THE POKER BRAT

Phil Hellmuth has more championship bracelets than anyone in the game as well as a penchant for outbursts and a savvy eye for business

-  MICHAEL KAPLAN

They don't call Phil Hellmuth the Poker Brat for nothing. He is notorious for John McEnroe caliber meltdowns and storm-outs. Cursing cards, bad-mouthing opponents' play, trashing the very idea of luck, he unleashes profane tirades that are eye-grabbing sideshows on World Series of Poker telecasts.

Some believe that he went too far at last year's final table in the $10,000 buy-in seven-card stud championship at the Rio in Las Vegas. Enduring a bad run against Anthony Zinno, he stewed, fumbled chips and declared in a monotone, "So unfucking fair, man. I play like a fucking genius every fucking day. I think I am going to burn this fucking place down if I don't win this fucking tournament."

Other players ignored him as he sucked the air out of the game and slammed down losing cards. But the tournament ended, maybe, with a poetic justice: Hellmuth was fourth, Zinno won the bracelet and enraged online commentators couldn't get past Brat's last line: Did he really threaten to set the Rio ablaze? After all that, an argument could easily be made that Hellmuth's Twitter mea culpa-beginning with "I went too far in my rant"-was not enough. Never mind that he said he was joking.

A couple of months later, over dinner at Aria's Catch restaurant, the imposing (6-foot-7inch) player casts the incident in soft lighting. "I said to the table that I will get in trouble for saying this, it's a joke, but, I will burn this place down if I don't win.' I knew I was pushing the line. I didn't understand that the very first post, 30 seconds later, wouldn't say it was a joke. The post was put out to make me look bad, just for a headline. It dissipated very quickly."