The title of this column is deliberately imprecise. I’m joyful to be with any of poker’s main league Phils: Ivey, Laak, Hellmuth, Galfond.
I’ve interviewed all of them. To a person, they’re cool, fascinating guys, enjoyable to speak with and intriguing to jot down about.
Phil Laak is ridiculously sensible and humorous as hell (his girlfriend Jennifer Tilly as soon as informed me, “Phil’s brain is as big as a house;” she’s biased however, metaphorically talking, had a degree). Phil Galfond helped set up the way in which through which folks beat on-line poker, and, after I interviewed him, he had a slide in his East Village duplex (I used to be too hen to zip down it; you went tremendous-quick and I feared wiping out on the backside). Phil Ivey is arguably the world’s finest poker-participant and he has a pleasant aspect that you simply by no means see on the desk. Plus, again then not less than, he completely knew methods to host crowds at Vegas nightclubs.
But the Phil that I’m fascinated about proper now’s Phil Hellmuth. I noticed a Card Player story that reported on him snagging a deal to be spokesman for the playing website Bet Rivers.
To my thoughts, the choice-makers there couldn’t have discovered a greater individual to characterize their website. I get that it’s not poker-centric and that Hellmuth is finest identified for successful WSOP bracelets, however wherever playing is anxious, he’s an ideal face.
Hellmuth’s a little bit of a ham, sport to do no matter’s required, and he likes consideration greater than he worries about wanting silly. Hence, his carrying pajamas and showing to have overslept within the Rivers business: He yawns and sleepily says, “Games on…”
Hellmuth additionally understands the enterprise of poker and playing in addition to anybody who’s anted up for a hand.
When I first interviewed him, again earlier than poker sponsorships existed, when the sport was a backwater that most individuals turned up their noses at, and when most poker execs had zero curiosity in losing prolonged durations of time with journalists, Hellmuth would possibly as effectively have had a crystal ball.
“One day,” he informed me once we sat down to speak in an unoccupied nook of the previous 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 believed that was ridiculous. And, after all, he was principally right, even crashing a racecar himself earlier than a poker event.
Hellmuth additionally stated that Rolex can be sponsoring event clocks. That hasn’t occurred but, however who is aware of. Then once more, he as soon as predicted a Phil Hellmuth mannequin Cadillac and vowed that it could are available in just one coloration: Gold. On that depend, you possibly can’t blame a man for pondering massive.
Hellmuth has huge imaginative and prescient and the sort of persona that enables him to money in away from the professional-loaded desk. He’s been concerned in crypto begin-ups, all the time promotes Aria (he’s bought some sort of a cope with the place), and performs in a pleasant/excessive-stakes/lavishly-catered dwelling poker sport with Silicon Valley billionaires and NBA stars (Hellmuth is probably going the massive winner, the one who cares most concerning the cash in danger, and the principle attraction. iPhones get whipped out when he appears able to blow up over an unfortunate loss). I feel he ranks among the many most optimistic, most ahead-pondering poker execs.
And the man has broad attain. A pair years in the past after I was attempting to place collectively a Golf Digest story about how poker players gamble on the golf course – it tends to be pretty excessive-stakes and reasonably low-ability – I had a tough time nailing folks down. Would-be matches saved falling aside. Somebody precisely likened the method to “herding cats.”
I complained about it to Hellmuth. He wound up corralling a crew (with Mike Matusow available to gamble from the cart and supply comedian aid). They gave me an ideal story and Phil just about ran the present.
So, going ahead, for those who’ve bought one thing to promote or wish to hit the Vegas hyperlinks with flush poker execs, you now know which Phil to name.
Michael Kaplan is a journalist primarily based in New York City. He is the creator of 5 books (“The Advantage Players” out quickly) and has labored for publications that embody Wired, GQ and the New York Post. He has written extensively on know-how, playing, and enterprise — with a selected curiosity in spots the place all three intersect. His article on Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun and Phil Ivey is presently in growth as a characteristic movie.
