Is Phil Hellmuth the Muhammad Ali of Poker?

Muhammad Ali will always be regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all-time.  However, I probably wouldn’t even be sitting here talking about Ali had he not been even better known for his showmanship in the ring.  Ali brought even more to boxing through his words and crazy exploits than he ever did based on pure boxing ability alone.

After seeing Phil Hellmuth arrive at the WSOP dressed as Julius Caesar, or Spartacus as I saw somewhere else, visions of Muhammed Ali stated dancing in my head.  Of course those visions had nothing to do with Hellmuth being a badass since, despite being 6’5″, I’m fairly sure Phil would get his ass kicked by a lot of the other poker players in a boxing match.  Rather my comparison comes from the fact that Hellmuth has not only had an excellent poker career, but also the showmanship to go along with it.

Phil has always done a great job of bringing attention to himself, and the game of poker in general.  That’s why he is allowed to get away with berating other players at the table and whining because WSOP officials know how important he is to the game of poker.

Hellmuth proved this once again as he walked into Harrah’s accompanied by 11 hot women (representing his 11 gold bracelets) wearing scantily-clad Roman gear.  As he walked by people he said, “Kiss the ring.  Hail Caesar.”  Despite the cheesy lines from Phil, I thought this was another great entrance by him at the WSOP.  It’s especially cool that Hellmuth can still have fun despite the fact that he hasn’t had the greatest WSOP to speak of, and doesn’t look to be adding a 12th ring in the 6,500 player Main Event.  All I can say is “Hail Hellmuth”.