Top 75 Phil Hellmuth Quotes

Consistently playing suited connectors like 8c-7c for raises and reraises will cause big chip swings. If that’s what you want, well, strap on your seatbelt, because you’ve got a turbulent ride ahead of you!

Everybody knows the World Series of Poker is the biggest stage in the world. This is where you make your name.

Prestigious events like the Main Event at the WSOP are marathon races. Fatigue is sure to set in.

I wanted to be famous and I wanted to make a fortune, and I’ve done that.

I’m the good guy, I’m a family guy.

If you play professionally, you can expect to go broke at some point.

Exercise clears my brain of the stresses of poker’s ups and downs, and allows me to re-focus my mind on the next day.

It wasn’t a popular thing to be a professional poker player in the ’80s.

I’ve met some of the most famous celebrities in the world but Michael Phelps was the first person I’ve ever met with whom I was totally star-struck.

Sometimes when you look back, you think I wish I would have played this hand differently or that hand differently. But then you have to understand that you can’t go back and to focus on the present. Whether or not you’re applying the lessons you’ve learned from mistakes you’ve made in the past.

Every poker player has ups and downs because luck is also involved. When a great poker player smashes, he’s making the right moves and making the right reads and he’s getting lucky.

My wife is incredibly supportive of me.

On the road, I have all these celebrity superstars tell me how great I am and how much they like my style.

If I’m going to play without any rest I might as well not play at all. I rest a lot but I work a lot too.

The real reason why I don’t play in many big cash games is because I can’t stomach the thought of losing $100,000 or more in any given session. If I play three consecutive days at the Bellagio, I might win two days but lose big on the third. Really, who needs the agony of losing that much money? Not me.

What gets lost is that half of poker is reading people. When you’re reading well and you’re making counterintuitive plays, a strictly math player will get scared and start making fewer moves, and then the person is even easier to read.

By folding often, I give other players the false impression that I’m a weak player – a player who can be easily bluffed. Trust me; I’m not a weak player.

All I want are titles and nothing less.

I don’t get nervous.

Through all the craziness, what I know is that I’m a good husband and a good father and I do a great job with my kids.

Poker is about understanding human behavior and managing emotions – yours and the other guy’s. That’s huge in poker, and it’s huge in business.

Before you decide to play with live straddles in your home game, remember that this twist essentially doubles the size of the game. It’s often used by players who have been losing and are trying to get lucky and win a big pot.

There are times when success doesn’t make sense on a purely mathematical basis. I’ve played absolutely perfectly before, put in a masterful performance, and then my perfect play evaporated because one guy lost his mind and got lucky. Of course, I’ve also won that way.

It is very, very difficult to quit when you’re losing. And nobody does it well.

I act the way I act and I’m not proud of it.

Oakley’s sunglasses are hot and I feel a little extra cool when I wear them.

I’m trying to make history. I’ve always put history above money.

I normally raise pre-flop with K-K or A-A but occasionally I’ll limp in, especially if it appears that the others at the table are playing tight. I don’t want anyone to fold too soon when I’ve got such a big hand.

For five or six years, I didn’t play in some of the good games leading up to the World Series of Poker, because with so many below-average players there, I reasoned it messed up my game.

Writing about poker is one of my passions.

When my reading ability is sharp, I can dodge bullets, baby! I have no problem folding super-strong hands and that saves me a ton of chips.

I guess I’m the happiest when I’m picking up my kids from school. The most important things on my list are my wife and kids and my health. Happiness is having a family you love.

Playing fast and aggressive poker can help manufacture chips out of thin air and is one element of the game that separates the great players from the merely very good. But beware; it can be risky.

I guess you can say that my unwillingness to accept failure is what drives my success.

My favorite poker game is No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

No doubt about it, in order to win the WSOP Main Event, plenty of stamina is required.

The flop bet is a useful tactic for both old-school and new-school players because it can be effective if you are strong, weak, or somewhere in between. Betting out weak on a bluff can allow you to pick up an uncontested pot while betting out strong gives you the opportunity to control the size of the pot.

Most pro athletes are super competitive, super clutch, and they don’t want to lose at anything.

When I started playing, I saw a lot of people who were 45 and unhappy. I told myself I’d never be in a position where I had to play all the time. And I haven’t been.

Look, most players can’t stand to be outplayed by an opponent’s bluff. Quite honestly, though, it doesn’t bother me that much.

Trust me when I tell you that Andy Roddick has the game to win a major poker tournament. I’ve played Hold ’em with him several times and he consistently demonstrates the kind of playing style and competitive drive that gives him a legitimate chance to win.

I was the youngest world champion in history when I won the WSOP in 1989 at age 24.

Some people know me as the bad boy of professional poker and call me The Poker Brat. Sometimes I deserve that nickname, but not always.

Look, No Limit Texas Hold ’em is a game of reads, deduction and logic, and Allen Cunningham excels in each.

By taking the lead on the flop, I can give myself opportunities to win more money when I am strong and pick up some uncontested pots when I’m not.

I’m so much better off when I trust my instincts. But they’re not perfect.

Here’s a news flash: I hate to lose! Just watch any televised poker broadcast and you can see that’s the case.

It used to be considered an art form to win a tournament without having to shove all your chips in the middle.

Players talk about pot odds all the time, especially when they try to justify a call that they made. Whenever I hear this line of reasoning, though, I can’t help but wonder if they properly thought through the consequences of their call.

My primary game is to put my chips into the pot only when I’m super-strong. I tend to fold a lot of hands while waiting around for those strong hands to come.

Poker is really about reading people. What happens when you bluff? What does it look like when the other guy bluffs? Does he look right, does he look left? Under what circumstances does he fold or call?

I’m pretty tall, and I’m always dressed in black.

One of my favorite poker shows on television is ‘Poker After Dark.’

Players too often bet too much money when they hit a strong hand. That only serves to drive opponents out of the pot, and that means a lost opportunity to maximize the value of a powerful hand.

Without a doubt, the WSOP in Las Vegas is by far the most prestigious event in the poker world.

I’ve been an idiot at the poker table for a long time.

I have a super-balanced life, and I’m a super balanced guy.

The more records you put up, the longer they talk about you.

Very few players want to go home wondering if they’ve folded the best hand. They feel humiliated when they’re bluffed out of a pot. As a result, these players make calls with marginal hands that put their entire tournament at risk.

It’s always pretty cool to hit a card on the river, especially when you’re lucky enough to do it two days in a row. But good fortune doesn’t last forever.

I wanted to become good at golf because I saw a lot of really successful people being good at it – and I planned on being successful.

I used to have a routine where I would eat a meal during the World Series of Poker. I would play, they would call it a day and I would go work out. I would always order poached salmon with mushrooms and I would dip the salmon into a side of ranch dressing.

Look, for some players, pot odds should guide your decision making.

When I lose a big pot, I go a little crazy.

The benefit of fast play is that you’ll get players to commit their chips with relatively weak hands since it will be hard for them to believe that you have a strong hand every single time. The downside is that your opponents will raise weak when you have nothing at all, forcing you to fold.

If you’re going to just play with patience, you’re going to be at the mercy of the cards.

I guess if there weren’t luck involved, I’d win ’em all.

Well, sometimes you’ve just got to go with your instincts.

Michael Phelps truly has a ton of poker talent.

I used to make it deep in poker tournaments without ever moving all-in because other players knew that when I raised it up, I had the goods.