Poker’s Odd Couple: PHIL HELLMUTH AND JOHN BONETTI
Perhaps they are poker’s version of the odd couple. Nine time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth was one of the young guns of poker, winning the World Series main event at the tender age of 24. By contrast, Bonetti didn’t even start learning the game of poker until his late 50’s! One of his teachers back then just happened to be youngster Phil Hellmuth. That later start has not held Bonetti back, though. TheHendonMob.com credits John Bonetti for $3.6 million in lifetime tournament winnings, and he has 3 WSOP bracelets to his name. Bonetti has been battling prostate and spinal cancer since 1992. Bonetti’s heavy Italian accent, quick wit, and no-nonsense charm make him one of the most popular & universally-liked figures in the game. “The Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth’s large ego and strong opinions make him one of the most controversial. Over twenty years since this interesting duo formed, they are still tight friends and confidants. In this exclusive interview we see just how perfectly this odd couple balances one another.
John: [to Phil] Why don’t you tell me about your Camp Hellmuth? How did the camp get going, whose idea was it, who are the key players involved, that kind of stuff.
Hellmuth: In about 1999, I thought it’s time for me to have a poker camp. My idea was to charge ten thousand dollars a head and to have it in at the Sonoma Mission Inn, in northern California.
John: Okay.
Hellmuth: And, uh, I, uh, didn’t end up doing anything about it and, uh, just kinda let it languish and then in about early 2005 a group approached me about doing Camp Hellmuth. Jeff, actually Jeff Goldenberg, and Brandon Rosen . . . and, uh, my lawyers and my agents took a hard look at it and they’d seemed to be, they seemed to be really good as far as logistics. They had a lot of experience. And, and one thing I couldn’t do was have it look bad—you know. And we right away figured out that they’re really hardworking, super ambitious, and they were gonna make it happen, but still they were a little bit under the gun. We were testing them, in the first Camp Hellmuth. Well, they nailed it. They nailed it. Every detail was perfect . . . you know. And, and we, we also had the additional problem of busing people to the Horseshoe.
John: Mmm.
Hellmuth: But they were just, well they just, just handled it really smoothly. It was great. This year we don’t have to worry about busing issues, so I know it will be a little bit easier for them. So I went with them and, um, you know . . . with the understanding that they were gonna do basically everything because I’m just so busy. And again, my family has to be first, and then, and then I have some other high profile, bigger projects I’m involved in and, and playing poker itself is still important in my life. In fact, I think that’s gonna be—that’s always been right underneath my family. It was family, then creating history in poker. You know. And it’s slipped a little bit down maybe one notch to—so it’s family, make a hundred million, then . . . But once I get a hundred million, or enough money, whatever it is — then, uh, I think that, uh, oh poker will slide back up, the history of poker will slide back up. I think it was the right time to let it slide down a little bit. I’ll still always focus on the World Series. I should be careful what I say because poker history is still number two on my list, but it’s been challenged by, you know, making a lot of money in poker.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: And I mean it’s pretty cool having books out there and DVD’s, you know, cell phone games and stuff like that, so . . .
John: The, uh, all that other stuff . . . the interviews and the business deals and all that extra stuff, is that something that you enjoy? Something that you put up with?
Hellmuth: You know, I don’t think about it very much. Hardly, you know . . .
John: They’re part of the job.
Hellmuth: Yeah, I got up yesterday in L.A. I got a workout which is great. I needed a workout. The workout also let me know how much behind I am on my sleep.
John: I understand.
Hellmuth: Just ‘cause I was really tired. And then I came over here and I arrived at 4:50—I didn’t even have time to check in—so I took my bag with me, one of my bags with me, to, um, right to the set where I did something for SportsCenter—they’re doing a special on poker. I brought Bonetti and T.J. (Cloutier) with me. They both nailed it. Then I came right up to my room where I did something for National Public Radio and two or three other interviews and then straight down to—and ate dinner at the same time—and then straight down to Camp Hellmuth . . . uh, for the opening party. And, you know, I had to give a speech there and I signed, obviously, a million autographs and had everybody have pictures with me and, uh . . . And then I probably made a mistake in going out last night. Probably should have gone straight to bed I’m so far behind on my sleep. But it’s okay. Tonight’s going to be an early night for me.
John: Yeah. So, these are all things you enjoy. You don’t even think about it.
