It was on July 16, 1964 that the professional poker player, Phillip.J.Hellmuth was born. From being a professional poker player, he became the youngest person to win the World Champion of Poker with the defeat of the two-time defending champion, Johnny Chan. He is happily married to Katherine Sanborn and has two sons, Phillips III and Nicholas. 

Though Hellmuth attended university in Wisconsin for three years, he dropped out to play poker full time. With his perceived attitude and ego, Phil Hellmuth is usually known as the ‘poker brat’. However, despite this reputation that he has, the accomplishments that he has achieved have held him in high respect in the poker world. As of this year, 2006, he has won ten WSOP bracelets in Texas hold’em events. He is also the season three champion of Late Night Poker.  

Phil Hellmuth is also the winner of the inaugural National Heads-up poker championship of 2005 by defeating Chris Ferguson on the better of two out of three games. Till 2006, he has total live tournament winnings that exceed $8,000,000. However, he is known to have weak cash game skills and is not able to gracefully handle any form of adversity and defeat. This is the reason for fans having a negative image of him. 

Phil Hellmuth has ten WSOP bracelets to his name, but most of it was earned after making his notable boasts in poker tournaments. There are many televised examples of his boasting on his expertise in playing poker. He is known for even accusing a novice poker player of not being able to spell poker; and it is this because of this boasting that he is often referred to as ‘Hell Mouth’. Though these antics were not liked by fellow players, television cameras seldom fail to capture moments where he speaks his mind. He even once offered to shave his head if the novice Robert Varkonyi won the event he looked to lose. However, once Varkonyi went to win, the event ended with Phil’s locks getting shorn.

However, though players find his antics abrasive sometimes, it is his personality when away from the table, and his talent for the game that is respected. This is why it is taken for granted that he purposely engages in bad etiquette when playing poker to maintain his image of the ‘poker brat’. He is also known for sometimes doing helpful things for poker and participants too and for participating in many charities and podcasts related to poker.  

Besides playing poker, Phil Hellmuth has written many books like Poker Brat and articles for poker books. He is also the spokesman for some online poker room and has recently developed a signature series of sunglasses and clothing.