Phil Hellmuth Apologises for Hustler Live Actions After Public Backlash

Phil Hellmuth has agreed to make things right after being accused of angleshooting on the Hustler Casino Live show this week, a long list of the Poker Brat’s bad behaviour making its way from poker Reddit to poker Twitter...

Oh boy, a list if everything I did wrong last night. Super glad that they didn’t include the last month or two! https://t.co/ufnrbHiAKb

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 3, 2022

Hellmuth faced the angleshooting accusations after appearing to muck his hand during a star-studded and livestreamed $100/$200 cash game, the majority of his opponents complete or relative newbies to poker.

In a hand with Twitch Poker streamer, Slime, an amateur, Phil found himself facing an all-in on the flop. What happened next shocked not only the commentators and fellow players, but the poker community watching at home...including Daniel Negreanu.

Here is the full clip of the hand.

This one is gonna get talked about.

Not so sure I would call it “a really good deal for you” https://t.co/BW6dsTtZ4B

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 2, 2022

Incredibly, not only did Phil appear to fold, but Slime wasn’t even given the chance to see the hand play out – which when they did a rabbit hunt would have given him a full house and the $80k pot.

Some were hugely critical of Hellmuth’s behaviour, with Doug Polk’s video editor, Thomas “SrslySirius” Keeling calling Hellmuth “a scumbag”.

Polk himself was quick to do a special YouTube video on Hellmuth’s behaviour during the livestreamed cash game from the Hustler casino.

The video description runs: “Phil Hellmuth reached a new low to his embarrassing antics on this historic Hustler Casino Live stream featuring Ninja, Mr Beast, Ludwig, xQc, Tom Dwan, Alexandra Botez, and Slime. But did he stoop so low as to angleshoot an unsuspecting amateur poker player?”

Meanwhile, Hellmuth was refuting the angleshooting accusations, claiming that the camera didn’t show him sliding the cards towards Tom Dwan for his old friend and foe to have a look.

Hellmuth explained to Joey Ingram in a mid-game interview: “Basically, Dwan said ‘Let me see what you’re looking at,” ... I threw him my cards... it was pretty standard and normal...I didn’t do anything wrong at all.”

Poker Twitter wasn’t kind to Phil in the aftermath, some of the comments below among those suitable for family reading:

• Jacqueline Burkhardt: “Omg @phil_hellmuth too? On a live stream? WTF? TBH, this kind of shit makes me not want to play poker anymore. And it's my main hobby. Poker needs a hero. FAST.”
  
• Jimmischillis: “Let’s just ponder for a minute if another player had committed that atrocity against Phil, flip the scene where Phil gets angled and misses $30k. My guess nuclear levels of explosion.”
  
• Scott Seiver: “#positivity as an ambassador of the sport to fleece 5k from a brand new player. @phil_hellmuth do the right thing when you see this and give him back his $ this is absurd.”
  

By the time poker Twitter had ravaged Hellmuth over this hand and other bad behaviour, the Poker Brat came to his senses somewhat and accepted he may have been out of line.

I agree w this take @BartHanson. I think chopping the pot would have been the classiest move, and not accepting $5,000. It happened so fast, I just asked what was fair and went w it. I guess I’ll give @slime_machine $5,000 plus 1/2 of the pot…I Should have done this on stream! https://t.co/5fQW5SOAun

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 3, 2022

Meanwhile, the player wronged in the incident, Slime, came late to the Twitter spat to reveal he didn’t feel he’d been angleshot, but wouldn’t mind the offer of a deal...with Hellmuth snap-calling his way out of a tight social media spot...

It’s a deal @slime_machine! @BartHanson is right, @scott_seiver is partially right (however, Scott is always mean to me even though he loves me), and my bestie @Chamath weighed in and told me I missed a good opportunity to give you a rebate. $9,000 coming your way! #POSITIVITY https://t.co/L8J5fJcWSn

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 3, 2022

Controversy aside, and there’s usually plenty of it with Hellmuth in the game, the night’s bug winner was chess streamer and now poker acolyte, Alexandra Botez.

MOST INSANE POT I’VE EVER WON, still feeling the excitement today lol pic.twitter.com/aYoeGHqi1M

— Alexandra Botez (@alexandravbotez) May 2, 2022

If big Phil hasn’t scared the youngsters off with his antics, there may yet be a huge boost to the game on its way by including the TwitchTV and YouTube amateurs in the televised games.