Phil Hellmuth

When Hellmuth blows up in a tournament do you think it's strictly an emotional response, or do you think it's sometimes a conscious part of strategy he plays out? If it's the latter, he's a better player than most people think.
Myself, I haven't a clue.

Is he still playing? I thought hes in the history already. But blow ups, nah i think its pure emotions. I think most part of his frustration comes from the fact that he cannot compete in new poker, in intense crowded poker. Poker just go on another level. In fact i have watched alot of vids on youtube of old school players, Negreanu Ivey Dwan and others, and i could not see a single hand where he completely outplayed his opponent. But so many times he got owned by other players.

No, I do not think it an act.

Helmuth has said so himself, citing the fact he was ultra competitive as a kid with family members and was a bad loser as a child. I think he is a bit on the spectrum, but not a 'bad' person.

There are a few areas he can't seem to control himself - one is with bad beats and the other is his bragging (about money rich friends etc.). It used to drive me round the bend but I think its a sort of compulsive thing with him now, he just cant help himself at times.

However, outside of the poker table, no one has a bad word to say about him - he appears to be an affable sweet guy 90% of the time who is saddled with a couple of odd character traits.

Hello. I think it is a ploy by Phil. It works for him. He is a very interesting poker player that is fun to watch.

I believe that his emotions are real, not acted out. A rather negative character trait for him is that he quickly becomes emotional and is therefore on tilt quickly and more often. However, he also has positive character traits for him such as assess the opponent fairly well and also to generate profit from his game against loose opponents. I think he's still a better poker player than what is portrayed on Youtube.

I've considered this myself

I suspect that Hellmuth's emotions are mostly real, but that a lot of it is exaggerated for the tv ratings, for popularizing poker by making it interesting and finally as a ploy to get other players at the table to try and "exploit" Hellmuth's "pseudo-tilt."

Hellmuth's style is typically a tighter/nitty style, so what better way to all of a sudden get action than to "tilt" (I think some is an act but some of the emotions real too) and next thing you know, players are calling him down or being set up.

The more I learn about poker, the more I realize that Hellmuth's line of thinking is often times correct. I can see how frustrating it can be when you are playing less hands (tighter/nitty playstyle) and then you lose the pot to someone calling your raise with QT or Negreanu messing with you by winning with 72o. I think a lot of Hellmuth's emotions are real, but the "tilt" is largely an act. Not 100% fake, but not 100% real and certainly under awareness of "how much" Hellmuth "lets out" in his ranting.

phil is a very good player
and a good player hates when he looses

Emotional

I think it is a emotional response when he blows up at the poker table.

When Hellmuth started, his blowups where spontaneous reactions fueled by his arrogances. I think now he has learned to control it and use it to his advantage.

in my opinion he is just one of his characters, when he is playing to destabilize the opponent.

wagon596 said:

When Hellmuth blows up in a tournament do you think it's strictly an emotional response, or do you think it's sometimes a conscious part of strategy he plays out? If it's the latter, he's a better player than most people think.
Myself, I haven't a clue.

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For me, it is very difficult to understand the game or emotions? The main thing is that he is a great champion, which means he knows what to do at the table!

moularaki said:

phil is a very good player
and a good player hates when he looses

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Well to hate is one thing, how you act is another thing. And with Phil and how he act just shows he doesn't quite know what to do with it. Normally if some bad player outluck you - you should be okay and wanting to play more and more with him and use his weaknesses. And thats whats up with Phil i think. He doesn't know how to do it (i mean sure he knows for some degree, but waay not as good as others)
Its just self confidence

I don't think there's a strategy behind his tantrums. I'm not even sure if it would help him in any way.

I also don't think that this is deliberately done by him. He likes to win, his ego is huge (he thinks he is the best) and that's why he tilts so bad when he looses. This is called entitlement tilt - when you feel that you are so good that you should always win so when you don't win this tilts you.

Austria7 said:

I believe that his emotions are real, not acted out. A rather negative character trait for him is that he quickly becomes emotional and is therefore on tilt quickly and more often. However, he also has positive character traits for him such as assess the opponent fairly well and also to generate profit from his game against loose opponents. I think he's still a better poker player than what is portrayed on Youtube.

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Ah yes, the Youtube Series Of Poker, love em. Hellmut is nice alright, i beter watch him and other old school dudes, then those robots stair at each other for hours nowadays.
Hellmut reminds me a crocodile, a bit on a passive side, but his bite is strong

He is very rich and acts like child and often look like hobo.

Nerve wreck who in my opinion should stop because he is a mess on the inside.

Also, watch his old videos when he was very young, terrible person, in one televised game, he tried cheating.

You can not be the greatest or even included in the conversation if you are such sore loser. He can not lose with dignity. I hope Negreanu beats him, although Daniel is irritating too.

Phil Hellmuth has book called positivity and Daniel is buddy -buddy with everyone where as both are trembling nerve wrecks.

I think it's a little bit of both, I genuinely think the game can get to him (like anyone else), but I also believe he plays up his emotions for his "poker brat" persona.