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partypoker World Open 2009

Posted on 09/30/2009 by giorgio

partypoker World Open V You might not have earned yourself a seat for this World Series of Poker Championship, but while the world awaits the outcome as the November Nine get ready to compete for the bracelet and grand prize just a few months from now; partypoker has their own major event that players can look forward to try their luck again at getting a seat to play at another popular poker event. partypoker’s 2009 World Open is set to take place in London starting October 11th and lasting 5 days in total where the competition is sure to be tight. While there are professionals set to play in the partypoker event of the year, with partypoker’s promotion players of all skill levels have a chance to compete in satellite tournaments that might just land them a prize pack and one of the 48 seats up for grabs in the main event.

Taking place already, are daily satellite poker tournaments that can qualify players to enter the next round; one of the semi-final tournaments that are also taking place daily from which 1 in every 10 players will be invited to play in the partypoker World Open 2009. For the initial satellites, players can choose to play in one of the $3 Qualifier Speed Rebuy which are happening daily which will move players forward to the next round of the competition every time there’s a total of $75 in the prize pool. There are also daily Qualifier Speed Satellites which don’t give players the opportunity to rebuy, but could send more players to the next round with 1 in every 10 set to move forward.

Prize Package for Amateur Players

Since partypoker wants to give all players a fair chance at competing in the partypoker World Open 2009, they’re offering prize packs to those who try their hand in the satellite tournaments in order to qualify for the event. 1 in 20 set to move forward will win a prize pack which will cover their initial entrance fee of $650 plus $50 rebuys with the $10,000 awarded for buy-ins; plus a week’s accommodation for a luxury hotel in London and $1,000 of pocket money to make the time spent internationally even more of an experience.

Check out the satellite tournaments to qualify for the partypoker World Open 2009, and play at the esteemed event alongside poker pros like Mike Sexton, Ian Frazer and other partypoker alumni; the $48,000 prize pool up for grabs isn’t too shabby either!

Poker Tournament Strategy – Part I

Posted on 09/26/2009 by ladyholdem

It has been some time since Max wrote his Sit&Go Strategy articles and they have been valuable information for quite a few of our visitors. And now the time has come to finally talk about strategy for multi table tournaments.

The beginning of a poker tournament depends a lot on what is already going on at the table. For instance, if you’ve sat down to a multi table tournament online where many players are all in every hand, you probably want to just sit back and watch the show for awhile. Even if you’re dealt pocket aces, you want to fold here.

I know that seems like crazy advice, but the fact of the matter is that if you’re playing at a table where maniac fever has taken over, you need to preserve your tournament life. That usually is only the case in micro stakes game and free poker games.

If you’re playing at a bit higher stakes, you will still want to take it a bit easier during the lower blind rounds, getting in as many hands as possible, for the cheap price, but really playing the other players, paying attention to tells (there ARE tells whether you’re playing live or an online tournament). A big part of these early rounds includes either drawing to the nuts and getting paid off big, or picking off some small pots and keeping your blinds plaid up.

This is also the portion of the tournament where you can really start observing other players. Be on the look out for players that make unusual bets, not the normal 3/4 times the blind amounts, as that’s one sign of an inexperienced poker player. Also, pick out the rocks from the calling stations. Rocks play the big big hands, and often use the chat box to talk badly about players that call a raise with anything less than big slick.

It’s really easy to put these guys on a hand when you’re involved in a hand with them, and it’s generally easier yet to bet them off a hand when they miss the flop. But we’ll get into that later on.

The loose players or calling stations are easily identifiable as the guys that tend to see every flop, or even a large percentage of flops. Another player to look out for is a player that shows his hand, that’s (1) a sign of inexperience and (2) free information for you.

Early Tournament Play – Hand Selection

During the first 3 levels of a tournament, you want to play very strong hands, as well as experimenting with some drawing hands when you’re in a good position. At this point for instance, a suited 9T would be a decent hand to play from the button as well as from the blinds. I wouldn’t recommend raising under the gun with it, however, as long as you’re in a late position and the tables been playing pretty ‘friendly’ (i.e. more calling than betting going on) go ahead and give those smaller suited connectors a shot.

Now this is not the time in the game to do much bluffing, or even semi bluffing. When making a flop you want to have at the very least top pair, preferably two pair. Remember, at this stage of the game it’s not uncommon to have four guys call with nothing, meaning if you bet a pair of 8’s, there’s a pretty good chance there’s going to be a few overcards left in the hand.