Hellmuth: I like being in the spotlight. So when Sports—when I’m doing something for SportsCenter, I really enjoy doing the interview. I really enjoy being interviewed.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: You know, especially when it’s on camera. And, uh, if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t do it.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: Honestly.
John: Yeah, because there are a lot of guys out there who avoid the spotlight.
Hellmuth: Yeah. I don’t have to do any of this stuff.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: I just don’t have to anymore. I mean I’ve already kind of . . . Financially, I think I’m pretty secure now. I don’t have to do this, but I still, I still like it, you know. Still kind of . . . still kinda love it. I have fun, even doing an interview now, I have fun. My voice will be a little bit sore at the end of the day.
John: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Hellmuth: ‘Cause you all started me at nine a.m. with interviews today.
John: [to John Bonetti] So how do you know this guy?
Bonetti: We started playing poker together over twenty years ago.
John: Twenty years ago?
Bonetti: And we’ve been this close together. Believe me. He’s like my son.
Hellmuth: When I had a Camp Hellmuth, there were two guys who were gonna be involved with Camp Hellmuth: Bonetti and Cloutier. I knew that right away. First two I asked. In the old days, there were a couple more people on the list that would have maybe been involved. Some of them have risen to their own kind of star level or whatever, um . . . or, or some of them have gone the other direction.
John: Mmhm.
Hellmuth: So . . . But it was, I always wanted John and, and, uh, T.J. here.
John: So what do you think of the other people, of what they say about Phil and things like that?
Bonetti: Nobody knows Phil like me. He’s one of the best f***ing guys in the world.
Hellmuth: Bonetti is my staunchest defender.
Bonetti: Oh yeah.
John: Why is it you think Phil doesn’t get all the respect he’s should be getting with the World Series bracelets and the records?
Bonetti: Because he’s very smart and he sells himself. And that’s what he does. Like T.J. said, he’s the best salesman in poker. And he sells himself to the whole world, whether they love him or they dislike him. But he sells himself. He’s the center of attraction. You know, whole poker world, every place you go they’re saying -----I took a cab here, from the airport yesterday? And the cab driver, talking to the cab driver, I says ‘I play poker’. In fact, Phil Hellmuth is one of my best friends. He says, you mean “Kill Phil?” That’s exactly what he said. I says, yeah, “Kill Phil.” I says, you know, Phil is getting—is making millions doing what he’s doing. I says, they’re other guys that can’t, that can’t pay their rent. But Phil is making millions doing what he’s doing. And what is he doing? He’s selling himself to the public. Whether it’s for good or whether it’s for, uh, whatever you want to call it, that they dislike him, but he’s a center of attraction. Back in Houston, all my friends they, they know how close I am with Phil. And they say, you were close to that son-of-a-gun? I says, yeah, why? Well he’s this and he’s that—I says, ah take a walk. You don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. I could tell you stories about Phil that would make your, make your hair stand on end, that’s how good he is. He’s honest. He’s a good father, a good—I’ve never known Phil to, to cheat. I’ve never known Phil to go out with a girl. And listen, he’s got the opportunities, being as tall and good looking and young as he is? Forgetta ‘bout it. They flock to him like, like bees flock to honey. But, he’s been very strong—
Hellmuth: Seventeen years I’ve been with my wife.
Bonetti: That’s right. He’s married seventeen years and I could say I know he has never cheated on his wife. Because if something happened somewhere along the line I would’ve known about it. Somebody would’ve come and told me. But never. They’ve always had the highest respect for Phil and Phil has the highest respect for everybody—
Hellmuth: You see John knows. See John’s been with me when the chips have been down, you know when I wasn’t, I didn’t have all the money, and I always maintained perfect honor, integrity, you know. You have to ask him about that. It’s hard for me to say that.
Bonetti: (To Hellmuth) It’s okay.
Hellmuth: You have to ask John’s opinion, but I think that—
Bonetti: I’ve said my opinion.
Hellmuth: Honor and integrity, when the chips are down, John has seen me.
Bonetti: Right.
Hellmuth: Right. And my honor and integrity have always been perfect. And I pride myself on that.
Bonetti: That’s true.
Hellmuth: And I think because I have, you know, near perfect honor, integrity—I mean almost perfect as far as I can see, um, because I’ve been able to do that and live my life at this level, um . . . because I’ve been able to live my life at this level with my integrity and honor and, you know, just ethics—
John: Ethics with poker.
