Two thumbs up! I got into it with Phil Hellmuth at the table today

[Dan Druff]

BUMP

Hellmuth still berating people. Yesterday's victim was Terrence Chan.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/877343269415305220

This was in $10k Limit Holdem.

Terrence didn't bubble. He's like 2nd in chips going into the final day.

Terrence actually started at my Day 2 table, one to my left. He was also short to start the day, but unlike me, was hitting hand after hand to chip up quickly. I kept thinking "Why can't those cards just be one hand to the right!"

Terrence and I didn't play any pots together.

But anyway... Hellmuth has really stepped up the berating of people this year. I keep hearing more and more stories of him being a complete asshole at the table. I realize he's always done this, but this year seems especially bad for some reason.

I wonder if he's having issues at home or something.

[Dan Druff]

On June 12, a "decent amateur" was at my $1500 Limit Holdem table during the "thumbs up" incident.

He did not say anything to me about the incident, but he tweeted a message of support (which I only found last night) to Hellmuth, referring to me as a person who "lacks respect for you and the game".

However, Hellmuth berated this guy shortly after the thumbs-up argument (I mentioned this in my OP), which caused the guy to feel silly for sending that message of admiration and defense to Hellmuth, at which point he deleted the message and replaced it with this:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/874508949826842624

[Ken Hordell]

BUMP

Hellmuth still berating people. Yesterday's victim was Terrence Chan.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/877343269415305220

This was in $10k Limit Holdem.

Terrence didn't bubble. He's like 2nd in chips going into the final day.

Terrence actually started at my Day 2 table, one to my left. He was also short to start the day, but unlike me, was hitting hand after hand to chip up quickly. I kept thinking "Why can't those cards just be one hand to the right!"

Terrence and I didn't play any pots together.

But anyway... Hellmuth has really stepped up the berating of people this year. I keep hearing more and more stories of him being a complete asshole at the table. I realize he's always done this, but this year seems especially bad for some reason.

I wonder if he's having issues at home or something.

I just wonder what Phil's reaction would be if during being berated, you just starting laughing at him. That would probably just set him off. I remember years ago watching the People's Court, Judge Wapner was issuing his ruling and the defendant who was someone in his early 20s began giggling during Wapner's lecture. "You think this is funny sir, this is NOT funny". The guy literally could not stop giggling and Wapner got incensed and shouted out, "I will show you how funny I am", and promptly doubled his fine.

When people are irate at you and you start laughing at them, it generally causes a meltdown.

[Shizzmoney]

But anyway... Hellmuth has really stepped up the berating of people this year. I keep hearing more and more stories of him being a complete asshole at the table. I realize he's always done this, but this year seems especially bad for some reason.

I wonder if he's having issues at home or something.

He has always been like this, it just depends on the degree.....which does change from year to year. A leopard will never change its spots. The worst I've ever heard him be, and one of the rare times where is was a sore winner as well as a sore loser, was the 2007 WSOP Europe ME where it got so bad, 62 year old Thor Hansen at his table said that he told Phil if he kept up the taunting, that he would punch him lol.

Granted, I've never heard him call people names as much as I do this year. He called Justin Bonomo a "pussy" for 3 betting him preflop after losing his TT to Justin's 8s6s on a T97 board. (I wish I could show the hand but Poker Central took most of the vids off youtube which is LOL b/c they should be showing replays to use as a vehicle to sell future subs, instead of making people pay for all of them....which ppl wont).

And the WSOP and other casinos let him get away with it, where as if this is you or I, we get penalized or even DQ'd as repeat offenders after the initial "yellow card" warning.

It's bullshit, really.

[TheXFactor]

Has anyone actually bought his book?

Does he talk about how he supported Russ Hamilton and UltimateBet for years after it was a known scam?

Phil Hellmuth Jr pocketed over $20 million while UB players got screwed for tens of millions of dollars.

Good luck in future scams Phil, you fucking cry baby.