Early Tournament Play – Betting The Flop

When you do have a strong hand, dig in. Bet it, and bet it big. Early in the tournament as a rule of thumb, bet 1/2 the pot, to all of it. If there’s a good draw on the table, and I’m not drawing for it (for instance if you hit to pair, but there are two spades on the table, and your cards are not spades) bet the whole pot.

Remember, you’re still watching your opponents, look for the ‘sheriff’, the guy that likes to pay off his opponent at showdown with ace high “Just to See”. The new players can double you up, or with dumb luck alone, they can take you out. If someone’s brand new, you’re not going to bet them off a draw, or a hand if you’re hugely over-betting, and they’re calling. Back off a bit if you’re vulnerable.

Play strong when you play, and coast your way into the bigger blind levels, which… we’ll talk about in a future article here on Max Poker Bonus.

Estoril – Portuguese Poker Paradise

Posted on 09/10/2009 by kurt

For those of you trying to catch the last glimpse of summer the idea of going to Portugal and laze around at the beach surely sounds tempting, right? Well, let’s make one thing clear: While bwin will offer you the chance to earn your trip to Estoril, Portugal, sunbathing won’t be your main concern. For one thing it will be November (7th – 10th) and even the Portuguese beaches will not be crowded with half-naked people at that time of the year.

Also the reason for you to go there is to participate in one of Europe’s greatest live poker events as part of the bwin poker team. Estoril is home to Europe’s biggest casino and you will find out that this doesn’t only show in the magnitude of the event itself but also the amount of money that you play for. With a buy-in of $1,400+$100 you can count on not only a nice prize pool but also fierce competition.

bwin Estoril Live No need to worry for you however. You don’t need to pay the buy-in, bwin will do that for you. They will also pay for your trip to Estoril as well as your accommodation for 5 nights. And on top of that you can use the remaining money of the $3,600 Estoril Live Poker Package as your personal spending money.

Another reason why you shouldn’t worry is that if you are able to compete at the Estoril Live Poker Event as member of bwin’s prestigious poker team you will have proven your worth by besting thousands of other players. See, bwin doesn’t simply give everyone a $3,600 package to go to Estoril as you may have imagined. They do offer you the opportunity to qualify for one of these packages however.

You may enter one of the 10 online finals for a buy-in of $300+20 and compete directly for your personal $3,600 poker package. Or you may choose to make use of one of the many qualifiers each day starting at as little as $2+0.20 and make your way to the finals. Whatever your choice is, make sure to keep an empty spot in your calendar for November 7 – 10 cause that’s when you will be playing in Estoril.

In an Estoril that will be too fresh for spending the night at the beach. But honestly, who cares?

Win The Cup For Your Country!

Posted on 08/30/2009 by kurt

PokerStars World Cup of Poker VI It is back. The World Cup of Poker (WCP) is being brought back to life on PokerStars and you can be part of your country’s four men team. You can represent your country playing poker in the Bahamas and take your share of the $290,000 prize pool. This promotion is available for every PokerStars player no matter what, no matter where.

The teams will be made up by 4 players – 2 of these places will be automatically awarded to the top two of the Tournament Leader Board of each specific country while the remaining 2 will be determined by the National Team Decider Freerolls. If you manage to qualify for one of the prestigious spots on your national team you will be contacted by PokerStars via e-mail. You will have to confirm whether or not you wish to represent your country at the Live Grand Final in the Bahamas (but honestly, tell me one reason why you would choose not to).

After that each team will participate in the so called Regional Play-offs where the various squads will compete in Team Play-off Tournaments. The winning national teams of each of these qualifying tournaments will advance to the final stage, the Grand Final with a prize-pool of $290,000.

You will of course be treated like a VIP in the Bahamas. It starts with PokerStars covering your travel expenses and accommodation in the Bahamas. Basically all you will have to concentrate on is playing your best game and looking good when the cameras are on you in this televised tournament. And with good cards, great poker and some luck you may be part of the team that may call themselves the World Cup of Poker VI Champions.

If you are already a PokerStars player make sure not to miss this great opportunity to play poker in what has to be one of the most beautiful venues. And if you are not a PokerStars player yet, make sure to use link to get the best out of your PokerStars poker bonus for first depositors. Especially after their recent upgrade that grants you a 100% bonus up to $600 (compared to their earlier regular poker bonus of 100% up to $50).