Hellmuth: —it allows me to become rich and famous. I feel more comfortable with myself. A lot of people that become rich or famous they’re doing slimy stuff and then they self-destruct. Because they have the fame and because they’re slimy it’s a very potent mix and they find themselves involved in drugs or alcohol: they’re self-destructing. And I’m not, you know . . . I mean I don’t self-destr—I mean, I at least feel . . . very comfortable in my skin. I can live with myself. I’ve always done the right thing. You know, and there’s been situations like when they offered me Celebrity Poker Showdown. To host that show.
John: That’s a good show.
Hellmuth: I had given someone else a commitment over the phone for their show. When I went into the office at C.A.A they were screaming at me—all their attorneys and lawyers. What the hell’s wrong with you, you don’t have a signed contract, this show will never get made and you have one that’s gonna get made coming up. And I said, listen fellas, I’m gonna be super rich and super famous. I’m already a long ways along. I don’t wanna ever, anybody to ever say, that I didn’t honor any verbal agreement, you know. And there’s been disputes in poker where someone—you, you know, it just happens, where there’s a dispute about someone owing money or something like that. Every single dispute, I’ve settled satisfactory. I’ve gone the other direction. Sometimes, I’ve paid people money when I really shouldn’t have paid them money. You know one time I had a bet on, uh—never forget—I can’t mention names, but I bet a thousand dollars that Clinton would not leave office. I, I didn’t know about impeachment or what, I just said, he might get impeached, I’m just betting that he doesn’t have to leave office. Well I made it very clear. Of course a year later, I brought the bet up to collect and the guy said wait a minute you lost that bet, he was impeached. I said that’s not what I bet. I made it very clear to him at that point. I paid him. I paid him. It was a thousand dollars. It was a bet I know I won. I remember very clearly. I remember because I was, because I insisted that, yes, he might get impeached, but there’s no way he’s gonna leave office. You know, because I had found out you could get impeached and still stay in office.
John: Sure.
Hellmuth: And uh . . . so there’s a lot of disputes like that, that involve even bigger money. And sometimes I’d just rather, sometimes I’ll pay when I’ve, when I’ve won, but it’s okay because, um, I don’t mind. People can always take advantage of me once or twice. I don’t mind. It’s all right. I mean I’m just so . . . I can’t focus on any of this other B.S., what I focus on is all my blessings.
John: It just seems a lot of the things I hear you say about, I hear you saying things about balance in your life that helps on the poker table: the honesty, the purity, the clarity. It just kinda drives your game and drives your play too.
Hellmuth: Drives the fortune factor. I mean, again, there’s just this combustible mix of people that make mistakes and have a lot of money that are young. You know, athletes or whatever.
John: Uh huh.
Hellmuth: You know? And, uh, it’s a combustible thing. It leads to alcoholism, drugs and all this kind of stuff. Well because I’ve kept myself on this level moral- and ethics-wise, you know, never cheated on my wife in seventeen years and I’m very proud of that.
John: I see
Hellmuth: It’s a big thing. It hasn’t been easy.
John: Uh huh.
Hellmuth: I mean every night, every night that I go out—‘cause I like to go out.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: You know, I control myself. I’m not a big drinker.
John: What about the champagne?
Hellmuth: Right, I like to go out and have Dom Perignon, but I don’t like to—but I, I don’t mind spending—I spent like twenty four hundred dollars on my bar bill last night. I only had four glasses of champagne—four and a half. If I can have—if I can keep it to three or four glasses of champagne in a night . . . I mean over the course of a long night, that’s fine. Two’s even better. But, you know, I don’t like to—you know, I’ve had probably four or five nights, the last three years, I’ve had too much to drink. But I’m not real big drinker and, you know, I don’t . . . To my knowledge, I’ve been able to avoid most self-destructs. I mean, I think occasionally if I self-destruct a little bit, maybe I’ll lose fifty to seventy thousand dollars playing poker, and then I’ll take a good look at it. Why did that happen? Oh Phil, you are self-destructing a little bit. But I’m so aware of that. You know because I’m older. So a young athlete, so, that’s doing something wrong . . . whatever. It’s, it’s . . .
John: That’s life—
Hellmuth: Oh yeah. I told—I, I came along in poker and I started winning all these No Limit Hold ‘Em tournaments at a young age. I helped Bonetti a little bit with his game, is what happened.
John: Oh.
Hellmuth: You know? I was young, but I had this—somehow the game made sense to me. You know? So I mean I helped, I actually helped Bonetti out, mentored him a little bit as far as a poker goes. He helped me out with some life stuff, you know. And it was . . . It’s been a good balance. John and I have been basically best friends. You know?
