Phil Hellmuth on Live At The Bike proving no competition for the Hustler Casino Live Stream

[DS3]

The argument has been made for some time Phil Hellmuth, or more precisely his antics, are good for the game of poker. I’ve argued otherwise. I believe there is a distinction between watching Hellmuth meltdown (which is universal entertainment of sorts) and the idea he is a ‘draw’ to poker.

The proof of the pudding, in this head to head contest of two live streams competing against each other are proving Hellmuth is not the draw some think he is. In Live At The Bike versus Hustler Casino Live, Live At the Bike banked on Phil Hellmuth. So far the results have been grim for the Hellmuth stream with viewership peaking at 600 live (17,000 watched the stream once posted). On the other hand the Hustler Casino Live stream featuring the likes of Wesley Fei, Jean-Robert Bellande, Eric Persson and Alan Keating got the Hustler Casino Live viewership up to 16,000 live, ( 262,000 watched the stream once posted)

Not surprising as the Live At The Bike stream featured Hellmuth and Co largely nitting it up while over at Hustlers they all sat down with $100K and commenced battle.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2022/08/wesley-fei-jrb-hustler-casino-live-41950.htm

Low Viewership for First Hellmuth LATB Show, No Competition for HCL

Hustler Casino Live continues to rule the Los Angeles poker world.

www.pokernews.com

 

[Shells]

Thanks for this, DS! I've only watched/listened to a couple of the Hustler Live games over the past year (or however long they have been streaming) and was pleased to see Mikki had returned to the felt for this one. He is so much fun to watch and wouldn't doubt if he gives Phil H. a run. I hope to watch at least some of this soon!

 

[DS3]

Thanks for this, DS! I've only watched/listened to a couple of the Hustler Live games over the past year (or however long they have been streaming) and was pleased to see Mikki had returned to the felt for this one. He is so much fun to watch and wouldn't doubt if he gives Phil H. a run. I hope to watch at least some of this soon!

Understandable as I think it is hard for a variety of reason for people to actually watch live. Where the viewership really picks up is after they have posted to You Tube etc and people can watch at their convenience. Even then, I tend to watch for the short clip 'highlight' hands to see how interesting any specific stream is because none of us have tens of hours to watch multiple streams during a week!

Simply put. the Hustler stream has developed a roster of fan favorites which are 'homegrown' to a degree although someone such as Garrett Adelstein was a player of the earlier iteration of Live At The Bike also. But with the introduction of players such as Mikki and Wesley Fei Hustler appear to have a very good instinct for bringing in interesting characters to their line up.

The problems with Live at the Bike started when they joined with Bally's and redesigned their set to make it dark and moody. Everyone hated it, told them so and yet they are still running with it. Then their roster of player are not as good a draw. Their turning to Phil Hellmuth to spike ratings this past week underlined they really do not have much of an idea - if anything it just spotlit their weaknesses.

People might get excited to see Hellmuth at a final table during the wsop going for another bracelet. They will even watch him in the 'Heads Up' series on PokerGo because people simply cant believe he can pull off another win. But watching him play live games is like watching paint dry. Doesn't matter the format, he will sit their with a small stack and nit it up and thats what he has done for decades on late night poker TV. Matt Berkey summed it up perfectly " Who wants to watch a stream with Phil Hellmuth sat with $1,500 dollars in front of him"?

There certainly is room for both streams to prosper but Live At the Bike needs a shake up especially after their ill conceived relaunch with Bally's. Promoting Phil Hellmuth for a week of cash games to directly compete against Hustlers Casino was not an inspired move as they soon realized,

But, live and learn!.

 

[Shells]

Mikki is far more entertaining than Phil H could be in my opinion. Not because Mikki is a talker at the table (because he is not) but because of his bold plays and actually making his hand plan work. He is just fun to watch.

There was something really wrong with some of the Hustler streams back in the spring. I was completely turned off and didn't see any point in watching because of the unnecessary drama people were creating around Poker Bunny. She is a poker player with a gimmick which seems to be a thing whether male or female. But the drama was unnecessary and childish and Hustler just kept inviting her back. Maybe she knew they were using her (just my take) and it was giving her exposure but I would have politely declined till I had a better handle on the game with the players involved and then people would take me seriously. I simply didn't like what was happening and I can't imagine I would have been the only one. So, with Hustler deciding to bring in a big name like Phil H. I kind of get it - just a good ol' fashioned marketing ploy. I might tune in for a few minutes to watch Phil, but it's the other characters that have been proven to help the game and their stream that I would be more likely to tune in for.

 

[DS3]

Mikki is far more entertaining than Phil H could be in my opinion. Not because Mikki is a talker at the table (because he is not) but because of his bold plays and actually making his hand plan work. He is just fun to watch.

