All Poker All the Time

Date: 2008.03.10 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

On Saturday, Feb. 23, 660 competitors began play in the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif. This World Poker Tour event featured a $10,000 buy-in and a $1.6 million first prize.

For me, personally, I was extra motivated to play my best poker for several reasons. First, despite a good track record, I have never won a WPT event, and the new players like to remind me of that little fact. Second, I skipped this event last year and regretted missing it — the tournament is truly a “classic.” Third, I had a terrible result over in London, England, in the Premier League Poker series earlier in February. And finally, after being home with my wife and kids for seven straight weeks, my ego was feeling pretty beat up! After all, when I’m on the road, people swarm me for autographs and pictures (ego rising), and when I’m at home, my kids think I’m lame and my wife expects me to take out the trash (ego falling). I really wanted to play great poker and show the world — and myself — that I could still do it.

On the flip side of the coin, I had some solid backup plans for the week. First, we had the Grammys on Sunday night, then a VIP booth at the Pearl concert (my favorite new band) on Monday at the Viper Club in Los Angeles, and finally, NBC wanted me to shoot ads for the “NBC Heads-Up” poker championships on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Although the “fluff” — attending the Grammys, partying with Pearl and filming the NBC commercials (with jets and helicopters) — would have been a lot of fun, I wanted to win the tournament. My mind-set: all poker, all day, all week, all the time. Just win, baby!