The title of this column is deliberately obscure. I’m blissful to be with any of poker’s main league Phils: Ivey, Laak, Hellmuth, Galfond.
I’ve interviewed all of them. To a person, they’re cool, attention-grabbing guys, enjoyable to speak with and intriguing to put in writing about.
Phil Laak is ridiculously sensible and humorous as hell (his girlfriend Jennifer Tilly as soon as informed me, “Phil’s mind is as large as a home;” she’s biased however, metaphorically talking, had some extent). Phil Galfond helped set up the way in which through which individuals beat on-line poker, and, once I interviewed him, he had a slide in his East Village duplex (I used to be too rooster to zip down it; you went super-fast and I feared wiping out on the backside). Phil Ivey is arguably the world’s greatest poker-player and he has a pleasant aspect that you just by no means see on the desk. Plus, again then at the very least, he completely knew the way to host crowds at Vegas nightclubs.
However the Phil that I’m excited about proper now could be Phil Hellmuth. I noticed a Card Participant story that reported on him snagging a deal to be spokesman for the playing website Guess Rivers.
To my thoughts, the decision-makers there couldn’t have discovered a greater individual to symbolize their website. I get that it’s not poker-centric and that Hellmuth is greatest identified for successful WSOP bracelets, however wherever playing is anxious, he’s an excellent face.
Hellmuth’s a little bit of a ham, recreation to do no matter’s required, and he likes consideration greater than he worries about wanting silly. Therefore, his carrying pajamas and showing to have overslept within the Rivers industrial: He yawns and sleepily says, “Video games on…”
Hellmuth additionally understands the enterprise of poker and playing in addition to anybody who’s anted up for a hand.
After I first interviewed him, again earlier than poker sponsorships existed, when the sport was a backwater that most individuals turned up their noses at, and when most poker professionals had zero curiosity in losing prolonged intervals of time with journalists, Hellmuth would possibly as properly have had a crystal ball.
“At some point,” he informed me after we sat down to speak in an unoccupied nook of the previous Binion’s Horseshoe, “poker goes to be performed in a giant area and we’re going to appear to be NASCAR drivers with all types of product logos on our clothes.”
Naturally, I believed that was ridiculous. And, after all, he was principally appropriate, even crashing a racecar himself earlier than a poker event.
Hellmuth additionally stated that Rolex can be sponsoring event clocks. That hasn’t occurred but, however who is aware of. Then once more, he as soon as predicted a Phil Hellmuth mannequin Cadillac and vowed that it could are available just one coloration: Gold. On that rely, you’ll be able to’t blame a man for considering large.
Hellmuth has vast imaginative and prescient and the form of persona that enables him to money in away from the pro-loaded desk. He’s been concerned in crypto start-ups, all the time promotes Aria (he’s bought some form of a cope with the place), and performs in a pleasant/high-stakes/lavishly-catered dwelling poker recreation with Silicon Valley billionaires and NBA stars (Hellmuth is probably going the large winner, the one who cares most concerning the cash in danger, and the principle attraction. iPhones get whipped out when he appears able to blow up over an unfortunate loss). I feel he ranks among the many most optimistic, most forward-thinking poker professionals.
And the man has broad attain. A pair years in the past once I was attempting to place collectively a Golf Digest story about how poker gamers gamble on the golf course – it tends to be pretty high-stakes and reasonably low-skill – I had a tough time nailing individuals down. Would-be matches stored falling aside. Someone precisely likened the method to “herding cats.”
I complained about it to Hellmuth. He wound up corralling a crew (with Mike Matusow available to gamble from the cart and supply comedian reduction). They gave me an excellent story and Phil just about ran the present.
So, going ahead, in case you’ve bought one thing to promote or wish to hit the Vegas hyperlinks with flush poker professionals, you now know which Phil to name.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist primarily based in New York Metropolis. He’s the creator of 5 books (“The Benefit Gamers” out quickly) and has labored for publications that embody Wired, GQ and the New York Put up. He has written extensively on know-how, playing, and enterprise — with a selected curiosity in spots the place all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Solar and Phil Ivey is at the moment in growth as a characteristic movie.
