ShareHe may have just won his 17th gold bracelet and sneaked into the top 10 on this year’s WSOP leaderboard, but Phil Hellmuth still found reason to complain, a typical PokerBrat meltdown livening up his 2023 Main Event appearance...
Big Phil lost the plot after a hand played out against Vito DiStefano late on day 1d:
Hellmuth: A♠7♥
DiStefano: 8♥ 8♦
Flop: 4♠6♥ A♦
Turn: 8♣
River: K♣
♠♣ ♥ ♦
Out of position, three rounds of check-bet-call saw Hellmuth lose a 35.5k pot, and as the commentators predicted just before his river call: “If he calls this, get ready for lift off!
And that’s exactly what happened, the NSFW response laid out below...
“Fuck me. Fucking 8. I’ve been waiting all day for him to fucking go off. Cooled me again. C’mon what the fuck? What a fucking joke this is. Smash a fucking 8. What the fucking motherfucking hell is this bullshit. Fuck.
“Fucking guy who’s gonna fucking bluff it off for sure. Sticks 30 dimes in with Ace Queen. Goes crazy with Ace Queen. I’m fucking watching. Gets aces against kings. Fuck, 100% gonna get in in with him.
“Now I’m gonna run out of time. What the fuck. Motherfucking hell. Ugh! Always gonna give me the money and he fucking found an 8. A motherfucking 8 for him. Jesus Christ Almighty.”
Poker fans are used to seeing the PokerBrat lose control, but not everyone is a fan of Hellmuth’s behaviour...
It’s far from the first time the WSOP has seen Phil lose the plot, an incredible outburst at the 2021 event seeing him threaten to burn down the Rio.
That, potentially more serious breach of the rules, wasn’t punished by the WSOP, who have penalised players for much less serious behaviour. It certainly set poker Twitter on fire:
- Wtf? Any other player they would’ve timed out for saying he’s “gonna burn the fucking place down”
- “Isn’t that like actually illegal to threaten people with arson/violence?"
- Why does NOBODY ever react or fight back? EVERY time the whole table sits there like a bunch of school kids getting told off by a teacher.
Not everyone took it as a negative, though:
- @phil_hellmuth is not a "scumbag", as you put it. He wears his heart on his sleeve & let's his emotions out when he gets screwed. I'm sure we've all been there. Does he go too far sometimes? Sure, & he admits that, but not a scumbag does that make.
What do you think of the Poker Brat’s outbursts? Should he be punished? Is it just part of his makeup and should be considered entertainment? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