Lovely Autumn At bet365

Posted on 08/27/2009 by kurt

bet365 September Promos While nature slowly but surely reminds us that another summer is nearly over and the days start getting shorter again, bet365 improves their promotions so you can get back to some serious poker playing after a lovely summer break. No matter whether you are interested in the Leaderboard Tournament that lets you play for big cash prizes each month or whether you prefer the very popular Jackpot Sit&Go Tournaments, bet365 offers all serious poker players a lot of incentives.

In September however a lot of these already nice promotional offers will be improved even more. Dedicated bet365 players will know and look forward to the monthly $250,000 Guaranteeds – in September (and we may give it away already, also in October) this tournament will be improved significantly. You will play for 4 times the amount. Guaranteed. And yes, the quick brains among us already know that this equals 1 million dollars!

And since a catchy name has always been the darling of promoters these tournaments are now known as the Monthly Million Tournaments. You may choose to either make use of a direct buy-in of $500+35 or instead opt for one of the many daily qualifiers starting with buy-ins of $1+0.10. It is up to you how you want to make sure to get your part of $1,000,000.

Of course you will also benefit from all the other promotions such as the weekly 100,000 Merit Points New Depositor Freeroll. After making your first deposit at bet365 you will receive a token that allows you to compete in this tournament that can help you boost your Merit Points tremendously. Additionally the top 100 finishers of this tournament will qualify for the Monthly New Depositor Freeroll where you will compete with a maximum of 499 other players for your share of $2,000. And all this completely free of charge.

Also let’s not forget the Monthly Luxury Holiday Draw for poker players of VIP Level Gold or above (you may opt to cash it in instead and receive $2,000) – and you don’t even have to register for it, you will be added into the pool automatically once you reach the Gold Level. Additionally there are various monthly freerolls depending on your VIP Level, starting at a $500 freeroll for VIP Level Bronze. And you are actually a VIP Level Bronze player with just a single Merit Point per month!

If you aren’t a bet365 poker player yet, take this opportunity to check our detailed review and our bet365 poker bonus information. As always, take your time in making up your mind whether this poker room is the right one for you (and don’t base your decision solely on the poker bonus) and if you think it is, just use our link to make sure you get the best experience out of it. And if you are an existing bet365 poker player enjoy the fact that you may now exchange the rain outside for a cash-rain while sitting in your warm and comfortable chair.

Max Poker Bonus Top 20

Posted on 08/24/2009 by giorgio

In this blog post I am going to point out the top 20 things you can find on, or because of Max Poker Bonus. This goes from features on our own site, special offers up to the best poker strategy tips. You can see it as a summary of all things you can get through Max Poker Bonus and a reference to use our website.

Max Poker Bonus Features (1-8)

Online Poker Rooms – A list of our recommended online poker rooms. We have the policy to never promote more than 10 poker rooms at the same time. Because of this “quality over quantity policy” we are able to provide an up to date portal at all times. All poker rooms in this list are rooms where we would play at ourselves. We have selected these online poker rooms because of their quality, reliability, bonuses and promotions. If you click further to a poker room, you will be presented with a comprehensive review that includes screenshots, traffic (fetched live), the next 10 tournaments, payment options, features and more.
Poker Bonus Offers – This page lists all our poker bonuses and their bonus codes where applicable. You can clearly see which of our poker bonuses are better than the ones advertised by online poker rooms themselves. From the list you can click to a specific poker bonus page to see the details, such as restrictions and clearance requirements.
Max Poker Bonus Calculator – Here you can submit the exact amount of money you plan to use when making a first deposit. You’ll be presented with the available bonuses for your deposit, how much bonus you will receive, how much time you will have to clear them, how many player points you will get for playing cash games and per dollar buy-in fee for tournaments. You can click through to the bonus details page as well. A demo of our bonus calculator can be seen in our YouTube channel.
Deposit Methods – The table displayed on this page shows the five most common deposit methods used by poker players. You will see which poker room offers a specific deposit method. In the column on the right you customize the table and deselect and select (by checking the check boxes next to a payment option) another deposit method which will then automatically appear in the table. From here you can as well follow a link to a payment option review. On a payment option review page you can see all the details regarding a payment option, such as how to create an account, information about transfers and fees, and the minimum and maximum deposit limits per online poker room. By clicking withdrawal methods, you will basically see a similar page as deposit methods. The only difference is that you will now see which poker rooms offer a specific withdrawal method, instead of deposit methods.
Online Poker Tournaments – All upcoming tournaments by the poker rooms listed on Max Poker Bonus. We have created an automated script that fetches data from online poker rooms every hour for 24 hours in advance. You’ll be presented an up-to-date poker tournament schedule with tournaments that have buy-ins starting from $10. The list can be completely sorted, as well as filtered (right side column) on buy-in from, buy-in to, poker room and game type. By clicking on info you will see the tournament details and the time it takes before a tournament starts.
Poker Odds Calculator – Use our own poker odds calculator to recalculate your chances before or after a hand. Very handy for evaluation purposes and fine tuning your personal poker strategy.
Dan Harrington’s M-Calculator – This tool helps you to determine your M (everybody who has read Dan Harrington’s tournament strategy books knows what I’m talking about) and adjust your tournament strategy according to the different zones. Besides a precisely calculated M, you will also see a calculation of your effective M and the exact zone you’re in.
Max Poker Blog – An interesting poker blog with several new poker related articles per week. These articles may contain the latest news from online poker rooms recommended by Max Poker Bonus, including bonus updates and the latest poker promotions, as well as general articles about our website, our poker team and poker industry related items. Furthermore you can read Max his poker strategy articles for beginners and somewhat advanced players, pro poker players and information about poker tournaments and events, either online or land based.

