (@LizLieu)

Eric Lynch (@Rizen1020)

Mike Matusow (@TheMouthMatusow)

Nenand Medic (@_serb_)

Dag Mikkelsen (@dmmikkel)

Eric Mizrachi (@EWeE420)

Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER)

Daniel Negraneau (@RealKidPoker)

Clayton Newman (@clayton27)

Brett Jungblut (@gank)

Adam Junglen (@adamjunglen)

Carter King (@ckingusc)

Howard Lederer (@howardhlederer)

Shaun Deeb (@shaundeeb)

Thuy Doan (@RealThuyDoan)

Annie Duke (@RealAnnieDuke)

Will Failla (@WILLFAILLA)

Justin Filtz (@JustinFiltz)

Nicolas Fradet (@NicolasFradet)

Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz)

Barry Greenstein (@barrygreenstein)

Christian Harder (@realcharder30)

Jennifer Harman (@REALJenHarman)

Mike Hefer (@Naked_Cowboy)

Phil Hellmuth (@Phil_Hellmuth)

Maria Ho (@MariaHo)

Phil Ivey (@philivey)

Kenna James (@Kenna_James)

Lacey Jones (@LaceyJones)

Brett Jungblut (@gank)

Adam Junglen (@adamjunglen)

Carter King (@ckingusc)

Within the list are some of the most popular FullTiltPoker.com players in the industry but followers should be aware that the site could well be open to the same problem that previous social networking sites suffered, accounts been created for the person and someone will be writing about the person rather than the player writing about it themselves.

Following other ‘real’ professional players accounts can give you an interesting insight into their lives and the things that they get up to on a daily basis.

If you see a player in the list above that you are interested in following and search for the name that features in the brackets next to their name then select the follow option.

Its amazing to see just how much time the players spend with each other and how they document their tournaments on a regular basis.

The Ninth World Series of Poker Event

A retired teacher from Pleasant Gardens, North Carolina took a step back in time to teach one more lesson, to the professionals and other players who placed their buy in fee into the ninth World Series of Poker event.

Ken Aldridge, 57, entered the tournament that offered a dense participation list as well as a string of professional poker players who make a daily living from playing poker.

Entering into the tournament was a daunting experience for the retired teacher after been a self confessed recreational player, carrying only two previous poker tournament cashing in his history of competitive playing.

Aldridge beat out 1,458 other players who had bought into the $1,500 no limit Texas Hold’em short handed tournament, hosted within the hugely popular World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament schedule. With the tournaments large participation numbers, the tournament offers a total prize pool of $1,991,535 and paid out the top 144 places.

Taking the first place in the tournament means that the 57 year old retired teacher walks away with $428,259 in prize winnings.

Aldridge said that this was just another success in his life, saying “I really value the years I spent as a teacher, because I was always around such a wonderful group of people, I hope that I helped them to become better people. That’s the lesson I hoped to teach them most ’to become better people.’”

After been asked how he thought he had preformed in the poker download tournament after winning, the recreational player said that he felt that he played an almost perfect game, “I really don’t think I made many mistakes, I was very happy with how things went. I think I was behind only one time the whole tournament when I was all-in.”

This goes to show that even the amateur players that enter into the World Series of Poker tournament schedule carry the confidence of a professional.

The tournament seemed to offer less for the notable professionals who had stumped up the $1,500 buy in fee, with Rafe Furst been the highest placed of the known names, finishing in 31st place.

The top 10 finishers in the tournament placed in this order:

1. Ken Aldridge ($428,259)
2. Carman Cavella ($264,814)
3. Peter Gould ($170,953)
4. Bryce Yockey ($115,230)
5. Charles Furey ($80,896)
6. Manny Minaya ($59,049)
7. Praz Bansi ($42,320)
8. Bryn Kenney ($42,320)
9. Robert Lipkin ($30,311)
10. Steve McNally ($30,311)

Play money in poker? Don’t waste your time

A topic of conversation from novices to the Hold ‘Em game, those who want to learn to compete on a regular basis but who don’t quite have the bankroll to effectively get to that level in the time they anticipate it will take, is whether you can learn the game online without playing for real money. Meaning they get into a game, are given chips to play with, they just don’t have to buy any of them.

The answer any self-respecting, seasoned player at Poker Stars will give you is a clear no. You might be able to learn the rules of the game if you don’t already know them, but to really improve your game using play money? Impossible.

Here’s why: First, it’s not a legitimate environment. None of the players, including you (whether you’re aware of it or not) value their chips. How can they, they have literally nothing invested in them except perhaps a little bit of time. This has a direct negative correlation to the decisions being made at the table. You don’t care if you lose a major all-in hand, because you can just start over from scratch…thus you see it happen at a ridiculously high rate. How can you expect to learn in such a false (not to mention predictable) environment?

There’s really not much more to cover there. It’d be like trying to learn an instrument underwater. You can figure out where to put your hands, but you have no idea how to really make music in such a foreign environment.

If you really want to learn pkr poker, but just don’t have the cash, at least try a book or watching on television. The problem with the televised poker tournaments is that they only show you the action hands. You don’t get to see the 20 hands in-between that resulted in nothing more than a few sandwich crumbs being dropped onto the table. You also truly can’t get a feel for what it’s like to be in that moment by just watching others make decisions. Again, it’s impossible.

Eventually, though, there’s no getting around it. You have to put down some money and expect to lose. Basically, you’re buying experience. Just find a buy-in amount you know you can handle. And who knows, after a shorter time than you think, you might be walking out a winner, upgrading to the bigger tables on your way to an improved game.