Talking about some of the best and the most popular professional poker players in the world, the name of Phillip Hellmuth will definitely come in one's mind. Phillip Hellmuth was born on 16th July, 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin. Phillip Hellmuth is best known for winning the most number of bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He has won a staggering 11 of them.

Hellmuth also holds the record of becoming the youngest professional poker champion at the tender age of just 24 years by defeating the two time world champion, Johnny Chan. His popularity in the professional poker world grew rapidly.

How Hellmuth took to poker

For his graduation, Phillip Hellmuth attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However fate had other things in store for him. Hellmuth left his college half way after three years as he soon realized that nothing but poker was his career and his life. His father was very much against his wishes of playing poker at the cost of giving up his studies as he himself was a highly educated person. Hellmuth's father had a J.D., PH. D. and MBA degrees to his name. Naturally he was opposed to Hellmuth's decision.

Hellmuth's Poker Career

Hellmuth soon came to be known as a poker brat because he had a lot of ego and attitude about his exceptional skills in playing the game. In the year 2007, he has won 11 WSOP brackets in the professional tournament in Texas. Hellmuth also holds the record of being a three time champion at the Late Night Poker competition.

Previously, in the year 2005, Hellmuth won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. He had defeated great players like Huck Seed, Lyle Berman and Antonio Esfandiari. He played against Chris Ferguson in the final and defeated in two of the three games. However he lost in the first round itself to Chip Reese. in the same competition the next year.

In the 2006 World Series Poker Tournament, Hellmuth won his 10th World Series poker bracelet in the $1000 no limit competition. Hence he has joined the list of great poker players Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. The only difference is that Hellmuth has own them all in the Texas hold'em.

Hellmuth as a commentator.

Hellmuth also tried his hand at commentary and in 2006 he replaced Phil Gordon as a commentator in the Celebrity Poker Showdown. Hellmuth will also be taking part in the next season of VH1's The Surreal Life. Playboy girl, Tina Jordan, professional wrestler Randy Savage and Peter Steele will join him on the show. Hellmuth's career earnings as of the year 2007 are $9,470,000.

Hellmuth's records

Hellmuth holds the joint record with T.J. Cloutier in the WSOP Final table with 39 final tables to his name. At the recent 2007 World Series, Hellmuth has managed to cash 4 times and this has extended his total tally of World Series to 61. He may well be able to continue on his record breaking feat as the current WSOP is still going on.

Other Facts

Today Hellmuth lives in Palo Alto, California. He lives with his wife and two sons. His fans have positive opinions as well as negative opinions about him. Positive opinions off course cover his record feats while negative opinions are due to his inability to accept defeat gracefully. Also he used to often boast of his winnings and his overall capabilities and this act did not go down very well for his opponents as well as his fans.

Hellmuth has also tried his hand at writing. He has written and published a book by the name of Poker Brat which contains his autobiography as well as poker information, poker tips and poker advice. Hellmuth still lives up to his name of a poker brat and he purposefully indulges in bad etiquette to keep his image of a poker brat intact. Many of his fans and opponents have found his antics very distasteful and offending.

Personal Quote

Don't go out drinking, don't change strategies (except minor day-today adjustments), don't feel sorry for yourself (too much!), don't start playing the side games, stay the course!!! Sometimes in takes strength, guts, endurance, and will power to be champion.