The Brat Gets His Bracelet

The Brat Gets His Bracelet - His Secret? No cellphone!

After several near misses at last year's World Series, Phil Hellmuth Jr. finally attained what he had been working so hard for; his elusive tenth bracelet. He won it in Event 34 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em With Unlimited Rebuys, against 753 opponents. Now tied with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson for most WSOP wins. Phil cashed an impressive seven times last year, making three final tables. He is now the all-time leader in WSOP cashes. Going into last year's series Phil had some new ideas about the way he wanted to do things. Poker was going to be No. 1, and that was that.

Question: You seemed really focused in this tournament? Was anything different?

Answer: I lost my cellphone in London, like June 18 or something last year. Actually, I was over there and I met George Bush Sr. He was staying in the suite right next to mine. So, I lost my phone then and I told myself: This is a good thing. A lot of people that like to reach me don't like it, but I still have not gotten a new phone. ESPN actually gave me one, charged and ready with a number, but I put that away right away because I just don't want a damn phone and then changing my e-mail address. Those were two key things that I did.

Question: What made you decide to do that?

Answer: It's just about poker. I told all the companies I deal with, I told all my publishers, agents, I told everyone I was here for poker. I cleared my schedule. Even when they wanted me to do a national commercial in L.A., I said no. I said no to everything. I just want to win and I just want to focus on poker.

The very first tournament, I went really deep. It had 2,800 people and I got down to 100 people with like the chip lead. I made one mistake, not a huge mistake, but one mistake and I said that I wouldn't make that mistake again next time. I came back over and over and over again. If these tournaments were all two-day events I would have been in the money three more times, but a lot of times I would play one day, then two days, then the third day was the final table, and I'd have nothing left on the fourth day. So, one event would take out four days. That happened three times. Several times I made Day 2 and you would be really exhausted after playing late. I couldn't even play as many tournaments as I wanted; I had to take some time off. All I cared about was getting that bracelet.

I haven't left Vegas, either. Usually I fly home to hang out with my family, but they have been flying down to me. I feel like I found a home for a month and a half. I have a really nice suite, it's a $2,000-a-night suite that they are giving me at a really, really good price, $500, although it should be free. They are giving it to me for less than $500, so I've had a home kind of for this time.

Question: And you have never done this before?

Answer: The last two years I have had to do business stuff. Even in 2002 my book came out and I would do like CNN at 11:30 in the morning and then play in the tournament at noon. The last three years I have been a businessman. Poker is about taking advantage of opportunities, and knowing when to have the best opportunities, when to go for the best opportunities and to me the opportunity of making a fortune in business has been nice.

What I'm trying to say is there is an opportunity to make a hundred million dollars in business so I went ahead and kind of took that road and I had to do a lot of business. For a while poker became secondary. Now poker is No. 1. I mean my family is always No. 1, but business was ahead of poker for a little while. Now it is poker.