Phil Hellmuth Bares All On Ask-Me-Anything Session

In recent times, professional poker players such as Phil Galfond, Jason Mercier, and Antonio Esfandiari have taken to Reddit’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) channel to field questions posed by a legion of enthusiastic poker fans. Over the weekend, WSOP legend Phil Hellmuth subsequently followed in their footsteps and, as always, the 51 year-old “poker brat” put on an entertaining show.
One of the questions Hellmuth was asked concerned the future of online poker in the US, to which he replied that legalized iPoker is an inevitability across the country. However, Hellmuth also took the opportunity to criticize efforts to stop its spread, especially by Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, who spends millions of dollars each year attacking the legality of the game.
Addressing the contracting US iPoker market since Black-Friday, Helmuth lamented the fewer entries at this year’s WSOP, as well as there being less poker television shows, and fewer sponsorship deals for players in the US. On a more positive note, however, Hellmuth noted that for the rest of the world the shrinkage has been a lot less pronounced.
Hellmuth was also asked about his poker brat persona, and responded by stating that he has to work hard not to allow the bad luck he experiences at the tables to affect his life outside of poker, particularly with his family and friends. In addition, Hellmuth made the point that he loses control a lot less than people think, and that when he does his antics are usually played over and over by ESPN.
Finally, Hellmuth was asked about high-stakes cash prodigy Tom Dwan, a player who was constantly in the poker news pre-Black Friday, to which he replied:
“Dwan is still crushing playing NLHold’em, but in Macao. Those games are really really huge (sometimes $4000 -$8,000 blinds) and Ivey is doing well too. I cant imagine Ivey skipped the WSOP (World Series Of Poker) for the games in Macao, if those games weren’t special!”