Did Phil Hellmuth lie about followers wanting him to play within the 2025 WSOP Major Occasion simply so he might get out of his boycott? [Image: PokerGO.com]
Doug Polk poked round
When you adopted the saga of Phil Hellmuth’s “will he or received’t he” on the subject of enjoying within the 2025 World Collection of Poker Major Occasion this week and thought one thing smelled fishy, it seems your nostril knew what was up.
After saying in February that he was boycotting the Major Occasion, Hellmuth stated early this week that he was now going to let the poker public vote on it and that the ballot outcome could be binding. A couple of days later, Hellmuth introduced on social media that the “Play World Collection Major” voters received and that he would take part in spite of everything. However the ballot was nowhere to be discovered. Odd, proper?
Luckily, poker participant, vlogger, and on line casino proprietor Doug Polk did the additional legwork and confirmed suspicions that Hellmuth was filled with it when he reversed his determination to not play within the 2025 World Collection of Poker Major Occasion. Polk had the receipts, posting a YouTube video on Friday displaying a screenshot of the ultimate ballot, the outcomes of which had been 54% for Hellmuth to keep up his boycott.
Major Occasion is simply an excessive amount of
Phil Hellmuth has all the time been referred to as arguably the largest self-promoter in poker, by no means lacking a chance to ensure everyone seems to be conscious of him, his sponsors, his funding schemes, and the celebrities with whom he mingles. It looks like this “return” to the Major Occasion is yet one more solution to maintain the highlight on himself, whether or not it was deliberate since February or concocted over the weekend.
return subsequent yr if the WSOP provides gamers days off
When Hellmuth introduced that he wouldn’t play within the 2025 WSOP Major Occasion, he stated that it was simply too grueling. In his opinion, the lengthy hours and practically two-week length make it an endurance problem greater than a poker contest. For older gamers – Hellmuth is sort of 61 – it’s an excessive amount of. So, he determined to boycott it, solely to return subsequent yr if the WSOP provides gamers days off in the course of the course of the event.
It was laborious to think about the 17-time bracelet winner and 1989 WSOP Major Occasion champ, the person who all the time makes a ridiculous, showboat entrance, not enjoying in probably the most well-known poker event on the earth, however something is feasible. And his reasoning made sense.
Attention-grabbing ballot you’ve received there
Quick ahead to this week, when Hellmuth put out a video saying that he has determined to put up a ballot to X, letting poker followers vote on whether or not or not he ought to play. If the outcomes are “professional WSOP,” then he’ll nonetheless boycott subsequent yr except adjustments are made.
the ballot was now not posted to his X account
Hellmuth hinted that he would play over the following couple days, whereas the ballot was nonetheless going, earlier than lastly saying on Thursday that the “ayes” had it and that he would play. However, as talked about earlier, the ballot was now not posted to his X account. The ballot that this determination hinged upon and whose outcome he had been teasing for days.
He did put up a screenshot of the ballot when he introduced that he would play, however that screenshot – displaying 73% in favor of him enjoying – was from when there have been over 22 hours remaining for individuals to vote. The true outcome, as Polk confirmed, was 54% for him to maintain the boycott going after practically 8,000 extra individuals voted.
Whereas we don’t know Hellmuth’s motivation behind this minor ruse, one would possibly deduce that he had a change of coronary heart for no matter purpose and thought that a better means out could be to put up the ballot. In any case, the general public would positively need him to play within the Major Occasion, proper? The ballot would give him cowl, nevertheless it backfired and he tried to faux it.
In the long run, it doesn’t matter. Phil Hellmuth can do what he desires. The entire thing is dumb. However that’s simply the purpose, it’s so dumb that it might have been higher for him to only say: “ what? I actually do need to play within the Major Occasion and I’m going to maintain speaking to WSOP officers to see if some adjustments might be made sooner or later.”
Hellmuth would have taken flack for that, however it might have been less complicated and fewer embarrassing than what he did.
