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Interviews and Articles
Phil Hellmuth Interview - Exert taken from InsideEdge
‘I think I am the most famous poker player in the world. I have a syndicated column in over 40 papers in the US. I have two clothing lines and my book was on the best-sellers list for over a month last year.’
His self-belief is flush, not just in spades but all four suits, to the extent that he still seems to have trouble believing that Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson beat him to ten WSOP bracelets: ‘I couldn’t imagine being the third one to ten. That was beyond my imagination. I thought there was a chance that either of them could get to ten before me but there was no way in hell that they’d both get there before me. No way in hell, man!’ Big Phil slams his hand down on the table to add a comedy emphasis, but it also feels loaded with a touch of keenly remembered exasperation.
‘They both got there in front of me. When Chan won I didn't whine or cry about it. I just congratulated him,’ he adds.
Hellmuth admits that he was an awkward teenager without many friends or decent grades. But his life changed when an English faith healer called Rose Gladden stayed at his family home. Phil kept pushing her to read his palm and remembers when she finally relented: ‘She turned kind of blue or transparent and told me that I was going to become really famous. She wouldn’t tell me how but I kind of latched onto what she said. I felt it coming and it just added more fuel to the fire.’
Whether you hold stock in new age philosophy or not, Hellmuth’s faith in his destiny is wholly tangible. He’s still a little sore about the time that the same pair of black Nines that had seen him clinch the Main Event in 1989 left him dead in the water against Phil Gordon in 2001.
Something which he feels stopped him from breaking a lot of poker records. But looking forward Hellmuth is convinced that he is and will be remembered as the greatest player. ‘If someone has to beat you to ten bracelets it may as well be two of the best players in history. Chan beat me to five and I’d said I’d be first to ten, maybe I’ll be first to 20.’
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