[blubbernuffle]

lol yea i saw the Tchan story and knew id see the update
lol pokerbaby but wtf is with poker players and twitter anyhow?
I just watch them (on a separate a unposted on account) for the LOL public drama

[Dan Druff]

Hellmuth keeps bringing the hits.

The below report is from VeeRob, aka Rob Perelman, who works in poker media and production. He also sometimes plays poker. (On a side note, he is a better travel bonus whore than I'll ever be!)

===========================================


PLAYING POKER WITH PHIL HELLMUTH

- A tournament recap by Rob Perelman

In 2012, I retired from playing poker.

(Druff's note: I snipped off the talk of his day at the $1k NL event prior to Hellmuth arriving, because I'm sure you don't care about that.)

Shortly after dinner our table broke, and with three levels left in the day I figured I'd stay out of trouble as I couldn't get a great read on how my tablemates were playing. But my new table had Phil Hellmuth in the 2 seat, and me being in the 7 seat, we figured to get into some pots. I raised the first hand UTG with 99 and both blinds called. The flop was ace high, and I got one caller when I c-bet. The turn was a nine, and he check-folded to my bet. The next hand I defended the big blind with 6h7h and turned a straight. I ended up busting my opponent when he rivered two pair and couldn't get away from it. I beleive I may have won the next hand, too. Phil was on his phone so he asked what I had shown the hand before. I told him that he was such a great player that he shouldn't get any assistance from the rest of the table. Phil smirked, and a friendly war of words started brewing.

Over the next few orbits, Phil mentioned how I was "playing every hand" and that I was likely to overplay ace queen when he had kings and I would double him up. Standard Phil type speech, and I told him that scenario was entirely possible. With my stack and an amateurish table, I was opening a fair amount of pots, which did not go unnoticed by Phil. He was absolutely DYING to play a pot with me, and he finally did.

At 400/800, I opened to 1,800 with AdTd and Phil re-raised to 5,300 from the big blind. He had about 18,000 behind, and I debated just jamming it in pre. Phil had already planned to re-raise me at some point, I'm sure, so it would have been fine, but he can also get a hand sometimes. I decided just to call and play post in position. The flop was AQT with one diamond, and Phil led for a tiny 2,800. I raised to 6,000, giving him the chance to spew off his chips with a worse hand, or possibly giving me the chance to fold if he Phil Hellmuth-style piled his chips in immediately with a better hand. Instead, as soon as I raised, Phil shot out of his chair and said, "What the fuck is going on?" I didn't think that speech came before a re-raise, so I was pretty sure he was folding. He called me a fucking moron (to himself) and scolded me for calling a re-raise dead with ace-eight (again, to himself). Then he said I play so bad I might have jack-nine. He folded, eventually claiming to have pocket nines or pocket eights. Nice c-bet, Phil.

While I was running great against Phil, I didn't run so good when I ran my aces into a set of nines and doubled the guy up. Then I ran queens into the same guy's kings and doubled him up again. I told Phil he probably would have folded the queens, and he admitted it was a tough situation for me. Phil also complimented my play at one point, so while he does go on tirades, he can be nice as well.

Towards the end of the night, a player opened and Phil three-bet, and the tight lady next to him cold-called the raise. Not only was she playing tight, but she had the pips lined up on her chips, which is usually a pretty reliable tell that that player only plays really good hands. The original raiser folded, and the two saw a 422 flop. Phil checked and the lady checked behind. The 3h hit the turn, putting two hearts on board, and again both players checked. The river was the 8h, and Phil bet 4,400 before the lady moved all in. Phil only had around 6k behind, so it seemed to be a pretty easy decision. It became pretty clear to me that Phil had pair of tens or so and that the lady had AK or AQ of hearts. With a better pair, Phil would have bet the turn. With a big pair, the lady would have bet the flop or the turn. These are the only two hands that would make sense, so I waited for Phil to fold.
After 2 or 3 minutes, I looked around the table and saw a few players looking at the clock. At this point in a poker game, I typically quietly ask those players if they're thinking about calling a clock, and if they are, I go ahead and call it. The player on my right and I discussed it, and we agreed I should call a clock after another minute. Phil seemed to be close, so I let another full minute go by without saying anything. After at least 4 minutes Phil apologized for taking so long, at which point I said, "Phil, if you can't make a decision soon I'm going to have to call a clock." Another 30 seconds to a minute went by, at which point I asked the dealer for a clock. Phil went absolutely ballastic, as I predicted I would.

