Phil Hellmuth Triumphs At 2014 Pittsburgh Poker Open

Phil Hellmuth has just earned his first live tournament title of 2014, after topping a 254 player field at the Pittsburgh Poker Open to claim the crystal trophy, as well as the $54,000 first place prize. Coincidentally, 54 is also the number of tournament titles Hellmuth has now won throughout his remarkable 27 year career, his first coming at the 1988 Pot of Gold held at the Grand Sierra Resort which he won for $17,500.
This time around, the Rivers Casino was the venue for Hellmuth’s latest victory, with the 19 day poker festival culminating in the Pittsburgh Poker Open Main Event. Prior to the Main Event Hellmuth and others pros, including Greg Mueller and Jennifer Tilly, had played in a high-stakes cash game recorded for Season two of “Poker Night in America,” and select parts of the Main Event tournament will also be shown in future episodes of the TV poker show.
In order to claim the victory, Hellmuth had to first overcome a stacked final table, which including Matt Glantz, Joseph Couden, and David Baker, and following his impressive win, the 50 year-old pro tweeted:
“Surreal week: won a 2015 Corvette Stingray, filmed @ESPN live coverage of @WSOP, filmed @PokerNightTV and won Pittsburgh Open Main Event!”
Being on the receiving end of a scathing attack from WSOP One Drop champion Daniel Coleman last week most likely added to Hellmuth’s sense of surrealism, especially as the 23 year-old used the strongest terms to describe his dislike of Hellmuth, labeling him “spineless” and “willing to take any sponsorship regardless of the company’s integrity.” As Colman further elaborated on the TwoPlusTwo forum, “People of his attitude and character are a cancer to this world.”
It didn’t then take Hellmuth long to respond to the personal attack by saying “I am proud of the man I am!” A number of other pros then came to Hellmuth’s defence, with Jay Farber tweeting:
“@GTOisbadforme I’ll take @phil_hellmuth over Colman any day. One person is an am ambassador for the game, the other rides a moral high horse.”
and Tom McEvoy, stating:
“I just read Dan Coleman’s comments about Phil Hellmuth. Coleman question’s Phil’s integrity than admits to his own online cheating. Grow up Dan Coleman and look into your own integrity.”