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• Phil Hellmuth’s Main Event - Show or Dough?

Let me start this post by telling you that in this recent post I was impressed with Phil’s Poker Stats. He has the most WSOP bracelets, the most in the money finishes at the WSOP and is currently 6 in WSOP all time earnings.

Considering those statistics even the most cynical of Poker watchers would have to agree that Phil is one of the all time great Poker players. In early July of this year Phil along with Barbara Enright were inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame. source

Ok so with all of that being said, I wonder about Phil’s performance at the WSOP 2007 Main Event. For your consideration:

Was Phil playing for Show or Dough?

• Crashing the Ultimate-Bet race car

On the day before his scheduled Main Event Day 1, Phil was ‘test driving’ the Ultimate Bet race car through the Rio parking lot and crashed into a cement pillar. See the video here.   Almost immediately talk started that the accident was a publicity stunt.

“Now, this could be a publicity stunt or it could be a legit car wreck and if that’s the case we’re certainly hoping he’s okay. It’s just something that Hellmuth might do to get himself a little bit more attention and drama as he heads to the felt tomorrow” source

or

“The more he brags about the incident, the more it looks like the real thing,” said one player. “Rumor has it that Phil was too busy looking at himself in the rearview mirror and didn’t see the concrete block approaching.”source

Noon Vegas time came and went for Phil on his appointed Main Event Day 1 and Phil was nowhere to be found. But we know that is part of Phil’s act, showing up late and giving up a few blinds. This year he showed up 2 hours and 40 minutes late and then made the grand entrance. Of course he planned the extravagant entrance to ensure ESPN would follow his every move. He entered the Rio with 11 young and beautiful women.  11 women to represent the 11 WSOP bracelets that Phil has garnered over the years.

• Playing in Main Event

Phil started playing after the 2nd Round had started. He lasted through Round 2 and 3 but was eliminated in Round 4. Just barely 2 complete rounds for his buy in of $10,000. I suspect his usual table-side manner will probably be evident on the ESPN broadcast of Day 1D. 

• Other Pros

Many of the top pros were eliminated on Day 1 as I discussed in this post and it is no shame to be knocked out on day 1. Phil just gets eliminated with much more ‘Show’ and seemingly plays like he has less interest in the Main Event dough, than the other top pros.

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