Poker Mom

Phil Hellmuth is one of the most prolific Hold’em tournament players currently alive.  He has a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets to his name.  He has also appeared on popular televised poker shows including the World Poker Tour, High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.  This past week he was a participant in the Poker After Dark cash game and had several Hellmuth moments where he’d complain about a slow roll, a donkey call and complaints about suck outs.In the past, watching Phil Hellmuth blow up really drove me crazy – to the point where I refused to watch games in which he played.  In time though, I’ve managed to tolerate and even get a little bit of amusement out of it.  Sure he has a bit of an ego but if you really watch, most of the times he apologizes or makes amends after blowing up.  Stories have also been told about how genuine and nice of a person he is off of the felt.

So today in browsing the poker blogs I ran across this excerpted entry from Pokahboy at the Road to the final table blog:

“I don’t think I’m alone in expressing a new level of dislike for Phil Hellmuth. His voice must take up 40-50% of the airtime, it’s particularly annoying. It’s as though he feels it’s his divine right to win in every game he plays. His record in cash games isn’t great, so suck up and quit with the whining.”

The post reminded me of my initial thoughts about Hellmuth.  Perhaps in time he’ll grow on those who are utterly annoyed with him or perhaps I’ve mellowed out in my old age (har har!).

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