Phil Hellmuth!!!

Ok after watching Poker after dark both tournament style and cash game. I have come to the conclusion that Phil Hellmuth... I don't want to say has lost his ability.....but has changed his game in a way that has made him look like he lost his ability to play good poker.

3-4 years ago Phil was playing tournaments very well IMO making good plays with nothing, getting maximum value out of his made hands. But the past few episodes of PaD and even some of the WSoP I have watched he seems to have gone to a trap game. He limps with big hands like AK,AA,KK,QQ hoping someone will raise into him or he flops a monster. The problem as we all know is this allows more players in the hand and more likely to get outdrawn. He seems to have lost his gamble, the one episode of PaD he folded down to like 2 BB's, and he even said at the start of the episode he would be blinded out before getting a bad beat or something like that.

Thoughts??

I wouldn't judge a players ability solely on their performance on TV. I have no doubt that Phil is still a fantastic tournament player. His cash game has always been weaker, but far from terrible.

Couldn't agree more he seems to swing between complete Nit to absolute Donkey he just talks himself into total confusion in a lot of spots from what I have seen. the guy has no internal monologue(which he should have in my opinion) the game seems to have grown around him and he is running to keep up but can't. Still he's a world champ and I am not so I guess he's got me on that front

I think Hellmuth is one of the best poker players ever.

IMO - Only people with a career earnings amount like Phil's can talk trash about how he plays.

YouTube- Phil Hellmuth wins his 11th WSOP Bracelet!

I agree that Phil Helmuth is one of the best ever , maybe the best. However, I also noticed that his play has been spotty lately. I saw him slow play pocket 9's recently and he was very upset that his opponent did not fold to his small bets and eventually caught up. That's just one example of bad play I've seen from him over the past couple of years. Is he played out?

Here's an example Blinds are $300/$600 Helmuth has 9k and well........watch

YouTube- Phil Hellmuth folds QQ with 15 BBs

Heres another just a bad play I don't think he makes 3-4 years ago

YouTube- Phil Hellmuth's first major blowup against Esfandiari in 2010 at WSOPE

Yes he seems to get outplayed on PAD and some other cash game shows. In particular on PAD he is getting beat up by Durrr, can't figure his game, and I saw Dolly push him off a series of winning hands just by betting into him.
Yes he is trying/waiting to trap someone (his favourite line) but usually gets felted before that can happen lol...

I didn't see that type of play and I retract my statement.

What a terrible fold in that first video.

well i just finished watching(barely) this weeks PAD, and i swear i about turned it off due to phil's oh woe is me attitude.. even in the post game wrapup, he bitches about how unlucky he got.. its not that his opponent played great. its that phil got unlucky. blah blah blah. give it a rest phil! its old. its tired. and as was said in this thread, you would be better served not to think outloud.

OP I see where your coming from..... He has been making some VERY odd plays with really bad hands and the same for some really good hands. I think he is trying to change his style to "freshen" it up.... I still think he is one of the best... I mean he has 11 blings on his arm... Of course we are ONLY seeing the hands that TV wants us to see... We don't know what else he is going or how else he is playing.... The NAPT event I must say his new "view" on life has changed him! Of course he has done this before....

Heres another example of Phil playing badly Matusow raises to $625 and Phil just calls allowing Brandon Adams to reraise and bluff him.

YouTube- P 4/4 Poker After Dark Week 4 Day 2 Cash Game 50k, Part 2 PAD 2010 Table 57

This is just one of those hands that if Phil had shut up and not been antagonizing peat then peat may have folded preflop maybe not but just shut up PHIL. Oh its starts at 2:50 mark

YouTube- P 2/4 Poker After Dark Week 4 Day 3 Cash Game 50k, Part 2 PAD 2010 Table 57

I was surprised the number of good hands he laid down playing only 4 handed.

Doyle would not do the same.

As I said above, in some PAD games Dolly keeps betting into Phil with garbage and P keeps folding playable hands... its like he is spooked by Dolly and Durr, in particular... but above examples show similar bad play...

Not lookin good Phil... maybe you should join CC!!

i think Phil Hellmuth is falling behind with how poker is played our days!

Phil even knows he's lost it. This last show of Poker After Dark was the worst play I've seen on TV in a long time. He had a complete misread on everyone and b*%&$ and complained when it was over that it just didn't seem fair... and he even said the hand he shipped his chips with Q10 and got called by A10... forgot to mention his HUGE suckout when he had like 4 cards to split and none to win. He's just all talk. Not saying he's bad, but he's not as good as he thinks.

Stix

Um, well, Hellmuth finished 7th/195 players on Sat 04.24 @ the WPT World Championship @ The Bellagio (bubble boy for the TV final table though)...not too bad for 'someone who's lost their ability?'

He hasn't lost ability, he just outsmarts himself sometimes.

He's still good.

He just plays way too tight at times. He's always been a great tournament player, but needs to stop constantly trying to trap people and just play his cards. He's the only one who ends up getting trapped lately. He needs to stop with all this "I'm supposed to hit my hand there" and realize that the deck of cards doesn't owe him anything because he's Phil Hellmuth.

As much as poker is on TV now I am sure we could pick any pro and show a hand that he misplayed. Most treat Ivey like a GOD and he mucked his winning flush at the WSOP because he didnt realize he had a spade in his hand.

Im just saying.... Thank God we dont show videos on CC of all of our bad plays. Im sure we could find em.

Yeah he is a great player. But these last few years, he has become the biggest cry baby in poker. He needs more people to talk trash to him, when he's running his mouth at them. Like Mike Matusow does an Sam Grizzle.

hellmuth's play is one of the most erratic and craziest i've seen on TV. i used to think he was playing so bad in the PAD tourneys cos it's a 120k prizepool, not the millions he's gunning for. u know, cultivate the donk image, instill the wrong impression in people's minds so he can take it down when it matter, i.e WSOP, WPT, the big tourneys.

but then, after watching many of his plays in the big events, i think hellmuth has officially gone loony.

If you read th OP I never said he lost his ability, I said that the way he has been playing just doesnt seem to be working for him. There was the one episode of PAD that he basically folded and got blinded out or as Doyle would say "went out like broomcorns uncle" here is the video of him down to 900 in chips with the blinds at 600/1200

YouTube- Poker after Dark Season 6 Episode 47 part 3/7 Nicknames S06E47 (S06E11 New Order)

He'd be banned for spamming the bad beats section with every hand he plays and loses. Dont even get me started on what would happen if someone tells him hes wrong... lol.