I actually tried to calm Phil down, as I do when amateurs I call the clock on get upset. "Just worry about your hand for now, then you can get mad at me." Phil was having none of that, and told the floorman that I had called the clock too soon and to call another floor. He wanted them to write my name down and give me a penalty in the future if I called the clock too soon. Another floor was called, and the original floor was distracted from his clock keeping duties. I reminded him that Phil was on a clock, and he gave him a 10 second countdown as his clock was long expired. Phil's hand was ruled dead at 0.

The other floor came and informed Phil that writing a name down is not part of any procedure. Phil said, "Fucking call Jack Effel," to which the floor said, "You can call Jack if you want" or something to that effect. Somewhere in there Phil was so livid he took a picture of me to presumedly send to Jack. Amazingly he asked for my permission, so I said sure and gave him two thumbs up for the photo. While the rest of my table were taking pictures with Phil on break, Phil was taking a picture of me. I'm flattered.

Phil said it was "not cool" of me to call a clock, and that he could hear me discussing with players how long it had been, and that was also not cool since he was deciding for his tournament life. I told him that he will never get the room to be silent when he has a decision, and I would have called the clock on any player in that spot. I even told him I'm sorry if it upset him as he took it harder than most amateurs do. Suprisingly, Phil said "I still like you for some reason" after all that, so I guess I can sleep at night after all.

Phil went bust shortly after that when his ace-queen lost to ace-jack. Unfortunately it wasn't my ace-jack as that would have been a great ending to the story. Phil took 249th, and I took 215th the next day when I jammed ace-nine from the cutoff and lost a race to the big blind's pocket eights. I'm now 2 for 2 in WSOP events post-retirement, and now I can't wait to be 3 for 3 in 2019.

[Dan Druff]

Apparently that's Phil's new thing this year.

He keeps saying he's going to take people's pictures who either bad beat him or get him mad.

I guess it's supposed to be some form of humiliation or something.

He's really in rare form in 2017.

I actually wonder if my thumbs up thing set him off for the rest of the series. It seemed that his 2017 bad behavior started immediately after that thumbs up ruling went against him. Could also be a coincidence, but it seems like every day someone has a new story of Phil berating them.

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

He shouldn't do it to amateurs but who cares if he does it to Terrance Chan. Isn't that guy known for being a boss at limit holdem? I doubt his feelings were hurt or that he even cared. Every other pro he's ever done it to in the past thinks it's the funniest thing ever when he goes off.

Also for every one amateur Phil is vicious towards I bet there are five others that are total douche bags to him in hopes of having a story to tell their buddies when they go home.

[Dan Druff]

He shouldn't do it to amateurs but who cares if he does it to Terrance Chan. Isn't that guy known for being a boss at limit holdem? I doubt his feelings were hurt or that he even cared. Every other pro he's ever done it to in the past thinks it's the funniest thing ever when he goes off.

Also for every one amateur Phil is vicious towards I bet there are five others that are total douche bags to him in hopes of having a story to tell their buddies when they go home.

I've never seen people outwardly pick on Phil. I think the average person playing with him feels like he's some sort of poker royalty, and thus they're afraid to screw with him.

In all the Phil Hellmuth table blowups, I have never once heard of an instance where people just started up with him out of nowhere. Well, I guess I started with him out of nowhere in 2009 regarding UB, but he deserved that.

I don't think Terrence's feelings were hurt. Clearly he was amused by it, hence the tweet saying that a bucket list item (getting berated by Phil) was completed.

