“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.”

American professional poker player

Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He won the 1989 World Series of Poker Main Event and later the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. Born Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr., he has competed across several decades and was inducted into the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame in 2007. Hellmuth holds a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets, most of them in no-limit hold'em. He is the only player in poker history to win a WSOP bracelet in five different decades. He is widely regarded as one of the strongest tournament players in the game.