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Phil Hellmuth is quite possibly the most polarizing figure in the poker world. He's criticized for the way he carries himself at a poker table, he's widely considered to be a poor cash game player and he's generally disliked by many poker enthusiasts.
At the same time, the man won 14 WSOP bracelets in the last three decades which is beyond impressive and would be almost certainly impossible if Phil Hellmuth was indeed as bad at poker as many paint him to be.
In this article we'll take a look at some of the famous hands Poker Brat took part in at try to dissect them in order to figure out what makes his game tick.
It's a Trap!
This is Phil Hellmuth's signature play. Underplaying a strong hand on the early streets in order to induce action from weaker hands - or "trapping" for short. According to many professional players this is the kind of play that belongs to casual home games and not WSOP final tables or televised cash games, but trapping opponents is something that Phil Hellmuth was doing for the last three decades and since he hasn't given up on the play yet it has to be profitable for him.
In this particular scenario, by limping with AA preflop Poker Brat managed to convince the small blind player to complete with a marginal hand and pay the champ two healthy streets of value.
Reading Them Softly
Like every other high profile old school poker pro, Phil Hellmuth possesses this uncanny ability to hand-readother players in a live poker setting. It's the result of excellent table awareness combined with years and years of experience.
While many poker pros would shake their head at someone naming not only the hole cards of the other player but also their suit (since narrowing down someone's hand to the card value and suit is as far from defining the entire range as you can get, plus there are few situations where the exact suit of the hand actually matters) what Phil Hellmuth does in the video presented above is downright impressive.
Switching Gears
Phil Hellmuth's game is not all limping and trapping. He's capable of switching gears when the opportunity presents itself. In this particular high stakes poker session, the table agreed on a good old 72o side bet which added some additional value to Phil's line. He polarized his range by 3betting pre and bombing two streets post flop which combined with his tight table image caused his opponent to release a very strong hand.
The ability to shift gears like that in pursuit of a high EV play is an important mark of a good player. This hand shows that Phil Hellmuth is aware of his image and he's able to use it in crucial situations. He's also aware of the importance of betsizing which Mike Matusow proves by saying:
I know Phil never makes a big bet on the river unless he has it".
A Word From Daniel Negreanu
Who better to decipher Phil Hellmuth's game than a fellow old school poker pro who played against him for many decades - Daniel Negreanu. In this little interview, Daniel confirms some of our suspicions.
While Hellmuth's fundamentals aren't very strong and his understanding of the theory isn't very deep (which is especially pronounced in math-intensive scenarios like playing against short stack players) his unconscious competence combined with unpredictable lines makes him a nightmare to play against for the less experienced players who aren't able to adjust to his weird playstyle.
On top of that, most people have this preconceived notion that Hellmuth is a bad player, but few of them try to understand his strategy. They are satisfied with a simple label which ultimately leads to their downfall since you can't really make optimal adjustments based on a simple label. Phil Helmuth's game is strange and flawed but also hard to define and counter which is perhaps much more valuable than we all give it credit for.
It's entirely possible that the Poker Brat would get absolutely destroyed in an online NL100 game like many players claim he would, but in the context of a live tournament where you only play 15-20 hands per hour and you can't hide behind your avatar, Phil Hellmuth is definitely doing something right.
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