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

He shouldn't do it to amateurs but who cares if he does it to Terrance Chan. Isn't that guy known for being a boss at limit holdem? I doubt his feelings were hurt or that he even cared. Every other pro he's ever done it to in the past thinks it's the funniest thing ever when he goes off.

Also for every one amateur Phil is vicious towards I bet there are five others that are total douche bags to him in hopes of having a story to tell their buddies when they go home.

I've never seen people outwardly pick on Phil. I think the average person playing with him feels like he's some sort of poker royalty, and thus they're afraid to screw with him.

In all the Phil Hellmuth table blowups, I have never once heard of an instance where people just started up with him out of nowhere. Well, I guess I started with him out of nowhere in 2009 regarding UB, but he deserved that.

I don't think Terrence's feelings were hurt. Clearly he was amused by it, hence the tweet saying that a bucket list item (getting berated by Phil) was completed.

Maybe not. He just appears to me to be the easiest target of all time. Anyone that had a personality anywhere close to his in any poker game/community I've ever been in is by far the most picked on... but yeah they also weren't poker royalty.

[tyde]

this all MIGHT be noteworthy


if anyone in poker actually read the forums on this fucking ghost town shithole


I seriously doubt Phil gives a flying fuck what Druff thinks


like pretty much anyone on the internet or within the poker community


but keep typing Todd


tappity tap tap

[Dan Druff]

this all MIGHT be noteworthy


if anyone in poker actually read the forums on this fucking ghost town shithole


I seriously doubt Phil gives a flying fuck what Druff thinks


like pretty much anyone on the internet or within the poker community


but keep typing Todd


tappity tap tap

After I called Phil out about UB at the Main Event TV table in 2009 (which was edited out of the broadcast), Phil approached me the following year and asked me if I hated him.

"I understand if you want to hate UB, but I hope you don't hate me", were his exact words.

He walked up to me out of nowhere in 2010 and said this.

So, yes, at least back then, Phil Hellmuth cared what I thought.

I'll let you know when he also starts caring what longtime merchant marines think.

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

this all MIGHT be noteworthy


if anyone in poker actually read the forums on this fucking ghost town shithole


I seriously doubt Phil gives a flying fuck what Druff thinks


like pretty much anyone on the internet or within the poker community


but keep typing Todd


tappity tap tap

Your right he doesn't. But that's not because he's Druff or because this play may or may not be a ghost town. It could Brunson or Negreanu or anyone writing anywhere and he would not care. THis personality type gives zero fucks about what anyone anywhere near his status level cares about. Unless Steph Curry texts him asking what is going on Phil just wouldnt care.

[tyde]

Todd is just so desperate to be somehow 'relevant' in the poker world


so his approach is to antagonize and berate others who have experienced far more success and fame than he could ever hope to in 10,000 lifetimes


personally I think its pathetic and sad


win another bracelet asshole


Todd's legacy will almost certainly be solidified as one of the top 10 most despised personalities in poker


oh I'm sorry...


am I 'trolling' ?


fucking douche

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

There is one thing I've always enjoyed about this personality type though. They might go off on you but you can go off on them just as viciously and you don't have to worry about some awkward grudge down the road or them back stabbing you. They just don't care. Maybe I'm pigeon holing Phil too much here but I really don't think so. I strongly doubt if you poled the top 100 poker names from the last 15 years that any of them would be able to come up with many examples of Phil being a snake in the grass.

[Dan Druff]

Young Martin has been shown the door from this thread.

I'm getting close to kicking him from other threads he's fucking up, as well.

Go drink some black coffee, sober up, and come back in 4 hours.

Martin can't still can't hold his liquor after all these years of slowly decimating his liver.

[Dan Druff]

BUMP!

He's at it again:

[wrenchjockey]

Didn't they start issuing penalties when players drop the F-Bomb a few years ago?

[Texter]

Net time Phil acts up just threaten to show everyone at the table his wife's twat...that should shut him up.