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Phil Hellmuth is a legend of the game, but has this new generation of young poker players caused Hellmuth to go broke? Does it impact Hellmuth’s his net worth?
Who is Phil Hellmuth?
With 13 World Series of Poker bracelets and 100 career WSOP cashes, along with strong results in other tournaments, Phil Hellmuth, Jr. is one of the winningest tournament players in the history of poker. He’s won $17,989,589 over his tournament career, and he is still winning; Hellmuth won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2012 for his thirteenth bracelet and more than $1.3 million in prize money.
He has reportedly struggled in cash games at the highest level, though, and he skipped the $111,111 one Drop at the WSOP in 2013, so some in the poker world have wondered if Phil Hellmuth is short on funds.
Outspoken tournament guru
If luck weren’t involved, I guess I’d win every tournament.
– Phil Hellmuth, Jr. (here are some more poker quotes!)
Hellmuth has been prone to outbursts and rants directed at other players. He has a high opinion of his own poker game and little patience for those he feels are playing incorrectly. He earned himself the nickname “Poker Brat” by consistently, creatively, complaining to tournament officials and berating other players.
Some of Hellmuth’s most memorable moments consist of his reaction to a bad beat or to a loss where he believes his opponent played the hand badly. While his personality is sometimes grating, his results are undeniable; Phil Hellmuth is among the best live tournament players in the world.
Phil Hellmuth’s top five tournament cashes:
– 4th place for $2.645 million at the 2012 WSOP $1,000,000 The Big One for One Drop
– 1st place for $1.333 million at the 2012 WSOP Europe €10,000 buy-in Main Event
– 2nd place for $1.063 million at the 2011 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship
– 1st place for $755,000 at the 1989 WSOP $10,000 buy-in Main Event
– 1st place for $637,254 in a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event at the 2007 WSOP
Hellmuth is one of the biggest winners in the history of the World Series of Poker and has done very well on the World Poker Tour. He’s been a regular on Poker After Dark, Late Night Poker, and High Stakes Poker. He won the first ever National Heads-up Poker Championship broadcast on NBC. He has been a commentator on a number of televised poker broadcasts, and he has been involved in the production of several poker videos. He even endorses an app titled Texas Hold’em by Phil Hellmuth.
Hellmuth is one of the most recognizable people in the game and has earned money from endorsement deals with poker instructional camps, Oakley sunglasses, and his own clothing line. He’s also been a paid endorser for a few poker sites, most notably Ultimate Bet.
Hellmuth has written or contributed to no less than five different poker books. He has made grand, lavish entrances into (and mostly quiet exits out of) the WSOP Main Event every year for a decade during the poker boom. Indeed, Phil Hellmuth benefited as much as anyone for the explosion of interest in poker beginning in the early-2000s.
Is it all over for Phil Hellmuth?
Now that the largest part of the poker boom is seemingly behind us, it seems like Hellmuth’s celebrity, and also his brattiness, are waning. His entrances are more subdued, and he has learned to be more tolerant of others’ styles of play. No doubt the endorsement offers are not coming like they once were, but can it be true that Hellmuth is broke?
What is Phil Hellmuth’s net worth?
Many were asking about the Poker Brat’s financial circumstances when he skipped the $111,111 buy-in One Drop in 2013. He’d played the event in 2012, when it was a $1 million buy-in tournament, so why not play it again in 2013? After registration for the tournament closed, Hellmuth sent out a message on Twitter explaining that he supported the charity, but that he just “wasn’t feeling” the high buy-in tournament.
In 2009, rumors of Hellmuth’s financial troubles circulated to the point that Hellmuth himself addressed them on his blog. The gossip started when Hellmuth blogged that he wished a $181,000 debt he owed to Daniel Negreanu had a later due date. Poker fans speculated that the pro couldn’t pay his debts. Hellmuth addressed the questions by explaining that wealthy people are sometimes short on cash, but that doesn’t mean they’re broke.
Hellmuth was the youngest player ever to win the WSOP Main Event when he did it in 1989. Peter Eastgate broke his record in 2008 and Joe Cada broke it again it 2009, by which time Hellmuth was firmly part of poker’s old guard. Based on the way he sometimes loses his temper at the table, some may assume that Hellmuth has his whole roll on the line in these big buy-in events. But recent tournament successes and a seemingly endless stream of endorsements will likely keep Hellmuth comfortable for a long time to come.
Given all of the available evidence, Phil Hellmuth’s net worth is estimated to be $22 million.
