Hanging With Hellmuth

Posted by icemonkey9 on Jun 9, 2010 in General | 3 comments

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while (I say that too much), but frankly there are only a handful of people that really follow me here so hey whatev right?

This week has been ridiculously busy with WSOP coverage. My focus out here in Las Vegas is to try to capture some of these pros away from the table doing what they love to do. Here's a quick recap of what's happened so far:

• Landed and then went straight to the Bellagio to catch Phil Laak and his world record performance for endurance. Did the final interview with him before he stopped at a ridiculous 115 hours. Met up with Jennifer Tilly as well and got a good interview with her. She is very much in love with Phil, it was endearing.
• Spent time at the Rio but this year the setup really benefits the players and screws over people like me because they are allowing NOTHING in terms of video which sucks. They have a media interview room which I have about the same chance of winning the Main Event myself as I do getting a pro to leave the main playing area, walk all the way over, then do the interview over in that room. Fortunately Bernard Lee is doing well with the interviews on-site with the big namers.
• Today we hung out with Phil Hellmuth (read below for that story), then interviewed tournament director at the Bellagio (and World Poker Tour) Jack McClelland (super classy guy) and then met up with Bodog pro Amanda Musumeci who I really hit it off with (she's a riot).

So that takes us to Phil. Here's the canned picture we took to test the lighting (click to enlarge):

So we met up with Phil at his hotel suite which was quite nice (I am omitting the hotel for his privacy). We woke him up at 1pm and after he got himself refreshed was a lot more chipper. I had never met Phil and obviously his reputation preceeds him. I had seen him a dozen times at events but this was the first time I have spoken with him at length.

Hellmuth is one interesting cat I can say that. It's funny, because he's definitely an interesting psychological subject. He's both praised and criticized by fans and peers alike. In the end though, I think he's a real decent guy who does care a great deal about his professional and personal life. There were some subjects that came up that were ones he didn't like and he wore it on his face but stayed quiet. When the boys from Time Magazine came and asked some really ignorant poker questions, he just tried his best to answer them without rolling his eyes (I did though). The interview we did was done in about 20 minutes and we got some great sound bites and good insight into what makes him tick. It was funny though, he'd be in mid-sentence and giving a great answer and he'd just "electrify" himself and look straight into the camera and cut some canned promo. At the same time, when I asked about charity work he does, he very humbly talked about the importance of doing that kind of work to help offset the shallowness of what can be a lonely profession in poker, while talking about the charities he assists. The CEO of the hotel came over to his suite and gushed about how much he enjoys there and while complimenting the staff and accommodations, complemented himself for being a big tipper at the same time.

Once the interview was over and Phil had his "breakfast" (around 2pm) he and I sat at his dining table next to his work desk and just shot the shit. It was good stuff and I think "that" Phil Hellmuth is probably (hopefully?) closer to who he really is than what you might see in 15 second clips on poker shows. We talked about bad runs and what we do to get through them (hilarious right? I am sure somewhere some online friends of mine have a joke here about me and Hellmuth talking about running bad), but we totally agreed that even if last year was a total disaster at poker, we're both running great in life. When I said that whenever I run bad now I tell myself, "Hey running bad at poker, but running GREAT in life!" and he loved that saying and repeated it. It seemed to ring true as he said how grateful he was for having a patient and supportive wife and great kids (he had just spoken with her on the phone).

So, all in all I spent about 2.5 hours with poker's most enigmatic subject. I came away thinking the guy, deep down, is a decent guy who is extremely driven to staying on top as one of the best tournament players in history. He loves his family and he loves the game of poker. He cares what his peers think and does his best to support his fans. At the same time, he can be his own best friend and worst enemy and can show his impatience and enthusiasm on his face in the blink of an eye.

I'm sure I'll spend more time with Phil Hellmuth in the future but I'm glad I was able to have this opportunity. The 20 minute interview is really good and will make its way up to Poker News Daily (he tweeted about it) very soon.