Was watching the ESPN coverage for end of day 5 (2008 Main Event) last night on ESPN and they showed Phil Helmuth's crybaby temper tantrum after he was bluffed out of a pot. He called the Canadien player an idiot quite a few times plus berrating the entire table for quite awhile. I was surpised the Tounament director did nothing. They have the Hevad Kahn rule for over celebarating a win so I think they need to implement a Phil Helmouth rule for over berrating. Matasou was getting a big kick out of it. It was embarrasing to watch the supposed "best holdum pler in the world" display such poor sportsmanship. He doesn't realize he makes himself such an easy target for people to play "bad" hands against him because it puts him on
tilt so easy. The two one hour segments will be playing all week on the varoius ESPN channels. It is towards the end of the second one hour segment.
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10 comments
matusow couldnt help but laugh,but at the end he told hellmuth he was way outta line which he was
I think they have a rule already but hellmuth gets a way with it cuz hes the best in the history of tournament holdem much like in sports big name guys can get away wit murder
He was penalized for his behaviour, however the penalty was revoked before it had time to take effect. Unfortunately the tournament director felt that Phil is above the rules, because he makes for "good tv". Guaranteed if any unknown player behaved the way he did they would have been penalized.
Phil's behaviour is the reason why I love to watch people suck out on him. And quite possibly the reason why people play less than stellar hands against him. I know if I was across the table from him I would rather knock him out with 7,2os than AA.
just so you know when this was actually happening earlier this yeah, they did give Hellmuth a penalty after it was over because he was arguing something. I believe he appealed it or somethign and it was removed the following day. it was only like 1 orbit or 10 minutes on rail anyway so its not like it mattered.
1) It was not a bluff. Perhaps a semi-bluff if he thought Phil had a big PP. He had a pair of 10s to Phil's unpaired overcards. He just called a decent sized raise from Phil with 10-4 suited. That's why Phil was upset.
1) The player was not Canadian. I think he was Bulgarian. I can't remember off the top of my head.
2) Mike (Matasow) told Phil flat out "you're out of line." It was the crowd that was behind the hooting and hollering. Perhaps a couple of others at the table.
3) The tournament director DID get involved and asked Phil to calm down and listened to what his opponent had to say regarding Phil's unseemly attack.
You are correct, this is not the face we'd all like to see put on poker. It was an infantile rant from someone who, frankly, should know better. He invites this type of play from his opponents because of his reactions to them. Knowing that you can get under Phil's skin by beating him with lesser cards and putting him on tilt, makes it a field day any time he raises. He invites abuse by giving it out so often.
Unfortunately, he is much like many of us. We all want everyone to play the way we'd play, so we know what to expect. When we see something out of the ordinary, what we'd consider bad play, it gets to us. But it's poker and we have to learn to live with the unexpected. Without the bad beats, poker wouldn't be very interesting. Certainly not interesting enough for TV.
It's surprising, for as much poker as Phil plays, that he's still shocked and upset when he sees two cards he doesn't like. You'd think his wife, being a psychologist, would have been able to help him through this by now. But if Phil suddenly turned into this year's Hevad Kahn, instead of being last year's Hevad Kahn, I think we'd all be a little disappointed.
I agree that he won the majority of his bracelets pre Moneymaker. This year was the farthest he's gotten in the main event for awhile. He really doesn't realize he is his own worst enema. Instead of "poker brat" it should be "poker cry baby". "Honey, honey, did you see that? They refuse to let the best holdem' player in the world win, honey."