Mar 14, 2007

World's top poker stars invade Bay Area

Palo Alto resident, 'Poker Brat' Hellmuth has turned himself into a poker icon

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

SAN JOSE - Someone, somewhere is proudly wearing his Bay 101 Shooting Star "I busted Phil Hellmuth Jr." T-shirt.

The poker celebrity and Palo Alto resident came within 20 minutes of surviving Monday's Day 1 of the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, a World Poker Tour $10,000 main event in which 50 "star" players have $5,000 bounties on their heads while the winner walks away with nearly $1,000,000.

"Unfortunately I picked up A-K on the button against two aces on the small blind," Hellmuth told the Daily News Tuesday over the phone. "I had an indication he had aces. I had a physical indication. I could've actually folded the hand and been a super genius. Just folded it. Most people in the world could never fold that. I could've gotten away from that, and I should've gotten away from that."

At 10:46 p.m., his night was done. Well, not really. Hellmuth, who in 1989 at the age of 24 became the youngest player to win the World Series of Poker Main Event, met up with two-time WSOP Main Event champion Johnny Chan and Tim Phan for some late night Chinese poker. When all was said and done, Hellmuth walked away with $23,500.

"But the night before, I lost $110,000 playing Chinese poker," Hellmuth said.

Think about that the next time you worry about ponying up $100 for a friendly sit-down.

"I play on the Internet and have $100,000 swings sometimes in a day, at least $10,000 swings almost every time I play," Hellmuth said. "And then to go play a $20 buy-in would be extremely hard now. I just always say 'No' to that, because it's difficult when everybody seems to know who you are."

Good luck finding a poker player of any level who hasn't heard of Hellmuth, who is both loved and hated at the same time for his antics at the table.

"I've always been a polarizing figure, you can say that," said Hellmuth, who over 50 days at the 2006 WSOP held it in, but once again had an outburst on NBC's Poker After Dark series. "At the poker table, my emotions can swing a little bit. Obviously, I'm called the Poker Brat, the bad boy of poker for a reason. Sometimes I get a little bit emotionally unstable, specifically when I play a big pot against somebody and they outdraw me. When they play a hand they're not supposed to play. That still drives me crazy."

Crazy, yes. Dumb, no.

Hellmuth has capitalized on his image and parlayed that into a series of lucrative investments and endorsements.

"Being in Palo Alto taught me a lot, seeing the wealth that's been accrued by my neighbors, and seeing how it's done," said Hellmuth, who lost a lot of money early on before he started to make the right reads. "Since 1998, it seems everything I've invested in has turned platinum. It's been crazy."

Included among those projects (check out graphic) is his five-hour-long "White to Black Belt Power Course" that can be downloaded off BlackBeltPhil.com onto a video iPod.

"Palo Alto will love this, it's at the technological cutting edge," Hellmuth said.

There is also his New York Times best seller, "Play Poker Like the Pros."

"A lifetime goal was to write a best-selling book," Hellmuth said. "That just shows you how hot poker is."

If you don't recognize Hellmuth from TV, maybe you recognize him from University Coffee Cafe, where he was allowed to sit for six hours a day as he wrote his book. If not there, then maybe Starbucks. Or what about Fuki Sushi, which Hellmuth has frequented for seven years. He also likes to dine at Tamarine (Vietnamese cuisine).

Born in Madison, Wis., Hellmuth moved to Menlo Park in 1994 with his wife Kathy, a doctor at Stanford. A couple of years later, they bought a home in Palo Alto.

"We both love it here, so we decided to stay," Hellmuth said.

One of his two sons is now in high school, so while Hellmuth spent last week in London, he travels less than the other top 100 poker players in the world.

"The reason why is because I maintain my family as my No. 1 priority," Hellmuth said. "In order to do that, I have to skip a lot of poker. I can't be on the road 300 days or something crazy - I'd have no family."

There will be no more Chinese poker the rest of the week, if Hellmuth is to be believed. He's pretty good at bluffing. Play at Bay 101 started Monday at 11:30 a.m., and Hellmuth made his customary late entrance nearly three hours into the event, sporting shades and an Ultimatebet.net cap. Barely four hands after sitting down, Hellmuth made a strong play to win back most if not all the chips he was blinded down.

One of the other players at the table said he didn't like the Poker Brat any longer.

"That guy was kidding," Hellmuth said. "I played with that table all day, and they loved me."

Probably right. Hellmuth has a knack for making good reads at a poker table - pocket aces be damned.


E-mail Vytas Mazeika at vytas@dailynewsgroup.com.

Phil Hellmuth's Projects

"When I do an interview, I can't remember all the pieces of all the companies that I have. It's crazy. I can't remember all the products I endorse anymore."

- Poker star and Palo Alto resident Phil Hellmuth

- "Play Poker Like the Pros" book, New York Times best-seller

- Texas Hold 'Em by Phil Hellmuth cell phone game (over a million subscribers)

- Ultimate White to Black Belt Poker Course available at BlackBeltPhil.com

- Syndicated newspaper column (worldwide)

- Title character for upcoming WSOP video game, with a Poker Brat mode

- Poker Brat Clothing Company

- Pro Player energy drinks (a Phil Hellmuth product)

- "Poker Brat" - the Movie (formerly "The Madison Kid")