Euro21

The Other Side of Phil Hellmuth

Phil credits the power of positive thinking and expectation for his many achievements. He recalls, "For years, every morning I would get up and say 'Expect great things to happen to you,' and great things happened. Expectation is important."

When he won the World Series of Poker in 1989, he kept telling everyone before he left that he would win. Not only that, he wrote down that he was going to win and wrote an article about how he had done it. He even left a message on his answering machine with the greeting, "You're talking to the 1989 World Champion of Poker, please leave a message." He recalls, "I did this stuff to believe it myself, because to win at 24 is very overwhelming. Not many people can accomplish that at that early age. You have to have seen yourself do it in your mind. You have to feel it's already happened before you can pull it off. You have to see it and believe it to be it."

Growing up in Madison, where his father was a dean at the University of Wisconsin, Phil Hellmuth was expected to, and believe he would, get a college education there as his brother and three sisters did, so he enrolled at age 21. It's no surprise that his favorite subjects were philosophy and logic. He applied convoluted arguments from the world's geatest minds to his game. Accounting and a big dose of psychology were two other key components. As a freshman, he started playing poker around campus. His friend Tuli Harmony taught him the basics, and from there he developed his own system.

In just a short time, the budding champ had paid off $20,000 in student loans with his prize money. A year later, at age 22, he was pitted against top pros in the state, rising quickly, and eventually entering tournaments in Louisiana and Reno. The first pro he remembers competing against was Johnny Keller. Next on his list of major adversaries were TJ Cloutier and Johnny Chan, with whom he is now an equal.

Dropping out of college to play professionally did not go over well with his academically oriented family. "My father put tremendous heat on me. I'm the oldest of five, and I was definitely considered the black sheep," Hellmuth says.

Is there anything the Greatest Poker Player in the World feels he can learn to improve his game at this point? "Of course," Phil says. "I'm an inventor. I invent ways to beat people at the poker table and strategies I can use. For me, part of becoming great at poker was understanding myself. I understand the ups and downs of the modern athlete. One thing I realized in 2003 is that I'm an inspiration to a lot of people. It was the first time I ever really understood that what I do actually has a lot of impact. I realized I need to continue to win poker tournaments because I'm doing it the right way. I'm not preaching drugs or alcohol, I've never cheated on my wife in 17 years, that's insane from a poker player's point of view, but that's the way I am, honest and loyal.

"One of my flaws is that I moan under my breath and complain, so people see two Phils. They see this perceived myth: 'That guy's crazy, he's talking to himself, he's swearing under his breath. He's the bad boy of poker.' But they don't have the chance to see what I'm really about."