The title of this column is intentionally vague. I am happy to be with any of poker’s major league Phils: Ivey, Laak, Hellmuth, Galfond.
I’ve interviewed all of them. To a man, they’re cool, interesting guys, fun to chat with and intriguing to write about.
Phil Laak is ridiculously smart and funny as hell (his girlfriend Jennifer Tilly once told me, “Phil’s brain is as big as a house;” she’s biased but, metaphorically speaking, had a point). Phil Galfond helped establish the way in which people beat online poker, and, when I interviewed him, he had a slide in his East Village duplex (I was too chicken to zip down it; you went super-fast and I feared wiping out at the bottom). Phil Ivey is arguably the world’s best poker-player and he has a friendly side that you never see at the table. Plus, back then at least, he totally knew how to host crowds at Vegas nightclubs.
But the Phil that I’m thinking about right now is Phil Hellmuth. I saw a Card Player story that reported on him snagging a deal to be spokesman for the gambling site Bet Rivers.
To my mind, the decision-makers there could not have found a better person to represent their site. I get that it’s not poker-centric and that Hellmuth is best known for winning WSOP bracelets, but wherever gambling is concerned, he’s a great face.
Hellmuth’s a bit of a ham, game to do whatever’s required, and he likes attention more than he worries about looking foolish. Hence, his wearing pajamas and appearing to have overslept in the Rivers commercial: He yawns and sleepily says, “Games on…”
Hellmuth also understands the business of poker and gambling as well as anyone who’s anted up for a hand.
When I first interviewed him, back before poker sponsorships existed, when the game was a backwater that most people turned up their noses at, and when most poker pros had zero interest in wasting extended periods of time with journalists, Hellmuth might as well have had a crystal ball.
“One day,” he told me when we sat down to talk in an unoccupied corner of the old Binion’s Horseshoe, “poker is going to be played in a big arena and we’re going to look like NASCAR drivers with all kinds of product logos on our clothing.”
Naturally, I thought that was ridiculous. And, of course, he was mostly correct, even crashing a racecar himself before a poker tournament.
Hellmuth also said that Rolex would be sponsoring tournament clocks. That hasn’t happened yet, but who knows. Then again, he once predicted a Phil Hellmuth model Cadillac and vowed that it would come in only one color: Gold. On that count, you can’t blame a guy for thinking big.
Hellmuth has wide vision and the kind of personality that allows him to cash in away from the pro-loaded table. He’s been involved in crypto start-ups, always promotes Aria (he’s got some kind of a deal with the place), and plays in a friendly/high-stakes/lavishly-catered home poker game with Silicon Valley billionaires and NBA stars (Hellmuth is likely the big winner, the one who cares most about the money at risk, and the main attraction. iPhones get whipped out when he seems ready to blow up over an unlucky loss). I think he ranks among the most positive, most forward-thinking poker pros.
And the guy has broad reach. A couple years ago when I was trying to put together a Golf Digest story about how poker players gamble on the golf course – it tends to be fairly high-stakes and moderately low-skill – I had a hard time nailing people down. Would-be matches kept falling apart. Somebody accurately likened the process to “herding cats.”
I complained about it to Hellmuth. He wound up corralling a crew (with Mike Matusow on hand to gamble from the cart and provide comic relief). They gave me a great story and Phil pretty much ran the show.
So, going forward, if you’ve got something to sell or want to hit the Vegas links with flush poker pros, you now know which Phil to call.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of five books (“The Advantage Players” out soon) and has worked for publications that include Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on technology, gambling, and business — with a particular interest in spots where all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is currently in development as a feature film.
