Tantrum Kicks Off ‘Poker After Dark’

Date: 2007.01.08 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

“Poker After Dark” features six great poker players, playing in a $20,000 buy-in, winner-take-all poker tournament, which is broken down into five days of play (Monday through Friday at 2 a.m. Saturday, recap and preview episode). I’m compelled to say that I’m embarrassed by my “Poker Brat”-like conduct in the first-ever episode, which featured a classic, seven-minute-long “Phil Hellmuth tirade,” but it did make for some pretty darn good television!

My tablemates for my explosion were World Champion of Poker Huck Seed, three-time World Poker Tour winner Gus Hansen, Annie Duke, Shawn “The Sheik” Sheikhan, and Steve Zolotow. Why did I lose my cool? Simply because I asked my tablemates to “Please be quiet for a moment” — during a key hand — and they continued to talk. If my tablemates did in fact go on talking after I asked for silence, then by TDA (Tournament Directors Association) rules they would be assessed a 20-minute penalty, and be forced to hold their tongues and/or leave the room.