Best Offers on Max Poker Bonus (9-12)

bet365 Poker Bonus – Because of the fact that we only list a maximum of 10 online poker rooms, we can concentrate on getting better poker bonuses for our visitors. We offer an enhanced bonus from bet365 Poker which isn’t only higher as advertised by themselves, but is also 50% higher as advertised by most other poker related portals. Signing-up at bet365 Poker through Max Poker Bonus gets you a first deposit bonus of 200% up to $1,000, instead of 50% up to $200 (or 100% up to $500).
888 Poker Bonus – Another improved poker bonus is the one that we offer for 888 Poker. Instead of their own advertised bonus of $400, we offer a bonus of $600 (bonus code 600MAX). We have seen quite an amount of big players sign-up for this bonus offer specifically, and would highly recommend it to any player playing at least medium stakes cash games starting from $2/$4. Beginning poker players are advised to go for the $8 free bonus, which can be seen as a very fine bonus as well, without any risks.
Titan Poker Calculator – Another very cool (and profitable) offer, next to the bonus offer from Titan Poker we have just mentioned, is the free Titan Poker Calculator. This tool (prized $89,95) is given free to all players signing-up through the Max Poker Bonus website or using poker bonus code MPB150 and is really useful for poker players relatively new to the game who want to learn about odds and probabilities. (Offer has expired.)
partypoker Bonus – Last but not least, the new bonus offer from partypoker. This bonus is not better than advertised on other poker portals, but is recently improved to 100% up to $500 (from 100% up to $100) and very much worth while mentioning. It’s an incremental bonus and gives you a very good reason to sign-up at partypoker, in the rare circumstance that you haven’t got an account at one of the biggests online poker rooms in the world yet.

Top 5 Poker Websites Besides Max Poker Bonus (16-20)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker – Internet’s largest encyclopaedia is the place where to find everything there’s to know about the game of poker and all its variations.
pokerforfree.org – Since Max Poker Bonus is a site dedicated to the best poker bonuses, we don’t offer anything for free. Our sister site, PokerForFree.org, is the one you should visit if you’re interested in free poker bonus offers and free poker bankrolls.
pokernewsreport.com – Another great site is PokerNewsReport.com. They offer the latest news from the poker industry. Several articles are published daily and their RSS is a must read for every poker enthusiast. The articles vary from news about poker players, promotions and strategies.
playwinningpoker.com – Steve Badger’s site may not look the prettiest, but it is one of the most complete strategy resources that I’ve ever seen. PlayWinningPoker.com has helped me to develop my game over the years and become a better poker player. I am positive that it’s a extremely valuable resource to anyone into poker.
pokerbonuscodeonline.net – Additionally to the information offered on Max Poker Bonus we can recommend our friend’s site PokerBonusCodeOnline.net. They provide the best source when it comes to PKR Poker, including a comprehensive review about PKR and the software, a bonus guide, Club PKR, as well as an introduction to the PKR affiliate programme.

Recent Poker Software Updates

Posted on 08/17/2009 by giorgio

Some of our recommended online poker rooms have recently released new versions of their poker room software. bwin Poker for instance, they’ve released a complete new version, while partypoker just released some updates and extensions, but worthwhile mentioning very much.