Bonetti: A long time.
John: So what did . . . what kind of life lessons were you teaching Phil then?
Bonetti: About fooling around. About being, being honorable to your wife. Being a good father to your children. You know I’ve always prided myself with him being my friend. And my wife too. My wife, my wife loves Phil!
Hellmuth: Well you know what else Bonetti’s done for me is he’s, he knows my philosophy, and, you know, he’ll make me stick to it.
John: Like?
Hellmuth: Like, for example, I was in Amsterdam, you know. And I was, uh . . . I was thinking about, uh—you know I’m, I’m not—I don’t do any—I may have smoked a little pot in college, but you know, maybe once or twice when I was twenty three, twenty four, whatever. It’s been a long time. I was in Amsterdam and I said, you know, it’s been fifteen years since I tried that stuff, maybe I should, in Amsterdam maybe I should go out and smoke pot once, you know? No big deal. And Bonetti was over there with me and he’s like, is that befitting of the Ryder Cup Captain? ‘Cause at that time they’d asked me to be the Ryder Cup Captain. So I didn’t go out.
Bonetti: That’s right.
Hellmuth: You know? [Laughs].
Bonetti: ‘Cause I . . . I never did drugs. I don’t even know—if I saw cocaine I would know if it’s cocaine; if I saw marijuana I wouldn’t know if it’s marijuana or oregano. So you know, I’m, I’m totally ignorant about drugs. Because I fear and I tried to instill that with Phil, but I don’t think that I’m the person that really kept him from doing it. It was Phil himself that kept himself from getting involved like some of these other players did.
Hellmuth: Well, it’s just that I came in with my own philosophy and my own different things.
Bonetti: Right.
Hellmuth: And I spent a lot of time exploring . . . I spent a lot of time as if I would become very rich and famous.
Bonetti: He told me that. Always.
Hellmuth: If I’m gonna be rich and famous—
John: Long before poker hit, he was still—
Bonetti: When he was young—
John: He knew he was gonna be rich and famous.
Bonetti: When he was young . . . when he was young he didn’t have any money. I can remember that. I can relate to that. He had a little bit of money. He used to stake me. He used to help me. And I won. I used to—I won him his first house in Palo Alto.
Hellmuth: That’s true.
Bonetti: I bought the house. I won six hundred thousand and he bought the house right after that.
Hellmuth: [Laughs].
Bonetti: Yeah, it’s a true story. Phil has always been . . . you know . . .
Hellmuth: That was a great story because it was the 1996 World Series of Poker. I believe.
Bonetti: Right.
Hellmuth: Year that Huck Seed won it.
Bonetti: Huck Seed, right.
Hellmuth: And coming into that thing I didn’t have a lot of—my cash balance wasn’t up. Ah yeah sure, I had a big house. I had a million dollar house and all this other stuff—that’s fine—but my cash was low. And, uh, Bonetti called me up two days before the event and said my backer, Russ Hamilton, has stepped aside. Russ Hamilton was my business partner in many ways. He stepped out and kind of left Bonetti hanging a little bit there. And, uh . . . and I said, oh my God John, I don’t really have enough money to do it, you know? And I said, and he said Phil I need you. And I said, oh my God, I’ll do it. And, um, what a tough three weeks for he and I. Oh my God. I’m staking him and we’re running out of money, running out of money, running out of money, running out of money. And I’m . . . and all of a sudden it looks like I might have to get staked, you know? I mean, I guess I could have borrowed some money. But I don’t like to borrow money to play poker. I probably could’ve sold some stocks or something, but that money I wasn’t supposed to touch. But we were getting—I was feeling pretty desperate, you know? And it came down to the second last event. Sometimes, somebody else would stake John an event because I . . . you know, like the Seven Card Stud someone else staked him. Of course I was rooting for him, you know, and, uh . . . It was tough. It was really tough, you know. Second to last event and we’re almost out of money and struggling and I’m trying to make everything last and Bonetti cashes for a hundred and fifty thousand. Then the main event comes along and he cashed for six hundred thousand. So he won like seven hundred and . . . six hundred . . . yeah, six hundred and one fifty . . . so he cashed for like seven hundred and forty thousand or something. Well, there was a make-up number because I had been staking him for a while so I got like a hundred and fifty thousand off the top, you know? And then, we split three hundred thousand each, or whatever. And I left with four fifty and I bought my house for a million. My first house. My first nice—my first California house.
