Doug Polk has tweeted that Phil Hellmuth is the luckiest poker player of all time, since he hasn’t seen him play one single hand well! In a recent video he disagreed strongly with the praise heaped on the 16-time bracelet winner when choosing the top five players ever.
Phil Hellmuth is the LOAT pic.twitter.com/1aUUf2XB9Q
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) March 24, 2022
This argument is older than most poker player’s age. Is Phil Hellmuth a modern day great or is he long past his time and belongs in an older era?
Kane Kalas says Phil Hellmuth is a great because he has more poker intuition than any of the other players being considered for a top five placing.
He continues by saying Hellmuth consistently performs at the top level despite not studying the game.
“He just shows up and wins consistently, and that’s because of his intuition”.
Phil Hellmuth is the luckiest poker player of all time, and it’s not even remotely close”
Doug Polk has a very different opinion about Phil Hellmuth’s game:
“I truly believe that Phil Hellmuth is the luckiest poker player of all time, and I think it’s not even remotely close”.
Doug Polk’s reasoning is that people championing Phil Hellmuth only look at the hands where he looks like a genius rather than factoring in the hands top players say he butchered.
Phil Hellmuth All-In Pre Call with Q40 sets the internet on fire!
Just as Doug Polk sets tongues wagging with his controversial comment, Phil Hellmuth sent poker Twitter into meltdown with a hand played live on PokerGO, almost proving his point.
Playing a hand heads-up against Alex Foxen, Phil Hellmuth 3-bets and calls off Q4o against Foxen’s pocket nines and hits two queens on the board. Sheer insanity!
Official announcement: after a lot of debate, reflection, and careful study, I have decided to add Q-4 off suit to my list of “Top Ten Hands.” AA, KK, QQ, AK, JJ, 10-10, AQ, 9-9, 8-8 and Q-4: I dropped 7-7. Also, @KevinRobMartin has a chart that reflects the current value of Q-4 pic.twitter.com/ntx4WISKb8
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) March 26, 2022
Hellmuth didn’t explain his decision but he did at least see the funny side of the social media reaction posting the above tweet.
Phil Galfond actually took Hellmuth’s side and wrote a detailed post on why weaker players shouldn’t be so quick to criticise plays which make no sense when made by a top player.
We’ve been here before. @phil_hellmuth makes a play that looks ridiculous, and all the poker fans at home – including top players – are quick to jump all over him.
I’m not at all a tournament expert, but I have some thoughts to share… pic.twitter.com/kWzknTeoRA
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) March 26, 2022
Check out the video below to see Doug Polk discuss with some great players who they think are the top five poker players ever.
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