New bwin Poker Client

As bwin Poker introduced their new poker room about a month ago, and they are the rightful owner of the Ongame Network, it means that other poker rooms on the network, such as BestPoker, will also benefit from it. This includes the possibility to download and install a Mac client.

bwin Poker Lobby The biggest change to the software is that the new poker software has an improved lobby. Besides a Quick-Seat option, you can filter the games and tourneys in stakes and types, as well as hide empty and/or full tables and hide running and/or finished tournaments.

Another very nice new feature is the table/tournament lobby – mini mode. You don’t have to activate the game or table to see what’s going on, as you can already see all the data just by selecting it. For cash games it means that you can see the players, their stack and position at a glance, and for tournaments it means that you can see all information related to the tournament you have selected. This is inclusive the time it takes before the tourney starts, how many players are registered, game type, starting stack, prize pool, etc. etc. From the lobby – mini mode you can activate the tournament lobby with extra information, such as levels, prizes and a player list. The days that you had to find all these details in a browser are finally gone – a much welcome improvement!

Still one of the biggest cons for bwin Poker’s client that I can think of – and one that still isn’t fixed to date – is the cashier, which is only accessible in a browser. It would be much better if this was integrated into the poker client.

partypoker Client Upgrade

partypoker came with a completely new version of their renowned online poker room about a year ago. With that specific release they’ve introduced a great piece of poker software, one that can compete with any other online poker room in the world. There have been numerous of upgrades between the first release and the last. Each and every time they try to improve their poker room and come up with innovative ideas – and so, also this time…

First and foremost, as Max Poker Bonus is a site about online poker bonuses afterall, partypoker changed their bonus system. You are now able to stack bonuses and prioritize them as you wish. For instance, if you are playing to release your partypoker bonus once a new bonus becomes available, you can choose to put the first bonus on hold (without loosing it, as long as its not expired) and work on the new one.

Further new features in partypoker’s software include: Hand histories up to the last 100 hands on a table (this should be unlimited IMO), 9-Handed Single Table Tournaments (STTs) and Omaha Tables, and Super Speed Games where you only have 9 seconds to act when its your turn.

Other Poker Room Updates

New software releases happen all the time. Only a few days ago, Titan Poker introduced a Flash Client, which finally enables Mac and Linux users to play poker on the iPoker Network too.

Everest Poker has changed (and improved) their VIP Summit Club, with more rewards for all players at all levels. They have also introduced live support for players who have reached up to Camp II (third level), so you can contact them instantly when you have something on your mind. All levels give you different options for freerolls, starting at $1,000 weekly up to $25,000 monthly, and much more…

Finally! Big Meets Big!

Posted on 08/05/2009 by giorgio

PokerStars First Deposit Bonus Whether it’s the recession, whether it’s the competition – there must be a reason but no matter what the reason is… it’s about time!

PokerStars has finally introduced a new first deposit bonus!

The new bonus of 100% up to $600 can finally compete with bonuses offered by other online poker, and because of this we expect to see PokerStars to grow even bigger.

If you haven’t played at PokerStars yet, then now is the time. If you have played at PokerStars, make sure to keep on reading, as they’ve also announced the biggest reload bonus ever. More about that below.

So, with a poker bonus that matches 100% of your first deposit up to a stunning $600 and numerous promotions, PokerStars has become one of most attractive online poker rooms for new players. Most important, the new incremental bonus is very easy to clear compared to the majority of bonuses! You only need to earn 17 Frequent Player Points per bonus dollar, thus 170 FPPs to clear one instalment of $10.

WCOOP Extreme Satellites

Besides the new first deposit bonus, there are many more reasons to play at PokerStars. One of them is the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). This year’s WCOOP series consists of 45 different poker tournaments over a 18 day period, with a combined prize pool of $40,000,000 guaranteed!

During the month of August, until the 16th to be precise, PokerStars runs a promotion named the WCOOP Extreme Satellites, with two tournaments per day and more than $1,000,000 added value. Buy-ins for these satellites start as low as $7.50 all the way up to $215. Imagine yourself winning a diamond bracelet and a nice pile of cash for only $7.50. It can certainly be done!

PokerStars Reload Bonus, Bigger than Ever!

In case you are already active on PokerStars (which would not be strange for a poker room like theirs) you can now enjoy a reload bonus of 50% up to $300 max. Best of all, you can make up to 3 deposits (for example: 3x$100) as long as these deposits are made within 90 days after the first qualified deposit.

