One of the most successful tournament poker players of all time. His performance at the World Series of Poker alone is more than other players could ever dream of. He has a record nine gold bracelets (tying with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan), has placed in over 35 events, and is one of the all time top money winners. One of his bracelets was for winning the Championship event in 1989 when he was only 24 years old, making him the youngest winner of the main event.

Now having said all that, the thing that is such a shame is that as great as he is, most people know him as the whiner in poker. Most people are going to remember him for his poor attitude rather than for the great tournament player that he is.

Phil Hellmuth Jr. currently lives in Palo Alto, California. He travels the tournament circuit for larger buy-in events, is a spokesman for online cardroom Ultimate Bet, and has a book out called, "Play Poker Like the Pros". When people see poker, people see Phil. He is also featured in Travel Channel commercials promoting the World Poker Tour. Speaking of the World Poker Tour, he has a fourth, eighth, tenth, fourteenth and third in those events. Most people would think that would be terrific, but he complained that he feels like "a total failure". That is one of the reasons why he is such a terrific poker player, he doesn't want to settle for anything but the best, but it also shows he can complain about almost anything.

His World Series of Poker accomplishments include first place finishes in The Championship Event in 1989, Limit Holdem in 1992, 1993, and 2003, two No Limit Holdem events in 1993, one in 2001, and one in 2003, and Pot Limit Holdem in 1997. His final table appearances at the World Poker Tour include finishing 4th at the Lucky Chances event (season one) and third at Foxwoods (season two).