There was something really wrong with some of the Hustler streams back in the spring. I was completely turned off and didn't see any point in watching because of the unnecessary drama people were creating around Poker Bunny. She is a poker player with a gimmick which seems to be a thing whether male or female. But the drama was unnecessary and childish and Hustler just kept inviting her back. Maybe she knew they were using her (just my take) and it was giving her exposure but I would have politely declined till I had a better handle on the game with the players involved and then people would take me seriously. I simply didn't like what was happening and I can't imagine I would have been the only one. So, with Hustler deciding to bring in a big name like Phil H. I kind of get it - just a good ol' fashioned marketing ploy. I might tune in for a few minutes to watch Phil, but it's the other characters that have been proven to help the game and their stream that I would be more likely to tune in for.

Completely agree with you regarding Poker Bunny, Shells, that was a complete mistake. Unforgivable.

(Not sure if you know but 'that other forum' early days had an audio clip of Poker Bunny detailing her life which had been frankly a mess to the point of disturbing and folks were asking why the hell she was being promoted this way as it did not feel like (to put it diplomatically) she was together enough to cope with what was going on)

To be honest, I am ambivalent in many ways about the likes of Nick Vertucci and Ryan Feldman who launched Hustlers (Edit - the live stream that is). Vertucci credits Feldman with getting their roster together (I believe this true) but to be frank so much of it depended on Garrett Adelstein playing on the stream regularly rather than Live At the Bike (he and some of the other regulars such as Andy also moved to Hustlers) and now you have the likes of Alan Keating showing with regularity...and he and Wesley Fei are definitely super draws as well.

Oddly, in the latest edition of Nick Vertucci's (new) podcast he interviews Phil Hellmuth. I believe Hellmuth jumped at the chance to explain the previous weeks failure away. It is interesting but also a real grind as they both, to be honest get on my nerves . I'll link with reservations as its long, full of Phil bragging how he's the best player (apparently now at cash also though he studiously avoids detailing the level of games he has been playing) but there is a good moment deep into the podcast. Vertucci presses Hellmuth on whether he understood it was a mistake to sit with a tiny stack in front of him the entire week when over at the Hustler stream people were sat with hundreds of thousands in front of them. He eventually does admit is was and then goes on to claim he will now sit at such televised streams with a least $500,000. We'll see.

So here is the You Tube podcast between Vertucci and Hellmuth. I am not saying I absolutely recommend because it was often grating for me, but if you can bear with it some interesting things do come up along the way.

 

[jonaselloco]

I especially love Phil Hellmuth, but I didn't stop for a second to watch those head-to-head tables or 6 players who played on television for me, they were just a poker show. It's more in a post of mine where I explain why for me Phil Hellmuth is the best player, I do it only because of the achievements he has achieved. In the world of professional poker, it's very difficult for a player to get the number of bracelets he bought and I think that Phil, barring a financial contract, doesn't need this show to prove his wisdom. At least I only watch MTT tournaments live on TV, so as we say here in argentina “the shirt really happens” Cheers ang very good post

 

[Phoenix Wright]

Completely agree with you regarding Poker Bunny, Shells, that was a complete mistake. Unforgivable.

(Not sure if you know but 'that other forum' early days had an audio clip of Poker Bunny detailing her life which had been frankly a mess to the point of disturbing and folks were asking why the hell she was being promoted this way as it did not feel like (to put it diplomatically) she was together enough to cope with what was going on)

To be honest, I am ambivalent in many ways about the likes of Nick Vertucci and Ryan Feldman who launched Hustlers (Edit - the live stream that is). Vertucci credits Feldman with getting their roster together (I believe this true) but to be frank so much of it depended on Garrett Adelstein playing on the stream regularly rather than Live At the Bike (he and some of the other regulars such as Andy also moved to Hustlers) and now you have the likes of Alan Keating showing with regularity...and he and Wesley Fei are definitely super draws as well.

Oddly, in the latest edition of Nick Vertucci's (new) podcast he interviews Phil Hellmuth. I believe Hellmuth jumped at the chance to explain the previous weeks failure away. It is interesting but also a real grind as they both, to be honest get on my nerves . I'll link with reservations as its long, full of Phil bragging how he's the best player (apparently now at cash also though he studiously avoids detailing the level of games he has been playing) but there is a good moment deep into the podcast. Vertucci presses Hellmuth on whether he understood it was a mistake to sit with a tiny stack in front of him the entire week when over at the Hustler stream people were sat with hundreds of thousands in front of them. He eventually does admit is was and then goes on to claim he will now sit at such televised streams with a least $500,000. We'll see.

So here is the You Tube podcast between Vertucci and Hellmuth. I am not saying I absolutely recommend because it was often grating for me, but if you can bear with it some interesting things do come up along the way.

The YouTube video with Phil Hellmuth was a good one; I only watched the subsections which interested me (I maybe skimmed for about half an hour of the video), but it was entertaining to watch and listen to.

 

[spectralwave]

Another good argument from phil, proving this difference and a great player is also a good investigator and has a lot of property.

 

[HDSRESKAA]

He is good.