Last night, I was looking around online to find a cheap satellite to a tournament offering a WSOP seat. I opted for a $3 Rebuy tourny on Ultimate Bet that was giving away Tournament Entry Chips to the winners. But the game also featured a "bounty" on Phil Hellmuth, giving the player who knocked him out some special prize package. As luck would have it, Hellmuth played at my table.

It was the first time that I ever played online with a celebrity. I know the guy makes a pretty good living at this game, and I am sure that he gets a lot of money to sponsor UB. But last night, it seemed to me that he earns it. You can't imagine the "chat abuse" that this guy had to put up with. I'm not a fan of his, but I felt for him last night. No one should have to put up with the barrage of insults hurled his way, and I now have more respect for him as a person than I had previously.

Hellmut went out early. It looked like he dumped his chips at the first semi-reasonable chance that he got (calling an all-in from the UTG player with pocket 3s). Still, I don't blame him for wanting to get away from the table at his first opportunity. I think the observers and other players who needled him constantly should have been ashamed.

I have reported several players for that shit. Of course, he could just turn off his observer chat.

I don't feel too badly for him though, he deserves all the shit he gets for the way he talks to people at the table, you reap what you so.

Did you watch High Stakes Poker? Or any Poker show he is in?

I actually watched some old Footage of the WSOP from 1981 and saw Bobby Badwin lose to 1 or 2 outers on 2 hands on the final table to get put out. When interviewed afterwards he said that's poker and I wish everyone the best of luck.

I saw Helmuth get elimanated when he pushed all in with KJ and got called by A3 and he was bitching about what a bad all the other player made. I think maybe he does it for the publicity, but if he is acting genuinely, then the man is an idiot.

maybe he didn't even play, but a friend of his.

Why would he bother playing in such a tourney? Guess he gets the seat free or buys in directly.

I know what you guys mean about his antics. I don't like to watch how he behaves in tournaments, either. But I have to say that last night's chat was way over the line. Observers popped into the chat just to call him a "p****y" or something else equally bad. The guy is a 9-time bracelet winner, and here he was playing in a $3 tourny. I don't think I'm going to have the chance to sit down again with a player of his caliber anytime soon.

As an aside, what a joke the tournament was. I don't play in those low-stakes rebuy games that much, and last night reminded me why. It's not a poker game. Every single hand during the first hour has at least two players moving all in. "Gee, I have bottom pair... I'm all in." "Look at this, a gutshot... So what if there's a flush out? I'm all in." "Wow... two-suited cards before the flop... I'm all in." It was ridiculous. I'll never play in one again.

I wish PokerStars and others would just stop those.

Rebuys are EVIL and add a huge random element to the game, since you'll be an underdog if you don't participate in those crap shoots.

When he's on UB I'll occasionally rail the table he's on and he's constantly having people heckle him, I'm suprised he even logs on to play on there. Sure his antics on tv are liked by some and hated by others like certain pros, but the guy obviously can play the game. Instead of people trying to actually learn something in the converstaions it's "Phil what are you doing down at these limits" "you suck at poker", etc.

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Because he's a paid sponsor of UB. It's his job to play in whatever UB is promoting at the time.

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I'm CDO. It's like OCD, but everying is in order just like it should be.

This is exactly why you should play in these tourneys, people need chips and lots of them, the 1st hour is crazy but by being "somewhat" conservative you can mount a large stack of chips by the break and you are essentially playing a 20-30$ tourney for about 10$ which is an excellent overlay.

Apparently, outside of poker, Hellmuth is a really good man.

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