Bonetti: Right. Right.
Hellmuth: Oh, that was a nice house.
Bonetti: And it’s true, every word of it.
John: Yeah.
Bonetti: So Phil has always been there for me. Always. Even when, when it was rough for him. For some reason, he’s always been there for me. Like yesterday, today he’s still there for me! People don’t believe this, but twenty years later—believe me. He’s like . . . that’s why it, it upsets me when people have something negative to say about it him.
Hellmuth: See, I’m so loyal. You know, ask Bonetti, you know. Ask Bonetti about my loyalty.
Bonetti: Yep. Yep.
Hellmuth: And I’ll help, I’ll help Bonetti financially, you know?
Bonetti: Always.
Hellmuth: Always, you know.
Bonetti: Always. Always.
Hellmuth: And, uh, it makes me feel good, you know. I like to reward people in my life. It’s a great thing to come, um . . . I just gifted—I probably shouldn’t talk about it.
Bonetti: Nah, it’s, it’s up to you. You want me to say it? I’ll say it.
Hellmuth: Nah . . .
Bonetti: I’ll say it for you. Otherwise, let it, let it rest. We’ll come up with it some other time. I know what you’re gonna say Phil, and—
Hellmuth: Tell me.
Bonetti: —I appreciate it. Nah, you know.
Hellmuth: No, not that. No, I’m thinkin’ about all the stock that I’ve just given ya.
Bonetti: That’s what I’m talking’ about.
Hellmuth: Yeah. Yeah.
Bonetti: What do you think I’m talkin’ about?
Hellmuth: Well, I just gifted—go ahead John. I can’t say it.
Bonetti: He gave me three thousand shares of stock as a gift. As a gift! Three thousand shares of stock.
Hellmuth: And I’ve given away—of all my old business partners that’ve been with me forever: my agent, all my family. Just gave away a massive amount of stock to all of them. Probably I shouldn’t—probably I shouldn’t say that. Well, it’s not really like giving it to charity. So I guess I can say it. Yeah. So, you know, I’ve given away . . . [laughs] . . . it’s a lot. It’s . . . it’s a lot of . . . It’s less than half a million. But I’ve given away a ton of stock to my friends and family, to the people that have been with me, the people that have supported me.
John: Through the bad times and the good times and everything in between. And it comes out in the end.
Hellmuth: Yeah. I never really had too many bad times. Sometimes I’d be low on cash—
John: Right.
Hellmuth: —but I always had a lot of assets, you know . . .
Bonetti: You never had really bad times.
Hellmuth: You know, I’ve always had stock, or—I’ve always had funds that I really couldn’t touch.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: So I would feel like—and I knew I’d never touch them. I would get staked before I’d touch that money. And that’s the truth. And I told myself that’s the way it was gonna be and I’ve honored that. So my wife didn’t have to worry because the bills were paid.
John: Mmhm.
Hellmuth: Some of the old time poker players, they say I’m broke but my wife’s rich. [Laughs]. Doyle Brunson used to say that. He’d be like, I’m broke, but my wife’s rich.
John: Well, that’s a great story there.
Hellmuth: Well, that was that story of the World Series in ‘96 is a great story. That should come out sometime.
Bonetti: Good story.
John: Yeah.
Bonetti: Yeah. There’s a lot of other stories too.
Hellmuth: Yeah, so I mean I, it made me feel good to . . . I like to reward people in my life and you know, uh, it’s just, um, the way I am.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: I mean, I paid for my brother’s and sister’s college and law school. Not all of it. Not all of it by any means, but I tried. I think I paid for one of my sister’s law school totally. You know and it makes me feel good. I can—‘cause I was rich and I always seemed to have a lot of money and it just made me feel good to help family out in college. And now I’m helping, you know . . . so whatever. That’s enough of that.
John: You seem to enjoy to teach, through your books, through the camp . . . You know a lot of poker players out there want to keep everything hush hush; they don’t want to give any trade secrets out or whatever. I mean, I’m sure, of course, there are things you’re holding back, but you enjoy the teaching aspect, the interaction aspect, it seems to me.
Hellmuth: What’s not to like? I mean, I get up in front of a room. I have a presentation written up . . . I get up in front of a room of people who are fans of mine, that are there to learn, and their enthusiasm for the game. I mean first of all they, they’re here because of me—a lot of them.
Bonetti: That’s right.
