Will Phil Hellmuth play the 2025 WSOP Main Event? That seems like a very odd question to be asking about a player synonymous with the world’s biggest tournament.
Hellmuth played the Main Event for the first time in 1988, when he finished 33rd, and came back and won it the next year, becoming the youngest Main Event champion at the time.
In 2005 and 2006, he turned up to play in a limo. And from 2007, he ramped the showbiz side up, crashing a stock car and playing as a race driver. In 2008, he was an army general; in 2009, he played as Julius Caesar. He's also played as Thor, Gandalf and even Darth Vader.
Hellmuth is proud of the fact that he’s played every Main Event since 1988. So what’s happened?
Main Event is an endurance test
Age. Hellmuth is 60 — he’ll actually turn 61 on the day the 2025 champ is crowned — and he has struggled with the demands of the Main Event in recent years. He hasn’t cashed in the Main Event since 2015, when he finished 417th. And, earlier this year, he told PokerOrg in an exclusive video that he wouldn’t be playing the 2025 Main Event.
“If the WSOP Main Event does not give us a day off after Day 3 or Day 4, then I will not play in it,” explained Hellmuth. “I told the WSOP as much a few months ago. Thus, this will end my run; I have played the Main Event every year since 1988.
“I believe the WSOP Main is not set up fairly and has become an ‘endurance test.’ This proportionally negatively affects those who are older.”
But will he play? Or is this just hot air?
Hellmuth’s agent, Brian Balsbaugh, is adamant that Hellmuth is serious. In February, he posted, “FWIW, he’s not bluffing. He’s not grandstanding. He’s sad about it. It’s authentic. Nobody loves it more. The man has dedicated his life to the pursuit of gold bracelets.”
Results are in — players think he's bluffing
But no one is better placed to sniff out a bluff than the world’s best poker players, and they’re not convinced. We’ve been asking players whether Hellmuth will play the Main Event in the run-up to the WSOP.
The results are in, and they’re about as conclusive as you can get.
87.5% of the players we asked said he would play. And some were about as certain as you can be, with WSOP commentator Norman Chad saying, “I don't think there's one chance in 1.3 million that he's not playing the Main Event.”
The WPT’s Tony Dunst went even further: “Of course he's going to play. No doubt.”
Christina Gollins said, “Phil is slow-rolling everybody. He’ll come out half-naked in a Triton tracksuit and will definitely play the Main. The Main Event is where he makes his grand entrance, right? So, how does he say no to that? How does Phil say no to the attention?”
Allen Kessler, Brian Hastings, Nikki Limo, Victoria Livschitz, Shannon Shorr, David Lappin, Dara O’Kearney and Ari Engel are just some of the names that said he would play.
Alex Foxen and Jonathan Little said they didn’t care either way, and just Ben Lamb thought Hellmuth would stick to his guns, saying, “I don't think he's going to play. I think he will stick by his words.”
Who’s going to be right? Only time (or Hellmuth) will tell. One thing’s for sure — if Phil does play, you won’t miss his entrance.
Additional image courtesy of Melissa Haereiti/Time Weavers Photography.