You have a total of six months to clear your entire bonus and any player that plays a little more than occasional should not have a problem with that.

Make sure to use PokerStars reload bonus code WCOOP to be eligible for PokerStars’ biggest reload bonus to date.

The Race Is On!

Posted on 05/06/2009 by kurt

Rake Race at William Hill Poker Club This is just a quick reminder for those of you unaware of the great Rake Race offered by William Hill Poker Club exclusively for Max Poker Bonus players. Don’t let the opportunity to earn an additional $300 while playing poker pass you by! By earning 20,000 points until the 31st of July 2009 you will receive a $300 bonus from William Hill – if you signed up through Max Poker Bonus that is.

Additionally all our players who reached at least 5,000 points will qualify for a $500 freeroll. So if you managed to collect 20,000 points that means $300 plus a $500 freeroll. You may want to read about the details on the Rake Race – in any case if you like playing poker on William Hill this is your chance to maximise your profit.

On your marks … get set … GO!

Phil Hellmuth

Posted on 05/04/2009 by kurt

Probably no one who shows any interest in professional poker at all will be able to avoid the name Phil Hellmuth. To be honest the U.S. American does his part to be omni-present in the media and has been named Poker Brat for his sometimes rude behaviour at the table. He knows how to market his image and even used his less than flattering nick name to his advantage – he is known for wearing an ice hockey jersey with the number 99 and his nick Poker Brat on the back, the front is covered with a huge Ultimate Bet Logo. He has been the figure head of Ultimate Bet for a long time now and stayed with the controversial poker room despite the so called Superuser Scandal (as explained in our blog post How Secure is Online Poker?) and various other inconsistencies.

Nearly 45 and still in puberty

Phil Hellmuth will turn 45 on July 16, 2009, and yet still displays childish and ill-mannered behaviour that at times would put adolescents to shame. He ascended to fame by winning the WSOP Main Event in 1989 at the age of 24 (the youngest player to win this title until Peter Eastgate in 2008) and to infamy for his insulting and over the top tirades at the poker table. He doesn’t only insult other players, for example by calling them idiots, but sometimes even the card dealers. According to him he is “the best Hold’em tournament player in the world” and “if luck weren’t involved, I guess I’d win every [tournament]”. This arrogance leads to him being viewed as common enemy by some players and the audience and you will sometimes hear taunting after he lost a big hand. This in turn aggravates Phil and so he and the rest of the world sometimes find themselves spurring each other on.

Due to his sometimes rude behaviour and many curse words (on several occasions more than 50% of his words had to be bleeped in TV when he went on a rampage) he also earned another nickname: Hellmouth. Many people claim that nowadays Phil manages to time his outbreaks perfectly and there is always a camera around when he goes on another rant. Others think that he indeed is convinced that he is the best poker player (or at least better than anyone at the table) and thus has a hard time losing. Especially if his opponent is not one of the big names or plays a different or unconventional style.

You may think what you want about his fits of rage and his arrogance – it is a fact that Phil Hellmuth is a poker icon and one of the most famous poker players in the world. And definitely one of the most successful. He has ended up in the money at the WSOP more often than anyone else, ended up at the final table at the WSOP more often than any other player and has a record number of 11 WSOP bracelets so it comes as no surprise that he is a member in the Poker Hall of Fame.

TV directors of all poker related TV broadcasts love him because he guarantees entertainment and controversy. It is said that away from the table the father of two is actually a likeable person. He is involved in various charitable foundations and puts a lot of emphasis on family values. Accordingly he once answered a question about his favourite celebrity “Any celebrity that keeps their family number 1.”

Success at the table and away from it

Phil holds various WSOP records (see above) and is said to have won more than $10 million in poker tournaments so far. Additionally he writes articles for poker magazines, is the author of several books, co-operates with Oakley on special, signed sun glasses, has started his very own clothing company (fittingly named Poker Brat Clothing Company – this man surely knows how to maximise marketing) and has various endorsement deals including his debated connection with the somewhat shady Ultimate Bet.

According to Phil he could earn as much as $400 million next to playing poker. At least that’s what he claimed in an ESPN interview. Even taking into consideration his usual exaggeration you can be sure that he would not end up poor if he indeed decided to quit playing poker all of a sudden. But anyone who knows him couldn’t imagine him quitting the game he loves so much that it sometimes seems to eat him up inside. And if he ever quits then expect it to be with a loud bang! After all we are talking about Phil Hellmuth, Poker Brat by name, Poker Brat by nature.