Hellmuth: It’s Camp Hellmuth. And so there’s a positive energy there and they have an enthusiasm for the game. And my thought process was funny because Daniel Negreanu and I were like this—he thought teaching was good, I thought it was bad. We switched within a year: I thought it was good, he thought it was bad. I just made up my mind that if I’m gonna write a book on poker it has to be the best book on poker ever written. And in order to do that I have to give away a lot. You know what I mean? And I also realized that . . . you can teach a lot, but people have to follow their own path. You know what I mean? So, when you read my book you’re going to find a tremendous amount of knowledge, but you still have to find your own path.
John: Of course.
Hellmuth: You still have to be able to apply it. And so I figure I can teach a lot and I just didn’t think that a lot of it was going to come back to haunt me. I don’t feel like it has. It’s made my name bigger. I realized, for my own ego, I had to write a book. Honestly. I want to become the best poker player of all time and part of that is having some books out there on the game. Some great books. So I wrote the book for my own ego, really, and I made a lot of money with it too. So, yeah . . . I mean I like my life. I mean you know . . .
John: What’s not to like?
Bonetti: It’s beautiful
Hellmuth: I’m listening to music. I got Bonetti on my right. We’re doing an interview with Top Pair. I’m gonna get up and I’m gonna go downstairs and I’m gonna talk for an hour, hour and a half, on how to play no limit Hold ‘Em.
Bonetti: And we’ll enjoy it. Everybody will learn something.
Hellmuth: I have fun, you know?
Bonetti: He does.
Hellmuth: And see, here’s the thing: if I had to do Camp Hellmuth every weekend, it wouldn’t be fun for me.
John: Right.
Hellmuth: It would be a job.
John: I get that.
Hellmuth: But if I could do it once every six months . . . I look forward to it. It’s like, yeah, Camp Hellmuth’s coming up. We’re gonna have Camp Hellmuth on the main marquee at the Caesars.
Bonetti: Right. Right.
Hellmuth: You know? Come on! You know what I mean? That’s pretty sweet.
Bonetti: That’s big. That’s big.
Hellmuth: So you know, all over the poker world . . . and, uh, I’d probably do it for free.
Bonetti: That’s right! [Laughs].
Hellmuth: It’s just great.
Bonetti: Don’t say it. They’re gonna ask you to do it for free, Phil!
Hellmuth: [Laughs]. And then, and then, and then tomorrow or the next day or next week
I’ll be doing something else different. You know, I mean, a company hires me . . . you know I charge fifty thousand a night to do events. There’s one company I’m going to be doing an event for—Bane and company—I’m going to be doing an event for them in Pebble Beach
Bonetti: When Phil?
Hellmuth: May first and second.
Bonetti: So, am I goin’?
Hellmuth: I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it “son”.
Bonetti: Ahh. For Christ’s sake Phil. Don’t leave me out . . . Pebble Beach. I’ll beat ya. I got to play golf with my wife. I played him for three holes. I beat him for three hundred.
Hellmuth: So that’s fun for me. I get to go to the golf course. They will put me with their VIP clients out on the golf course. It’s always interesting for me to hang out with successful, really successful, business people anyway. I can learn something. They can learn something. It’s kinda fun.
Bonetti: Right.
Hellmuth: So I don’t mind that. With someone really successful it’s kinda fun. So golf with them and then I’ll do a poker seminar at night. So I’ll play Pebble two or three times. My agent’s coming out. You know what I mean? And then Wednesday, Wednesday night I’ll play Pebble and then Wednesday I fly to the Kentucky Derby.
John: Sweet.
Hellmuth: I’ll probably run into Michael Jordan again, you know.
Photographer: We need to get a picture of you two, kinda just hangin’ out at the table.
Hellmuth: Don’t get the Coke in the picture, please. Shot a commercial for Diet Pepsi. It was supposed to be in the Super Bowl
Bonetti: What is that, what is that Phil? The what?
Hellmuth: The commercial I shot for Diet Pepsi was supposed to be during the Super Bowl.
Bonetti: Oh really?
Hellmuth: They, they didn’t make the cut.
John: You guys are great. Best of luck at the tables and thanks for the time.
Hellmuth: Thank you.
In addition to being a poker enthusiast, John is a certified Counselor in the state of Pennsylvania and a National Certified Counselor (NCC). He has a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from West Virginia University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Lock Haven University. You can find out more about the psychology of poker from “the Poker Counselor” at carlisle14@hotmail.com.
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