Phil Hellmuth jr

Love him or loathe him, few would disagree that the ‘poker brat’ Phil Hellmuth jr. is a giant in the world of poker. Hellmuth earned the tag ‘poker brat’ due to his often-acerbic table chat with opponents as well as a perceived inability to take a beat with anything approaching good grace. Phil’s poker career started whilst he was a student at the University of Wisconsin, in the eighties. Here, he played in a $20 buy-in game with fellow students, a game he regularly beat. After moving up to higher stakes and being consistently successful, the poker brat found himself with enough cash to pay off his student loans and still have a bankroll of $20,000. At this point Hellmuth decided to drop out of college, much to the chagrin of his university-professor father, and play the game professionally. His rise in the poker world was swift. So much so that in 1989 he became the youngest-ever player, at the age of 24, to win the coveted World Series of Poker main event, netting the first prize of $755,000. Since then, Phil Hellmuth has gone on to win a further nine WSOP gold bracelets, all in texas hold ‘em events. His latest WSOP victory came in the 2006 $1000 rebuy event. This achievement ties him with poker legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for the most bracelets won. To date, Phil’s WSOP winnings alone total almost $5,000,000. Phil’s success is not restricted to the World Series. He has five World Poker Tour top-ten finishes to his credit, as well as numerous other wins and cashes at prestigious tournaments around the world. To date, his total live tournament winnings approach $9,000,000. Though his attitude may not be to everyone’s taste, his achievements led to his peers voting him ‘world’s best all-round tournament player’ in 1996. An accolade that Phil himself would probably not dispute, after being quoted as saying, “If it wasn’t for luck, I would win every tournament I played.”. Hellmuth is a regular on TV poker programmes, with appearances on shows such as ‘High Stakes Poker’ and ‘Celebrity Poker Showdown’

Doyle “Dolly” Brunson

The Granddaddy of the modern era 73 years young still playing top class poker and cutting the mustard with the best of the up and coming players half his age. Born: Longworth West Texas in the summer of 1933 the youngest of three children with an elder brother Lloyd and sister Lavada. Educated: Longworth Grammar School and Junior High before joining Swee****erHigh School. Here Doyle played basketball and was chosen as one of the five best players in the state at 16 years of age, he won a scholarship to Hardin-Simmonds College in Abilene. In his first year at college he was voted the most valuable player in the Border Conference and some Pro teams were taking an interest (LA Lakers) for one and he set his sights on a basketball career. Dell Basketball magazine picked him as one of the top ten college players in the country. He had also run the mile in 4:18.6 which put him in contention for a place in the national team. The future for Doyle looked great and in the summer of his 18th year he secured a job at the U.S.Gypsum plant in Longworth to save some money for his senior year. Alas an accident at work snapped his right leg in 2 places and due to complications he was in plaster for 2 years, his speed and coordination were gone along with any hope of joining the Pro’s. Early Poker Career: Started playing at High school, he still remembers his first game. It was five-card Draw and he was a big winner. After the leg break he had a lot of time to play poker and this paid his expenses through college where he graduated with a master’s degree in Administrative Education. The best job offered to him was that of a Basketball coach at Dalhart high School for a salary of $4800 this was less than he made setting-up games in collages around Texas living by his wits. After graduation he started a job as a machine salesmen where he played a lot of poker winning more than a months salary in under three hours, he decided to quit the company and become a professional poker player. Professional Career: Doyle was the first player to earn a million dollars in poker tournaments. He is also one of only four to win consecutive WSOP main events in 1976 and 1977. He is tied with Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth for the record number of WSOP bracelets currently ten. He has won over 2 million dollars in tournaments alone since 2004. Currently still one of the best on the circuit and now with his own on-line site playing as much as ever. “Dolly” is THE Man.