Wednesday’s No Gamble, No Future, a cash game show on PokerGO, featured one of the most memorable Phil Hellmuth blowups ever.
The “Poker Brat” was not on his best behavior during the $200/$400 no-limit hold’em game, and he lost a bunch of money. He was joined by an entertaining table that included Hustler Casino Live co-owner Ryan Feldman, Nik Airball, Alan Keating, Jean-Robert Bellande, Matt Hanks, and Humboldt Mike. And the game was every bit as juicy as you might have expected from that lineup.
Hellmuth Starts Off Strong, and Then…
The first hand of the episode went Hellmuth’s way. He flopped an open ended straight draw, which he’d hit on the river. Keating rivered top two pair and bet out before calling off a raise from $3,000 to $12,000.
Things would begin to go south for the “Poker Brat.” Shortly after scooping that pot, he picked up pocket kings and would river his set on a board of 4♦8♦J♠3♦K♦, but Keating had A♦7♣ for the nut flush. With $54,400 already in the pot, Keating put his opponent all in for $57,400.
“Want to see a card?” Keating asked the Poker Hall of Famer.
“Yeah, show a card,” Hellmuth responded.
Keating would oblige and showed the 7♣, leaving Hellmuth knowing he could only lose if the other card were a diamond – any diamond. Hellmuth tanked for a bit before wisely announcing, “I fold.”
The wheels would continue coming off when Hellmuth picked up A♥K♥ against Feldman’s Q♦Q♣. Both players agreed to run it twice for the $109,400 pot, both run outs going to the Hustler Casino Live co-owner.
“F*****g morons running like this against me, it’s unbelievable,” Hellmuth muttered after rebuying for an additional $30,000. “I think you’ve won the last five times both boards when we had ace-king versus queens.”
“F**k you, Ryan. It’s not even fun playing against you, Ryan. The weird s**t you get away playing with,” the Poker Brat continued.
Nik Airball then defended his buddy, Feldman, by jumping in to needle the World Series of Poker (WSOP) G.O.A.T.
“Phil, you made the mistake there of putting it in with no pair,” Airball responded.
“He’s such a f*****g idiot, I can’t believe he’s the big winner,” Hellmuth said of Feldman. “I know the number you lost last week in one session, so maybe the deck will save you today.”
Hellmuth wouldn’t let the all in loss go. He began muttering to himself about how it’s “not even fun playing” anymore when he can’t seem to win a big pot.
Poker Brat Storms Off the Set
A few minutes later, PokerGO announcer Natalie Bode came over to interview the poker legend at the table. That gave Hellmuth an opportunity to continue complaining about how lucky Feldman has gotten against him over time.
After the other players at the table laughed at Hellmuth for whining, he would calm down. Well, for a minute, and then he completely unraveled.
Hellmuth would face another race for his entire stack, this time with AxQx against Humboldt Mike’s JxJx. The flop would come out Ax7x9x, exactly what Hellmuth wanted to see. But the 8x on the turn brought his opponent a straight draw before the Jx on the river gave Mike a set and the $51,800 pot.
“Nice hand,” a somewhat surprisingly polite Hellmuth told his opponent.
But then the player who won the hand made a remark that he didn’t like, apparently a dig at Hellmuth’s previous affiliation with Bitcoin Latinum: “Phil, I’ve got an address if you need to send some.”
“Buddy, I told you, alright, you want me to quit? Alright I’m going to f*****g quit. I can’t play with you anymore. You’re such an a*****e, man. I don’t mind losing the flip, I really don’t. But come on, I asked you not to do that s**t. You have been more out of line to me than any other person. No, you’ve been more out of line to me than any other person has been to me in a year and a half. F**k you, man. I don’t know who you f*****g are, but I’m never going to film with you again.”
Hellmuth then stood up from his seat, took his mic off and slammed it onto the table. He continued berating Humboldt Mike, letting him know that he enjoys playing in his private games in Palo Alto, California because he doesn’t have to deal with trash talking players.
The 17-time WSOP bracelet winner then stormed off the set, refusing to rebuy. He didn’t return to the game before the session concluded. Poker fans can watch the full episode and Hellmuth blowup on PokerGO on-demand with a paid subscription.
*All images courtesy of PokerGO.