Hundreds of thousands of people have watched footage of Phil Hellmuth as he whacked Mike Matusow’s cell phone from his hand a couple weeks ago.
This happened when The Mouth began to film the Poker Brat with his phone. They were mid-hand during a $25-$50 no-limit hold’em game on a recent episode of Poker Night in America’s Hellmuth’s Home Game.
Moments earlier, Hellmuth had already started steaming after Randy “3 Coin” Sadler bluffed him off of a hand. Then Hellmuth got involved in a trickier situation with Sadler. Hellmuth went in the tank, figuring out whether or not to call an all-in reraise from Sadler. Matusow, sitting to the left of Hellmuth, started whispering to Kelly Minkin, sitting to the left of him, which prompted Hellmuth to tell him to “shut the fuck up.”
Matusow started filming Hellmuth with his phone. That compelled Hellmuth to whack the phone out of Matusow’s hand.
Patching Things Up
But if you watched that and thought there would be any lasting animosity between Hellmuth and Matusow, you would have been wrong. Last week, Hellmuth told me that he and Matusow have been friends for 25 years. They understand each other.
And just a night earlier, Matusow told me of Hellmuth, “I love the guy. I would do anything for him and vice versa.” Then he added, “We went out for dinner after [play wrapped for the night].”
“We were in Reno and went to Chickie’s & Pete’s,” Hellmuth confirmed.
The reality is that Hellmuth’s peeved over-reaction is one that would happen between brothers or tight friends, not guys who are merely competing at the poker table. In fact, they regularly have one another’s back. Considering both players’ explosive personalities, it’s a good thing.
“He’s always defending me,” Hellmuth said of Matusow. “Someone will be saying bad stuff about me at the table, and Mike will be quick to point out, ‘Hey. Phil’s a great person.’”
Good Friends That Fight
As should be the case for longtime friends, they can tell one another things that other people might be hard-pressed to say. In the world of high-stakes poker, where the intense competition for large sums of money can create a sense of isolation, that kind of frankness, from someone within in the game, is huge – and hugely grounding.
“I told Mike that I am the best all-around tournament player in the world,” Hellmuth recalled to me a few years ago. “Mike told me not to be so cocky. He didn’t want my ego to mess things up [at the poker table].”
In fact, Matusow told me that they talk daily, and he has acknowledged that Hellmuth ranks among his best friends. They’re working together on the sports-betting podcast Fade Us Sports, with Brandon Cantu and David Woodley.
The Brat And Mouth Hug It Out In 2006
While Matusow acknowledged to me that Hellmuth was “kind of upset” when he whacked the phone and Hellmuth said that Matusow had already “interrupted my stories at least 50 or 60 times over three days of filming,” they both agree that all the whole thing it was kind of a hoot.
“He was laughing right away,” said Hellmuth. “I got tilted. Hah, hah, hah. He didn’t get emotional or anything. It was more that he got the response out of me that he wanted to get.”
Asked to recount his favorite moment with Hellmuth, Matusow has a concise response.
“The most fun I had with Phil was at the Bay 101 Shooting Star, right after I had my back surgery. I stayed at his house. After the tournament we spent two days shooting the shit and just playing Chinese poker. That was a great time.”
Considering Matusow, Hellmuth simply said, “He’s got a really good heart.”
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of six books including Advantage Players, 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.
